Budget Session likely to begin from January 31

The early tabling of the financial Budget ends a 70-year tradition, reports Archis Mohan/Business Standard.

The Narendra Modi government on Tuesday did away with the long-winded first week of the Budget session of Parliament. This year, the Budget will be tabled on February 1.

The Rail Budget will form a part of the finance Budget, while the President’s address to the two Houses and the Economic Survey will be tabled on January 31, the first day of the Budget session.

The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, met on Tuesday morning to decide on the early presentation of the Budget.

The practice until now was to devote a day each for the President’s address to the joint sitting of the two Houses, the Railway Budget, the Economic Survey and finally the Union Budget. The Budget was usually tabled on February 28 and was passed by end-May.

The early tabling of the Budget ends a 70-year tradition. It would also mean that the entire exercise should end by the end of the financial year on March 31, to enable tax proposals to come into effect from the beginning of the new financial year.

Until now, the Budget was presented on the last working day of February. The House would then observe a recess, while standing committees would meet to approve budgetary grants and allocations and these would eventually be passed by Parliament in the second half of the Budget session by mid-May.

With the monsoon arriving in June, most schemes and allocations to states did not get off the ground until October, which left barely six months for their implementation.

The CCPA has sent its recommendations to President Pranab Mukherjee. While the CCPA is yet to decide on the dates for the second half of the Budget session, it is likely to be held after the polls in the five states, including Uttar Pradesh.

The Election Commission is likely to announce dates for the assembly polls this week.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi also attended the meeting.  Last September, the Cabinet had decided to do away with a distinct Budget for the railways and decided to merge it with the General Budget.