Parliament’s budget 2023 session, which begins on Tuesday, is expected to be heated as the opposition seeks to raise several issues, including those related to Adani Group shares and a controversial BBC documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots. The session will open with a joint speech President Droupadi Murma to the two Houses of Parliament, followed by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Economic Survey 2023 table on Tuesday, a day before the Union Budget is presented.
Budget Session and Economic Survey:
During the session, the government’s priority will be to push for the passage of the President’s Motion of Thanks and the Finance Bill, while the opposition is trying to corner it on issues like the Adani-Hindenburg dispute, the caste-wide Economic Census and the Women’s Reservation Bill.
The economic survey will be presented on Tuesday after the President’s speech at 11 am. Sitharaman will present the last full-fledged Union Budget of the Narendra Modi government before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on February 1.
The government plans to present approximately 36 draft laws at the session, including four related to the implementation of the budget. The session will have 27 sittings and will continue until April 6 with a month-long break to examine budget documents.
The first part of the session will end on February 14. Parliament will reconvene on March 12 for the second part of the budget session. The government held an all-party meeting on Monday where opposition parties raised issues of concern.
Opposition leaders raised issues such as Adani shares, the ban on BBC documentaries and alleged interference by governors in states ruled by opposition parties. The parties that raised the issue included the RJD, CPI-M, CPI, AAP and the National Conference.
BRS decided to boycott President Murmu’s usual speech. India will continue to be the world’s fastest-growing major economy in the next financial year, with the official growth estimate likely to be between 9 percent and 6.8 percent, two people briefed on the development told HT.
Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran will hold a press conference to give details of the economic survey after Sitharaman tabled it in the House. The Economic Survey is the government’s overview of how the economy has fared over the past year.
Even growth of 6.8% could keep India among the world’s fastest-growing economies, although it is losing pace from an estimated 7 percent in the fiscal year ending March 31. In the previous year, it grew by 8.7 percent. mainly due to pandemic-related disruptions.
