New Delhi: Marked by some historic events, the Budget session of Parliament came to an end on Wednesday after approval of four landmark GST bills and several other legislations besides the Budget and the demand for grants of various ministries.
The two-part session, which was advanced for the first time in the country’s history, commenced on January 31 with the customary Address by the President to a joint sitting.
For the first time, the Budget was presented on February one, almost a month ahead of the usual date, as the government wanted to complete the budgetary exercise before the end of March instead of May, the time by which the process would be completed earlier.
Another historic development witnessed this time was the merger of the Railway Budget with the General Budget, ending a 92-year-old practice of presentation of two separate budgets.
The session also saw all the parties coming together in both the Houses over the death sentence awarded to Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav by a Pakistani military court on the charges of spying.
Amid outrage in both the Houses yesterday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj made statements, saying the execution would be a “pre-meditated murder” and warned that it will have consequences on the bilateral ties.
The first part of the session was from January 31 to February 9 and the second part from March 9 till today.
Altogether, there were 29 sittings, with the Lok Sabha working for 176 hours and 39 minutes and the Rajya Sabha for over 136 hours.
The Lok Sabha lost eight hours and 12 minutes due to disruptions, including one by the Shiv Sena over the flying ban by domestic airlines on one of its MPs who had allegedly thrashed an Air India employee.
The Upper House lost 13 hours because of furore over different issues.
Both the Houses passed four bills of the GST (Goods and Services Tax), the biggest tax reform which would bring India under a uniform indirect tax regime.
The Lok Sabha also passed The Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Bill, 2017, The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016, the Enemy Property Bill, the Mental healthcare Bill, Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2016, HIV and AIDS (Prevention and Control) Bill, 2017 and 123rd Constitution Amendment Bill (to grant constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes).
“Of the 560 starred questions, more than 136 were given oral answers, which comes to around 4.68 questions per day. 494 issues were raised under Rule 377 and 158 Private members Bills were introduced in the House,” Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said in her valedictory remarks.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Samajwadi Party’s patron Mulayam Singh Yadav and BJP veteran L K Advani were present in the House.
The Rajya Sabha passed or returned 14 bills, including four GST legislations, the Payment of Wastes (Amendment) Bill, the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Aquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (Prevention and Control) Bill, the Employee’s Compensation (Amendment) Bill, the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment Bill) and Appropriation (General and Railways) Bills during the session.
However, the bill to grant constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes, which was passed by the Lok Sabha, could not go through the Rajya Sabha as the Opposition resisted it, after which it was sent to a Select Committee.
The other issues which led to disruptions were the demand for swearing-in of V K Sasikala as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, role of Governors regarding formation of governments in Goa and Manipur and the government’s proposal for setting up of a National Commission for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes in place of National Commission for Backward Classes.
House proceedings were also stalled over allegations of tampering of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), reported remarks of Rajasthan Home Minister on rape and over “selective targeting” of opposition leaders in cases of land allotments.
However, the Rajya Sabha sat late for more than six and a half hours to make up for the lost time.
Ministers made nine statements on different issues on issues like killing of Indian fishermen by Sri Lankan Navy, the killing of a dairy farmer in Rajasthan, hate crimes against Indian citizens in the US etc.
In his valedictory remarks, Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari also lauded the backbenchers in the House for their enthusiastic contribution to the proceedings.
Ansari said the members’ zeal to raise important issues was manifested in 205 Zero Hour submissions, 76 special mentions, 435 starred and 4,629 unstarred questions.
The Prime Minister, Leader of the House Arun Jaitley and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad were present.
During the session 33 private members’ bills were introduced while there was animated debate on short duration discussions on issues like election reforms and Aadhaar, he said.
Ansari thanked all leaders and members for their cooperation as the House adjourned ‘sine die’ after national song ‘Vande Mataram’ was played. (PTI)
