State debt is rising because revenues are disappointingly weak. Ten states have debt ratios exceeding 30 per cent. In 2023-2024, states were borrowing simply to meet day-to-day expenses, points out Debashis Basu.
A new report indicates that increasing unconditional cash transfer schemes for women across 12 Indian states are impacting their fiscal health, with six states projecting revenue deficits.
Officials said the government is keen to conform to the convention of the Union Budget for 2026-2027 being presented on February 1 despite it falling on a Sunday in 2026.
=In 21 states, the time gap between the general Budget and ministry-specific discussions was just one day.
BJP MP and actor Ravi Kishan has been awarded the Sansad Ratna for his outstanding performance in the Lok Sabha, becoming the first actor-turned-politician to receive the honour.
The eighth Delhi assembly will have fewer women members but a higher number of lawmakers with graduate degrees, according to a report.
The Delhi assembly which held 74 sittings over its five-year term, met for an average of 15 days a year. On the days it met, the assembly sat for an average of three hours.
The outgoing Haryana assembly met for 72 sitting days over five years, or 14.4 days a year on average, against the national average of 23 days for state assemblies in the 2017 to 2023 period, according to an analysis by PRS Legislative Research.
Nine re-elected MPs represented a different party in the 17th Lok Sabha, while eight others represented a party that split from their earlier party.
In Maharashtra's 288-member assembly, the share of legislators with college degrees increased over the past decade.
According to an analysis by PRS Legislative Research, 172 bills were discussed and passed during the term of 17th Lok Sabha, of which 86 bills in the Lok Sabha and 103 bills in the Rajya Sabha were discussed for less than two hours each.
The 17th Lok Sabha had 272 sittings altogether over its five-year tenure from 2019-2024.
In 2022, Rajasthan met for 30 days, Chhattisgarh 18 days, MP and Mizoram for 15 each, and Telangana for 10 days.
A large part of the productive time in Parliament is spent on non-legislative matters such as discussion on motion of thanks by the President, conduct of fellow MPs and so on.
'With one more year remaining in the term, and 58 average sitting days a year, the 17th Lok Sabha is unlikely to sit for more than 331 days.' 'This could make it the shortest full-term Lok Sabha since 1952.'
Coincidentally, the two first-term members got seats adjacent to each other in the House.
To govern effectively, to legislate successfully, Modi must reach out to the Opposition. As long as he does not and he is showing no signs that he accepts the reality, the drift his fans are anguishing over will remain, cautions Aakar Patel.
Between 2019 and 2023, average sittings of the assembly in Chhattisgarh was 23 days a year, with average sitting time being five hours.
The push to develop Ayodhya as a tourism centre, accompanied by large-scale infrastructure projects, comes on the back of years of limited income growth and tourist inflows.
The 17th Lok Sabha has 12 per cent of its members below the age of 40. This is more than the 16th Lok Sabha, which had 8 per cent of MPs below the age of 40.
Kerala had the highest number of average sitting days at 48 days a year, followed by Odisha (41) and Karnataka (35).
The 17th Lok Sabha, which was dissolved on June 5, did not have a deputy speaker for its full term, and it was the second consecutive term of the lower house without an LoP.
While 67 per cent of India's population is 39 years old or younger, states are governed by chief ministers who are 70 or older.
Chhattisgarh scores the highest among all four states with 21 per cent of its newly elected lawmakers women.
It was also the only session in the 17th Lok Sabha when the lower house did not lose any time due to adjournments, according to data compiled by a think tank.
The first session of the 17th Lok Sabha began on June 17 and is scheduled to conclude on July 26.
As the adjournment of Parliament for an indefinite period with the Rajya Sabha also adjourning sine die kickstarts the final countdown for the general elections, Modi said the last five years were a period of "reform, perform and transform" with the country moving towards "big changes" at a fast pace.
The Congress on Thursday gave a notice in the Lok Sabha against alleged breach of privilege by Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing him of speaking untruth on Maharashtra farm widow Kalawati Bandurkar who Rahul Gandhi had met in 2008.
The situation raises concerns about whether the promised freebies will once again push the state into a revenue deficit.
The productivity of the Budget session was abysmal. The Lok Sabha functioned for 33% of its scheduled time (46 hours); the Rajya Sabha 24% (32 hours).
The Lok Sabha, chaired by Speaker Om Birla, has been working for more than its scheduled time and has sat till midnight on two occasions to complete its legislative business.
All you need to know about the Winter session of Parliament.
If Saudi Arabia, with just two Muslim holy sites of Mecca and Medina, can create a huge tourism-based ecosystem beyond oil, Ayodhya is sure to become the world's hottest religious tourism site in less than a decade, predicts R Jagannathan.
Lok Sabha could function for only 45 hours this Budget Session against its scheduled 133.6 hours because of daily disruptions and frequent adjournments, a think tank data has shown.
Should the anti-defection law in India exist only to prevent democratically elected governments from being toppled?
'The power sector accounts for much of the financial burden of state governments in India.'
Catch all the debates and discussions from the Upper and Lower Houses.
The ongoing session is scheduled to conclude on July 26, but the sources said the government was mulling to extend it till August 2 to ensure passage of all the bills listed for business.
The last five years in Karnataka politics were marred by dissidence, confusion and instability. So not surprisingly, despite an impressive attendance record of 81 per cent, the state assembly convened for only 144 days in the past five years.
According to C V Madhukar, a senior member of PRS Legislative Research, an independent Delhi-based think-tank, 'the debate on the Lokpal Bill reflected how Parliament functions about 80 percent of the time.' Rajni Bakshi on how we can engage better with Parliament.
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