More Stories

Informist, Friday, Aug 9, 2024

NEW DELHI – The Budget Session of Parliament, which commenced Jul 22, ended today ahead of schedule. The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned sine die one sitting before the session was due to conclude Aug 12. The Lok Sabha recorded a total of 15 sittings and the productivity of the house was 136%, Speaker Om Birla said.

 

The session commenced with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabling the Economic Survey for 2023-24 (Apr-Mar) and presenting the first budget of the third term of the Narendra Modi government. The finance minister presented the full Budget for 2024-2025 in the Lok Sabha Jul 23. It was followed by a discussion in both houses of Parliament.

 

The speaker said 12 government bills were introduced during the session and four were passed. The Lower House passed the Finance Bill, 2024, the Appropriation Bill, 2024, the Jammu and Kashmir Appropriation Bill, 2024, and the Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak, 2024.

 

The government introduced the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Bills of Lading Bill, 2024, the Carriage of Goods by Sea Bill, 2024, the Railways (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies of the State of Goa Bill, 2024, the Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill, and the Mussalman Wakq (Repeal) Bill 2024.

 

The Waqf (Amendment) Bill seeks to amend the Waqf Act 1995 for effective management of assets and administration of waqf. The bill was sent to a joint parliamentary committee following protests by opposition parties.

 

The Railways (Amendment) Bill proposes to repeal the Indian Railway Board Act, 1905, by suitably incorporating provisions for the constitution and composition of the railway board into the Railways Act, 1989. The railway board is already in existence, the bill states.

 

The Carriage of Goods by Sea Bill aims to modernise and update the legal framework governing the responsibilities, liabilities, rights, and immunities of carriers involved in the marine transport of goods. It also seeks to replace the century-old Indian Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, 1925.

 

Birla said 86 starred questions were answered orally during the session and a total of 400 matters of urgent public importance were raised by members. Apart from the Budget and government legislation, the Lok Sabha discussed India’s preparedness for the Olympic Games and loss of lives and property due to landslides and floods in various parts of the country. At least 65 private members' bills were introduced during the session in the Lower House.

 

In the Rajya Sabha, two bills--The Boilers Bill, 2024, and The Oilfields Regulation and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2024--were introduced during the session. The productivity of the Rajya Sabha was 118%.

 

The Rajya Sabha held discussions on the Finance Bill and Appropriation Bill and returned them to the Lok Sabha. The Upper House also discussed the work of the Ministries of Housing and Urban Affairs, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, and New and Renewable Energy.

 

Today, the Upper House witnessed frequent adjournments due to a face-off between Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar and Samajwadi Party member Jaya Bachchan. Bachchan accused Dhankhar of talking to her in an “unacceptable tone”.

 

"I am an artist. I understand body language and expressions. But your tone is not right. We are your colleagues, but your tone is unacceptable," Bachchan said. Dhankhar hit back, asking Bachchan to understand the importance of maintaining decorum.

 

"Jayaji, you have earned a great reputation. You know an actor is subject to the director. But every day, I do not want to repeat myself. Every day, I don't want to do schooling. You are talking about my tone? Enough of it. You may be anybody. You have to understand the decorum. You can be a celebrity but accept decorum," Dhankhar said. Opposition members staged a walkout.  End

 

Reported by Kuldeep Singh

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2024. All rights reserved.