AIR Spotlight - Budget Session of the Parliament

AIR Spotlight is an insightful program featured daily on the All India Radio Newsonair. In this program, many eminent panellists discuss issues of importance which can be quite helpful in IAS exam preparation. In this article, the topic of discussion is the budget session.

Participants:

1. K V Prasad, Political Analyst
2. Aditi Tondon, Journalist

Context:

The article will discuss different issues that will be taken up during the session along with the views of the opposition parties.

Background:

• The second part of the Budget session has resumed from 14th March and will last until April 8, 2022.
• The first part of this budget session with 10 sittings concluded on February 11, 2022. 
• The second part of the Budget session follows the results of the five state Assembly elections.

Issues to be discussed:

Some of the major issues that will be discussed by the ruling party and the opposition are as follows:

Russia-Ukraine War:

• India’s stand with respect to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war will be discussed. The talks about rising fuel prices also hold a significant place in the discussion.
• Operation Ganga, the rescue operation launched by the Government of India to evacuate its citizens from the war zone in Ukraine has been successful. So far, India has been able to rescue around 20,000 stranded citizens through 80 special evacuation flights.

Know more about Operation Ganga in the link.

Jammu & Kashmir:

• The Centre’s top agenda would be getting Parliament’s approval for the budgetary proposals of Jammu & Kashmir. 
• Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the J&K Budget in Parliament. 
• She will present a statement of “estimated receipts and expenditure of the Union Territory for the year 2022-23”. 
• However, the matter of elections will be raised after the delimitation commission will submit its report.

The Constitution (Scheduled tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill:

• The government has also listed the Constitution (Scheduled tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill for consideration and passing in Lok Sabha. 
• The Bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha in August 2021. The Constitution empowers the President to specify the Scheduled Tribes (STs) in various states and union territories. It also permits Parliament to modify this list of notified STs. 
• The Bill has been introduced to give effect to modifications proposed by the state of Arunachal Pradesh.

Inflation, Unemployment, EPFO:

• The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) decided to slash the interest rate on employees’ provident funds from 8.5 percent to 8.1 percent. This will be discussed during the second part of the budget session.

Rajya Sabha Elections 2022:

• Elections for 13 Rajya Sabha seats (MPs) will be held in March with five fighting from Punjab. Out of the remaining 8 seats, 3 are from Kerala, 2 are from Assam, and 1 each from Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, and Nagaland.

Conclusion:

It is expected that the second half of the budget session will be very productive and will bring about positive outcomes.

Read more Gist of AIR Spotlight here.

AIR Spotlight – Budget Session of the Parliament:- Download PDF Here