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The second part of the Budget Session of Parliament which commenced on 13 March, 2023 has been adjourned sine die on 6th of April, 2023. Speaking about the Budget Session, Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Culture, Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal said the first part of the Budget Session yielded a total of 10 sittings of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. In the second part of the Session, there were 15 sittings of both Houses. During the entire Budget Session, in total, there were 25 sittings. Following are the highlights of the session:
II. Important Events
1. Speaker of the House, Shri Om Birla (BJP, Kota, Rajasthan) received the message from the President that she received the expression of thanks by the Members of the Lok Sabha for the Address which she delivered to both Houses of the Parliament assembled together on 31 January, 2023.
2. Resolution for a special fund for the modernisation of madrassas introduced in Rajya Sabha by Shri Abdul Wahab (IUML, Kerala) was turned down.
3. Lok Sabha Privileges Committee To Study Precedents Against Shri Rahul Gandhi (Former MP). Following a Surat Magistrate Court’s sentencing of Shri Rahul Gandhi (Former MP) to an imprisonment for two years in a defamation case, he was disqualified by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, on March 24, from representing the Wayanad Constituency in Kerala.
4. The BJP has submitted a breach of privilege notice in Rajya Sabha against Congress leaders Shri Mallikarjun Kharge (INC, Karnataka) and Shri Jairam Ramesh (INC, Karnataka) for allegedly disrespecting the sanctity of the Chair, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar Ji.
III. Important Parliamentary Committee Findings
1. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Demands for Grants has stated that the Ministry of Home Affairs has informed that several states and Union Territories own an amount of Rs. 49,912.37 crore towards deployment of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) in these States and UTs.
2. The JPC Report on the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill was tabled in the Parliament. The Bill seeks to accommodate changes brought by the 97th Constitutional Amendment and changes in the sector over the period. The JPC turned down the request by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to include overarching proviso in the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill.
3. The Joint-Parliamentary Committee on the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2022 tabled its Report in the Lok Sabha, and made few recommendations, while accepting the majority of its 183 provisions.
IV. Important Questions Answered
1. Shri Pankaj Chaudhary (MoS, Ministry of Finance; BJP, Maharajganj, Uttar Pradesh) informed the Parliament that the Enforcement Directorate had recorded 3,497 cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).
2. Shri R.K. Singh (Union Minister, Ministry of Power; BJP, Arrah, Bihar) informed the House that under PM’s Gati Shakti Master Plan, 27,000 circuit kilometres of transmission lines to be added at an investment of Rs. 75,000 crore by 2024-25.
3. Smt Anupriya Patel (MoS, Ministry of Commerce and Industry; ADS, Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh) informed the House that export of chilli from India has seen more than 25% growth between 2017- 18 and 2021-22 fiscal.
4. Shri Pankaj Chaudhary (MoS, Ministry of Finance; BJP, Maharajganj, Uttar Pradesh) informed the Lok Sabha that during searches carried out by the Income Tax Department against 2,841 organisations over the course of the last four financial years, assets worth more than Rs. 4,800 crore were seized.
5. Shri Piyush Goyal (Union Minister; Ministry of Commerce and Industry; BJP, Maharashtra) informed the House that the Make in India Programme has resulted in the increase of employment in the manufacturing sector from 5.7 crore in the year 2017-18 to 6.24 crore in the year 2019-20.
6. Shri Rao Inderjit Singh Ji (MoS, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation; BJP, Gurgaon, Haryana) informed the Parliament that the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) has had an increasing trend from 2012-13 to 2021-22.
7. Shri Nityananda Rai (MoS, Ministry of Home Affairs; BJP, Ujiarpur, Bihar) informed the Parliament that Naxal violence in India has decreased by 77% over the past 12 years and the number of deaths in related incidents has also reduced by 90% during the same period.
8. Shri Nityanand Rai (MoS, Ministry of Home Affairs; BJP, Ujiarpur, Bihar) informed the Parliament that a record investment worth Rs. 1,547.87 crore has been received by Jammu and Kashmir in this fiscal year till January.
9. Shri Bhagawat Karad (MoS, Ministry of Finance, BJP, Maharashtra) informed the Parliament that banks from 18 countries have been permitted by the RBI to open special vostro rupee accounts (SVRAs) for settling payments in Indian rupees.
10. Shri Rameshwar Teli (MoS, Ministry of Labour and Employment; BJP, Dibrugarh, Assam) told the Rajya Sabha that the Prime Minister Street Vendor’s Atma Nirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme, launched during the covid pandemic, has seen 42.21 lakh loans disbursed till 13th March, 2023.
