Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first Budget in his third term as Prime Minister will be presented in Parliament’s session beginning on Monday, and indications are in spite of a tough Opposition, the government will not respond to any issue raised without procedural clearances.
The government held an all-party meeting on Sunday to seek cooperation of political parties for smooth conduct of proceedings in the two Houses of Parliament. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told the Opposition leaders that disruption of the Prime Minister’s speeches in the last session was against democratic norms.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the Opposition has been told that running of Parliament is as much responsibility of the government, as of the Opposition.
The Opposition has been impatient to raise several issues during the session, and told the government that the post of the Deputy Speaker in the Lok Sabha by convention belonged to the Opposition and should be filled up by a candidate from the Opposition.
The Opposition has many troubling questions to ask from the government, but there can be early storm on the Uttar Pradesh government’s order for shops on the Kanwar Yatra routes to display nameplates. The Opposition parties said they want the Centre to intervene as the order is targeted against the Muslims.
The Opposition parties are planning to seek answers on the revival of terrorist activity in Jammu and Kashmir, the Manipur imbroglio, the alarming state of higher education, spiralling prices, the employment situation getting out of hand and recurring railway accidents due to human failures.
The Prime Minister spoke on the Manipur situation in the Rajya Sabha in its last session, but the Lok Sabha with a much stronger Opposition will see demands again to discuss the ground reality in the State and know how the government was responding to it.
After a comparative lull of peace, Jammu and Kashmir is reporting shocking incidents of terrorist attacks in Jammu districts, which has led to heavy deployment of the Army. The Opposition is planning to demand answers what failures were behind the situation.
The state of the higher education, along with the NEET examination paper leaks, has caused nationwide concern requiring Central attention. The issue will be raised again forcefully.
The Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which has broken off from the ruling BJP, will take up the issue of special status for Odisha, along with other Opposition parties demanding special status for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, with the objective of getting additional economic packages for the States.
As Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents the Union Budget 2024-25 in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, after the Economic Survey on Monday, the focus of the session will be on economic issues, like spiralling prices, and the state of non-agricultural employment in the country.
Opposition parties said despite government reports and claims, there is no clarity on employment of the educated and skilled manpower, with frequent events showing too many youth chasing too few openings of regular employment.
The Opposition has been demanding higher allocations for health and education sectors which meet social needs while providing employment opportunities. There are demands to fill lakhs of vacancies in the Central and state governments also.
While the government has been setting new records in its capital expenditure, private investment is still subdued, keeping employment opportunities for the educated youth for regular employment restricted.
The Opposition has been pressing for a strong campaign to revive the MSME sector which was virtually the country’s manufacturing hub and employer of educated youth before the pandemic struck, after other crises.