News Analysis India

Tag: Budget Session

  • Over 400 Parliament staff members test COVID-19 positive ahead of Budget Session

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Budget Session of the Parliament, more than 400 Parliament staff members were tested positive for COVID-19, according to official sources.

    The officials told ANI that 402 staff members were tested positive out of the 1,409 staff of Parliament for the virus from January 4 to 8 after which their samples were sent for genome sequencing to confirm the variant.

    “Close to 402 staffs were tested positive for COVID-19 from January 4-8 and all samples have been sent to genome sequencing for Omicron variant confirmation,” an official told ANI. According to an internal message from the staff of Parliament, the staff are advised to follow the precautions as per the guidelines of the government.

    “There is a consolidated list of 200 Lok Sabha and 69 from Rajya Sabha and 133 allied staff who have tested positive, but we all need to take proper precautions,” an internal message read. The above list does not include who were tested for COVID outside the Parliament premises.

    Several employees of both the Houses of the Parliament were put in isolation after they came into contact with their infected colleagues during work. Various officials of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are also in isolation.

    A recent order by the DDMA directed all government offices to run under 50 per cent of staff capacity and the rest will work from home. Taking the new variant of COVID-19, Omicron seriously, the Central government also exempted its staff from biometric (daily punching) for attendance.

  • Budget Session ends as both Houses adjourned sine die

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: The Rajya Sabha on Thursday was adjourned sine die ahead of the assembly polls in four states and one union territory, thus bringing an end to the Budget Session of the Parliament. The Lok Sabha too was adjourned sine die earlier in the day.

    The month-long second part of the Budget session had started on March 8 was earlier scheduled to end on April 8.

    Several MPs at the behest of their parties had earlier approached the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Chairman of Rajya Sabha M Venkaiah Naidu to curtail the session, citing elections as the reason.

    Trinamool Congress leaders Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek O’Brien had written respectively to the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman, requesting them to adjourn the proceedings.

    The first part of the Budget Session commenced with the address of President Ram Nath Kovind on January 29 and concluded on February 29.

    Elections are due to be held in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry from March 27 to April 29. The results for the same will be announced on May 2.

  • MPs want Parliament session cut short in view of next month’s state polls

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Amid thin attendance on the first day of the Lok Sabha, MPs sought an early conclusion of the second half of the Budget session due to Assembly elections in four states and a UT.

    While the session is scheduled to conclude on April 8 while polling begins on March 27.

    The Finance Bill and demand of grants are key business of the House to be taken up along with other legislative proposals during the session. 

    Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Prahlad Joshi told reporters that over 100 MPs have written to the Lok Sabha Speaker, seeking an early conclusion of the Budget session.

    He said whatever the Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman decide, the government will abide by it.

    Regional parties, including the TMC, DMK, AIADMK and the Left, are busy canvassing in Assam, Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

    The BJP has also rushed a number of leaders to the poll-bound states.

    Also, both the Houses will revert to the normal schedule of sittings from 11 am from Tuesday, which was the norm before staggered timings were adopted to meet Covid-19 guidelines.

  • Curtailment of Parliament session on cards amid assembly polls in various states

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: In view of assembly elections in four states and one Union Territory, the curtailment of Budget Session of Parliament is on the cards with parties across the aisle in agreement on this idea, sources said on Sunday.

    It is yet to be decided for how many days the session will be curtailed, but there are suggestions to curtail it by almost two weeks, the sources said, adding that the final call could be taken in the floor leaders’ meeting on Monday.

    Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha Secretariat has made arrangements for the vaccination of parliamentarians in the Parliament premises.

    After the vaccination drive, the Parliament might also witness simultaneous sitting of both Houses from 11 am, they said.

    At present due to COVID-19 pandemic, the parliament sits in two shifts — Rajya Sabha in the morning and Lok Sabha in the evening.

    The second half of the budget session was scheduled to be held from March 8 to April 8.

    Elections are being held in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry from March 27 to April 29.

  • Month-long second part of Parliament’s Budget session from Monday

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The month-long second part of the Budget session of Parliament begins on Monday in the middle of a high octane campaign for assembly elections in four states and one UT.

    The main focus of the government in the second part of the session is to get the various demands for grants for the year 2021-22 passed along with the Finance Bill which carries various tax proposals.

    Besides these mandatory agendas, the government has listed various bills for passage in the session which concludes on April 8.

    Some of the bills listed by the government include the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development Bill, Electricity (Amendment) Bill, Crypto currency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill.

    The part two of the session is taking place at a time when political parties have their focus on elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry.

    The elections would take place in March-April.

    Senior leaders of various parties, especially the regional ones, are likely to skip most of the House sittings to focus on campaigning.

    The first part of the Budget session started on January 29 with the President’s address to joint sitting of both houses of Parliament.

    The address was boycotted by over 20 opposition parties, including the Congress, in support of the demand of the protesting farmers for the repeal of the three farm laws.

    The Union Budget was tabled on February 1.

    Thereafter, House proceedings were washed out for four consecutive days over the opposition’s demand for separate discussion on farm issues.

    To compensate the session’s lost time, the House sat till midnight for several days.

  • Bought paddy, custom milling and Supebheda case in Chhattisgarh assembly today

    Today is the fourth day of the budget session of the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly. The matter of paddy purchase, custom milling and supebheda will be heard in the house today.

    Ajay Chandrakar, Punnulal Mohle and Narayan Chandel from the BJP will take up the matter in question. He will call attention of the government for not initiating the water magnification scheme in Superbeda through attention notice.

    In the Question Hour, most of the questions have been related to the department of Urban Administration Minister Shiv Kumar Dahria and Food Minister Amarjeet Bhagat.

  • The budget session of the assembly began with the address of Governor Ms. Uike: Raipur, 22 February 2021

    I congratulate you all in the first session of the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly of New Year 2021. I am glad that all of you are working unitedly to realize the vision of Garhbo Nava Chhattisgarh. The Corona epidemic had accidentally pushed the entire world into the darkness of uncertainty last year. I offer my gratitude to all of you for your cooperation in dealing with this historic crisis faced by humanity, for the ground help in providing relief to the people of the state. The New Year began, with the dark period of the Corona Crisis and hopes of breaking out of the jungle. I wish you all the best for successfully fulfilling the dual responsibilities of meeting new goals with Corona-influenced development work.

    1. The past year was filled with many challenges, such as the food and livelihood of daily earning families, continuous nutritious diet to families fighting malnutrition, safe return and rehabilitation of migrant laborers, prevention of corona infection and infected people. Remedies, arrangements to maintain public morale, to maintain the natural pace of economic activities, to live the life of people out of fear and live cautiously. I am happy that my government has stood up on all these fronts and the state could achieve new achievements in many areas even during the Corona period.
    2. My government has worked with caution to get the state out of this difficult phase, so that more than 67 lakh ration card holders families have food grains, sugar, salt, kerosene, jaggery in Bastar division, fortified rice in Kondagaon district as per their eligibility. Delivery became possible with security measures. 57 lakh Antyodaya, priority, Annapurna, single destitute and disabled card holders were given free rice and gram as per eligibility for 8 months. Migrant workers and others returned home safely. For the food security of every village, 2–2 quintals of rice were made available in more than 11 thousand panchayats. Many such efforts yielded positive results.
    3. The flame of the Alakh which my government raised as the Chief Minister’s Suraksha Abhiyan on 2 October 2019 kept burning in the Corona period, for this, more than 3 lakh 62 thousand beneficiaries as well as 24 lakhs of more than 51 thousand Anganwadi centers Ready-to-eat nutritional material was provided to all the beneficiaries from house to house. More than 29 lakh beneficiary school children of Mid-Day Meal Scheme were also provided with ready-to-eat dry rations safely home. Not only this, Anganwadi centers for hot food and health facilities were restarted on 7 September 2020 with Corona prevention measures.
    4. With the commitment of my government, 99 thousand children have got freedom from malnutrition and 20 thousand women from anemia in one year. Mahtari Jatan Yojna, Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao Yojana, Saksham Yojana, Mukhyamantri Kanya Vivah Yojana, Swavalamban Yojana, Nava Bihan Yojana, Swadhar Aadhar Yojana, Ujjwala Griha Yojna, Mahila Police Volunteer Scheme for better care and development of women and children , Chhattisgarh Mahila Kosh Yojana, Mahila Shakti Kendra Yojana etc. were implemented smoothly, which has increased the morale and independence of the mother power.
    5. My government has once again kept the promise made to the farmers. Paddy was purchased at support price with improvement and resolution amidst challenges. This year maximum 21 lakh 52 thousand 980 farmers were registered, out of which 20 lakh 53 thousand 483 farmers sold their paddy. In this way, Chhattisgarh has become the first state in the country to purchase paddy of 95.40 percent farmers with the new system and new resolution. A new record has been made on every aspect of paddy procurement such as total registered acreage, total paddy purchase area, the total amount of paddy acquired, crossing 92 lakh metric tons is nothing short of a miracle. With these achievements, a new phase of agricultural production and prosperity has started not only in the lives of farmers but also in the entire state.
    6. Due to the new steps taken by my government in the interest of farmers, this year a new record has been made for disbursing Rs 4 thousand 755 crore as interest-free agricultural loan. Kisan Credit Cards have been given to about 16 lakh farmers. 725 new societies have been registered by restructuring Primary Agricultural Credit Cooperative Society, now the total number of societies has increased from 1 thousand 333 to 2 thousand 58. While the sugarcane-based ethanol plant is being set up, on the other hand, my government’s innovative thinking of setting up a paddy-based ethanol plant has also received support and acceptance at the national level. My government wants that despite the bumper yield of paddy in the state, the value of paddy should be maintained, so paddy should be used in other profitable ventures. Food parks and forest produce processing centers are being set up in each development block to have value addition to different crops in different regions of the state.
    7. My government has pledged to provide direct financial assistance to farmers who are taking 14 crops including paddy, sugarcane, maize under the Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojana. In the first year, an amount of Rs 4500 crore has been deposited in the farmers’ account in three installments, while the remaining installment of about 1200 crore rupees will be paid in the same financial year.
    8. Apart from agriculture, forest resources also generate livelihood for large population of the state. Therefore, my government has increased the number of minor forest produce purchased from the minimum support price from 7 to 52. Even in this difficult period

  • Uttar Pradesh Assembly’s Budget Session to commence from Thursday

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: The Budget Session of the Uttar Pradesh legislature will begin with Governor Anandiben Patel’s address to a joint sitting of both houses on Thursday.

    The Yogi Adityanath government is slated to table its annual budget for 2021-22 on Monday.

    In the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, all preparations are being made to conduct the COVID-19 tests of the MLAs, MLCs and other staff members, including the security personnel.

    The speaker of the Assembly, who convened a meeting on Tuesday, said the COVID-19 tests of the legislators are going on while the process for the staff members of the House has been completed.

    The Assembly secretariat had issued a circular, making it mandatory for all MLAs and MLCs to undergo a COVID-19 test before the commencement of the Budget Session.

    All district magistrates (DMs) and chief medical officers (CMOs) were directed to make arrangements for the COVID tests for the legislators in their respective districts.

    This would be the first time that the budget will be paperless and printed copies will not be available.

    All the legislators will get the budget document on their iPads and the budget literature will only be available on the Assembly’s website.

    Legislators were also given training to help them use the iPads smoothly.

    Besides the presentation of the annual budget, the government is also likely to table important bills, including the all-important one replacing the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020, which was promulgated with the approval of the governor in November last year.

    The state cabinet had earlier approved the draft ordinance to curb forcible or “dishonest” religious conversions, including those for the sake of marriage, which could land violators in jail for up to 10 years.

    Meanwhile, the opposition parties are preparing to grill the government on pressing issues, particulary those relating to the ongoing farmer protests, law and order, the tackling of the coronavirus pandemic, among others.

    For the second consecutive time, mediapersons will not be allowed access to the press gallery.

    Two LED screens have been put up in the Tilak Hall, from where they can watch the proceedings.

    According to the tentative programme schedule of the Assembly, the session is likely to continue till March 10.

  • Petrol-diesel blow for the eighth consecutive day, increase in prices

    The public has been troubled by rising petrol and diesel prices. Most of the increase in their prices has been seen since the budget session. This is the first time that their prices have increased so much in the capital. Cess has been increased in petrol and diesel, which is causing both the cess and VAT to the general public. Prices of petrol and diesel have increased for the eighth consecutive time in Raipur on Tuesday. Petrol has increased by 29 paise and diesel by 38 paise. With this, petrol has been priced at Rs 87.82 and diesel Rs 86.35 per liter.

  • First phase of Budget session concludes, Lok Sabha to reconvene on March 8

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha was adjourned on Saturday as the first phase of the Budget session concluded.

    The House would reconvene on March 8 after recess. The Budget session usually is held in two phases.

    In the first phase, the President addresses the two Houses as it is the first session of the year.

    The Union Budget is also introduced in phase one. The recess allows department-related standing committees to examine demands for grants of various ministries.

    The Finance Bill and related demands for grants are passed in the second phase of the Budget session.

    The session would conclude on April 8.