The government has called for an all-party meeting scheduled for Sunday ahead of the Budget Session of Parliament. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju will chair a gathering of parliamentary party leaders to discuss the agenda and key issues for the upcoming session.
The Monsoon Session of Parliament is set to commence on Monday and will consist of 19 sittings until August 12. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is slated to present the Union Budget on the first day, alongside tabling the Economic Survey.
During this session, the government plans to introduce six bills, notably including the replacement of the 90-year-old Aircraft Act, as well as seeking parliamentary approval for the budget of Jammu and Kashmir, currently under central rule.
The opposition, under the INDI Alliance, intends to focus on holding the NDA government accountable on various issues, such as the NEET paper leak and railway safety concerns. Additionally, they are poised to resist any attempts by the government to reduce its stake in public sector banks below 51 percent, as stated by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh earlier this week.
Further legislative measures anticipated in the session include amendments to the Banking Regulation Act of 1949, the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Acts of 1970 and 1980, which may potentially lower the government’s shareholding in PSBs.
Apart from the Finance Bill, the session will also see deliberations on bills such as the Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill, aimed at clarifying and aligning the roles of various disaster management organizations.
The agenda also includes the introduction of bills like the Bhartiya Vayuyan Vidheyak, 2024 to modernize regulations governing the civil aviation sector, alongside the Boilers Bill, the Coffee (Promotion and Development) Bill, and the Rubber (Promotion and Development) Bill.
In a separate development, BJD leader and former Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik has directed his party MPs to advocate for special category status for Odisha, affirming the party’s commitment to vigorously representing the state’s interests and assuming a robust opposition role in Parliament.