The budget session of Parliament ended on Thursday, with the Rajya Sabha witnessing the storm scene and a day before the schedule, the opposition barred Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu from concluding his formal closing speech.
The session, which spanned 27 sessions over two months, witnessed heated debates on various issues, with opposition members saying the Narendra Modi government had ended its proceedings ahead of schedule because it wanted to “escape” the debate over high energy. Price
Although the Lok Sabha proceedings have been smooth, there has been an angry exchange of views among opposition members in the Rajya Sabha, including Naidu and Mallikarjun Kharge, Derek O’Brien, who have repeatedly called for talks on raising fuel prices. In the Rajya Sabha, Shiv Sena members Sanjay Raut and Priyanka Chaturvedi tried to raise the issue of a registered FIR against BJP’s Kirit Somaiya for allegedly stealing grants collected to save INS vendors. Members of Congress supported Shiv Sena by making some remarks that the issue of increase in prices of essential commodities including petrol, diesel and cooking gas was not allowed to be raised in the entire session, but at least “this scandal” should be discussed.
However, Naidu rejected the opposition’s plea and called for Zero Hour. When opposition members entered the well, Naidu adjourned the proceedings without a formal speech. “The Rajya Sabha was adjourned two days ago … for its political advantage, the Modi government has avoided negotiations on price hikes, has broken farmers’ promises, and the Labor Minister has not even answered the debate on labor and (non) employment,” said Congress leader Jairam Ramesh. .
Ramesh claimed that since the Parliament was adjourned at 11:00 am on Thursday, no proceedings could be transacted and it washed away the two-day proceedings. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi retaliated by calling Ramesh a “liar”. Joshi claimed that Congress leaders had advised the Rajya Sabha chairman to end the session soon.
The budget session began on January 31 with a speech by President Ram Nath Kobind in a joint sitting of both the chambers. Then on February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget. The first half of the budget session ends on February 11, when Parliament retires to examine the budget papers.
The session resumed on March 14 and ended on Thursday, one day before the scheduled time after the completion of the budget process and the passage of key bills such as the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill and the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill. “The total productivity of the eighth session of the 17th Lok Sabha was 129 per cent,” said Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who had 27 sittings in the House.
Birla said members also sat 40 hours late to discuss issues of national importance. The Rajya Sabha lost about nine-and-a-half hours due to disruption and forcible adjournment, but the lost time was met by nine hours and 16 minutes of extra sitting, Naidu said.
“The House’s productivity was 99.8 percent during the budget session. If the House alone had been working for another 10 minutes, the productivity would have been 100 percent,” Naidu said. The Lok Sabha has passed 12 bills, including the Finance Bill, the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, the Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery System (Prohibition of Illegal Activities) Amendment Bill.
The Rajya Sabha has passed 11 bills out of which six allotment bills and finance bills have been returned. The Lok Sabha briefly discussed climate change, the situation in Ukraine and the need to promote sports in India.
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