Budget Session of Parliament to commence on January 29

The Budget Session of Parliament will commence on January 29 and the Union Budget will be presented on February 1. The session is likely to conclude by April 8, with a recess of 20 days between February 15 and March 8, according to a press release issued Thursday.

Parliament will resume later this month for the first time since September, when the Monsoon Session was cut short by seven days after many MPs tested positive for Covid-19.

The government subsequently decided to do away with the Winter session, which is usually held in November-December, due to the pandemic situation.

India does not have a fixed parliamentary calendar. By convention, Parliament meets for three sessions in a year. The longest, the Budget Session, starts towards the end of January, and concludes by the end of April or



first week of May. The session has a recess so that Parliamentary Committees can discuss the budgetary proposals.

The budget session this time is unlikely to be a smooth affair for the government, as the Opposition is gearing up to bring up a number of issues, the farmers’ protest being the most prominent among them. The government is expected to face an aggressive opposition on issues like the economic slowdown and handling of Covid 19 pandemic.

All precautions that were in place for the Monsoon Session will continue, officials in the Lok Sabha secretariat had earlier said.

During the Monsoon Session, Rajya Sabha met for four hours in the morning while Lok Sabha sat for the second half, with both chambers and visitors’ galleries being used for members so they could observe physical distancing.