Budget Session, Parliament will work in shifts

To ensure Covid distancing norms during the Budget Session, which begins on January 31, the two Houses of Parliament will work in shifts, meeting for five hours each at different times of the day — Rajya Sabha in the first half and Lok Sabha in the second half.

Members will be seated in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha chambers and galleries during Lower House of Parliament sessions because to COVID-19 pandemic limitations, according to a Lok Sabha bulletin.

The Lok Sabha will convene at 11 a.m. on February 1 to hear the Union Budget, and then from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. from February 2 to February 11, when the session will adjourn. While the Rajya Sabha’s exact meeting times have yet to be announced, sources say the Upper House of Parliament could meet from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Because Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu is afflicted with COVID-19 and has secluded himself in Hyderabad, a final decision on scheduling has yet to be made.

The budget session will begin on January 31 with President Ram Nath Kovind’s address to both Houses of Parliament in a joint session. From March 14 to April 8, the second half of the session will take place. However, the timings of the sittings for Part II of the session are yet unknown.

The Monsoon Session of 2020 was the first full session held under the Covid protocol, with the Rajya Sabha sitting in the morning and the Lok Sabha convening in the afternoon. For the first half of the Budget Session in 2021, the same procedure was used.

Last year, the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha resumed their regular schedules for the second half of the Budget Session, as well as the Monsoon and Winter sessions, with members sitting in the chambers and galleries of their respective Houses to maintain social distance.

More than 400 members of Parliament’s staff have recently tested positive for COVID-19. As a result, the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha assessed the situation and instructed both houses to draught a strategy for the seamless operation of both chambers during the Parliament’s budget session.

What is Budget Session-

Union Budget is the ‘Annual Financial Statement’ or the Statement of the Estimated Receipts and Expenditure of the central government before the beginning of each financial year, presented to the Lok Sabha on such day as the President might direct. The Union finance minister reads out a ‘Budget Speech’ on that day in the Lok Sabha. The Budget Speech highlights the salient points of the entire Budget that may run into several thousand pages.

Copy of the Budget is laid in the Rajya Sabha soon after its presentation in the Lok Sabha. The preparation and presentation of the Budget for the approval of the legislature is a constitutional obligation on the part of the government, both at the Centre and in the states.

The Budget session of Parliament is normally held from February to May. During this period, the Budget comes before Parliament for its deliberation, voting and approval; the departmentally related standing committees consider the Demands for Grants of ministries/departments and report on the same to the Houses of Parliament.