The Budget session of Parliament was the least productive since the year 2000.
Enactment of key legislations like strengthening of anti-rape laws, land acquisition bill and Lokpal bill is likely to be delayed with some Opposition parties objecting to the present form of the proposed measures.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday threatened to block proceedings in the upcoming Budget Session of Parliament if Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde was not sacked over his controversial remark on 'Hindu terror'.
The government has announced a crop insurance policy.
Since Justice G T Nanavati submitted report to Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil in New Delhi on Wednesday, the Sikh community and opposition parties have been demanding that it be made public.
Under pressure to implement Lodha Committee Reforms as per Supreme Court Directives, the BCCI is relying that the revised National Sports Bill is tabled by the Budget Session of the Parliament in 2017 which will save them from undergoing structural changes. A very senior BCCI official said that some key changes are being made in the original Bill.
The first part of the Budget Session of Parliament concluded on Friday with the Rajya Sabha witnessing a low as some All India Anna All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam members broke mikes on the chairman's table.
A new book reveals that Atal Bihari Vajpayee rejected an offer to become President of India, a move that would have made Lal Krishna Advani Prime Minister. Vajpayee believed that a sitting PM becoming President would set a bad precedent for Indian democracy.
A total of 16 bills, including the GST Bill, Lokpal (Amendment) Bill, Factories (Amendment) Bill and the Anti-Hijacking Bill are pending in Parliament -- five in Lok Sabha and 11 in the Rajya Sabha.
Amid reports that the government plans to reach out to Congress for passage of crucial bills, senior leader Ahmed Patel on Friday said it would be "bizarre" for the Narendra Modi dispensation to expect support from the party after it has diluted UPA's policies and programmes.
The Congress party has accused the government of stifling opposition voices in the Lok Sabha, alleging that opposition leaders are not being allowed to express their views while the government side faces no such restrictions.
Union minister Ananth Kumar alleged that the Congress was increasingly becoming intolerant of people's mandate for the Modi government.
With clouds of storm hovering over Parliament's budget session, President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday sought the "cooperation" of all MPs in the smooth conduct of legislative business but gave no indication of plans to bring changes in the controversial land acquisition ordinance.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget on Tuesday as the Monsoon Session of Parliament gets underway next week with the united opposition set to corner the National Democratic Alliance government on issues ranging from the NEET paper leak case and railway safety.
Even as the government prepared the ground for a fruitful session by reaching out to main opposition BJP on the Land Acquisition Bill, new disclosures in the media might play a spoiler for it.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to reply to the debate on the motion of thanks to the President's address in the Lok Sabha.
'Wherever in the world there is political instability, those countries are beset with severe crises today. But India is in a much better position than the rest of the world due to the decisions taken by my government in the national interest,' President Droupadi Murmu said in her address to both Houses of Parliament.
Mixed global cues and decline in crude oil prices further dent the sentiments.
After withdrawing the personal data protection bill, the government is hopeful of getting a new legislation passed by the next Budget session of Parliament, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said. The government on Wednesday withdrew the Personal Data Protection Bill from the Lok Sabha. The Joint Committee on Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, headed by BJP member P P Chaudhary, had tabled its report in Lok Sabha on December 16, 2021.
Putting aside its winter fiasco, Parliament is all set for a smooth budget session from Monday with government telling the Opposition that an announcement on the constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee into the 2G spectrum will be made on Tuesday.
The Left parties, supporting the UPA from outside, have already decided to corner the Congress-led coalition on the issue of inflation at a time when opposition parties including BJP and SP have stepped up their attack. Samajwadi Party has plans to bring an adjournment motion on spiralling prices of essential commodities on the first day itself in the Lok Sabha for the phase II of Budget session. BJP too has threatened an adjournment motion.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Interim Budget on February 1 ahead of the Lok Sabha elections likely to be held in April-May.
Congress sources said the process of consultations initiated by party chief and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi was a three-stage affair.
Congress member Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who had got into a CD controversy last month, is unwell and will not be attending Rajya Sabha during in the second half of the budget session of Parliament.
Addressing both the Houses of Parliament assembled together in the Lok Sabha chamber, Murmu said the government has taken numerous measures to control these cyber threats, creating opportunities for employment in the field of cybersecurity for the youth.
Naidu asked members to keep the prestige and the decorum of the House and said they should feel privileged to be in this House because of the people's trust on them.
The opposition has been demanding a debate on Operation Sindoor -- the strike on terror sites in Pakistan by the Indian armed forces in response to the terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22.
This will be the first budget presented by the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in its third term amid high anticipation following President Droupadi Murmu's assertion that it will be marked by many historic steps.
Party leaders and workers will try to build up public opinion against the alleged anti-national activities in the central varsity and in support of action against people involved in it.
Indications of a stormy start to the Budget session emerged at an all-party meeting with opposition accusing the government of "setting the agenda for disruption".
At the customary meeting ahead of the session beginning Monday, the opposition raised various issues, including voter roll revision in Bihar, the Pahalgam terror attack and Trump's 'ceasefire' claims.
While Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu asked the protestors not to make the House a "clog in the wheel" of progress, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said they should keep in mind the larger interests of the nation.
The government is open to extending the first half of the ongoing Budget session by two days if need be and Parliament can meet on March 23 and 24 to pass key reform bills on coal and mines and minerals. The first half of the session is otherwise slated to end on March 20.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday said it would have been good if Rahul had attended the budget session
The Bill is likely to pave the way for amending two existing legislations -- the Atomic Energy Act 1962, and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act 2010.
The Union Budget 2025-26 has allocated Rs 1,024.30 crore for expenses incurred by the Council of Ministers, the Cabinet Secretariat and the Prime Minister's Office, and for hospitality and entertainment of state guests. The allocated amount is a bit more than the Rs 1,021.83 crore earmarked in 2024-25.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his lieutenants are reaching out across the aisle to get key legislation passed.
"This is a golden opportunity for us to lift the lives of the poor, the deprived. This is the time for doing more development and reforms," he said.
The Budget session of Parliament on Monday got off to a stormy start with the first day in Lok Sabha being virtually washed out on the issue of price rise and rail fare hike as a strident Opposition insisted on a discussion under an adjournment motion.
Ahead of the Parliament session, the government will hold a meeting with leaders of all parties on Sunday to brief them and hear their views, amid an intense buzz on whether it will have some surprise item up its sleeve during the five-day sitting.
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