The government has convened an all-party meeting on Sunday, ahead of the Budget Session of Parliament, to seek the cooperation of political parties in the smooth functioning of the two Houses of Parliament.
The Budget Session will be held from the 22nd of July to the 12th of August. The Union Budget will be presented on the 23rd of July. The government is expected to present the Economic Survey on Monday, 22nd July.
The coming Budget will be the first Budget of the Narendra Modi government in its third term. A meeting of the Union Cabinet is likely to take place on Thursday morning.
The all-party meeting will be significant in view of the stormy proceedings witnessed in the two Houses during a discussion on the Motion of Thanks to President Droupadi Murmu’s address to Parliament in the last session.
The short session was mainly devoted to oath-taking by newly-elected members of the 18th Lok Sabha and the re-election of Mr Om Birla as the Speaker.
While the Opposition was disturbed in the session over the government’s references to the 1975 Emergency, the day of the imposition of the Emergency, the 25th of June, has since been declared as Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas (Constitution Murder Day).
A government notification last Friday declared “25th June as “Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas” to pay tribute to all those who suffered and fought against the gross abuse of power during the period of Emergency and to recommit to the people of India to not support in any manner such gross abuse of power in the future.”
In her address to Parliament, the President had referred to the coming Budget and said: “My Government will present its first budget in the forthcoming session. This budget will be an effective document of the Government’s far-reaching policies and futuristic vision.”
She further stated, “Along with major economic and social decisions, many historic steps will also be seen in this budget. The pace of reforms will be further accelerated in tune with the aspirations of the people of India for rapid development.”
She said the government believed that there should be healthy competition among the states to attract investors from all over the world. This is the true spirit of competitive cooperative federalism, she said.
“We will continue to move ahead with the belief that the development of the country lies in the development of the states,” she had stated.