The Budget session of Parliament is set to start on a stormy note on Tuesday with issues like the Jawaharlal Nehru University row, Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula’s suicide and Pathankot terror strike set to dominate the proceedings.
The last two sessions have been a virtual washout with the Opposition and government locking horns over a number of issues including the key reform measure of Goods Services Tax Bill.
The government has a heavy legislative agenda to push through in this session. A list of 74 items of business has been compiled by the ministry of parliamentary affairs on the basis of responses received from various ministries and departments which, according to sources, contain 62 legislative items and 12 financial items.
It was decided to give 26 items ‘top priority’ as the ministries wanted them to be introduced and passed in the Budget session itself.
A total of 16 bills, including the GST Bill, Lokpal (Amendment) Bill, Factories (Amendment) Bill and the Anti-Hijacking Bill are pending in Parliament -- five in Lok Sabha and 11 in the Rajya Sabha.
