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Informist, Thursday, Apr. 2, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Budget session of Parliament, which was scheduled to conclude Thursday, has been extended till Apr. 16 as the government wants to clear some "important" bills, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said. Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned Thursday till Apr. 16 after the government asked for one more sitting to complete its legislative business.

 

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla announced in the House that he had received a request to the effect from the parliamentary affairs minister. Birla said only the government's legislative business will be taken up on Apr. 16 and there will be no Question Hour and no Zero Hour. Also, no private member's bills will be taken up.

 

Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, Manickam Tagore of the Indian National Congress said the Opposition had not been taken into confidence on the move and there was no discussion about it in the Business Advisory Committee meeting either. "We just heard from the media that the House is going to be extended. This is very unfortunate," the member of Parliament from Virudhunagar in Tamil Nadu, said.

 

"The government is making Parliament a notice board," Tagore said. "They are just coming up with some kind of ideas and extending the session without taking any party into confidence."

 

One bill that the government is said to be keen on getting passed is the Foreign Contribution Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2026. It was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Mar. 25, but the government did not bring it up for discussion after the Opposition protested. The Opposition has said the law will give government officials unfettered powers to seize the assets of non-governmental and civil society organisations, even if they are not created purely with foreign funding.

 

The Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) claimed that the legislation will affect Christian minority institutions. With Keralam, which has a large Christian population, going to the polls on Apr. 9, the government held the bill back. Assam will also vote on Apr. 9.  End

 

Reported by Asim Khan

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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