NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Stormy Budget session will begin on Wednesday

The first Budget session of Parliament after the 13th Lok Sabha was constituted will commence Wednesday, with the address of President K R Narayanan to the members outlining the policies and programmes intended to be followed by the government during coming financial year.

After the President delivers his customary address in the historic Central Hall, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha will meet briefly for the day. When Parliament re-assembles to meet regularly from the next day till March 16 and again from April 17 to May 17, the Opposition will grill the government for its economic and industrial policies and programmes.

The Congress and left parties, who have strong trade unions in the banking, insurance and public sector units, are expected to strongly oppose the government's move of disinvestment of government equity in the PSUs. They have decided to raise the issue in the session charging that ''in the name of disinvestment, the government intends to privatise the PSUs and hand over these to national and multi-national companies''.

Apart from economic issues, a united opposition is expected to vehemently protest against what it calls ''saffronisation'' of educational and some other vital institutions, including the Indian Council of Historical Research. This is another issue on which the opposition will unitedly fight the government.

''Our objective is to convince the constituents of the National Demoratic Alliance about the hidden agenda of the BJP,'' says a left party leader.

The setting up of a commission to review the Constitution and decisions of the Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh governments to allow their employees to participate in the activities of the RSS are other issues to be highlighted by the opposition, he said.

The budget session will see the government tabling the Railway and Union budgets for 2000-2001, economic survey and discuss supplementary demands for grants and transaction of some other financial business.

The Railway Budget will be presented to the lower House by Railway Minister Mamta Banerjee on February 25. It will be for the first time that a woman minister will be presenting the rail budget.

The economic survey, giving a true picture of various economic activities, will be presented to Parliament by the Finance Minister on February 28 and the Union Budget for 2000-2001 will be tabled the next day at 12 noon in the Lok Sabha.

Parliament is also expected to witness a lively debate on the K Subrahmaniam Committee report on Kargil.

Since the Union Cabinet has decided to freeze the number of seats in the Lok Sabha till 2026, the government is expected to introduce a bill to amend the Constitution in this regard.

Another bill seeking to amend the Constitution for reservation of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and assemblies is on the agenda. The controversial bill was introduced in the last Lok Sabha amid protests by some political parties, including the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Lok Dal and the Muslim League.

Other important bills on the priority list of the government for enactment by the Lok Sabha are the Information Technology Bill and the Bill seeking to make the Central Vigilance Commission a statutory body.

These are among the eight official bills to be taken up for discussion by the Lok Sabha during the Budget Session which ends on March 16 before resuming from April 17 to May 17. During the one-month recess, the concerned Standing Committees will go through demands for grants of various ministries and departments.

UNI

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report