The first leg of the budget session will be between January 29 and February 9, while Phase 2 will be from 5 March to 6 April, says parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar.
The fifth budget to be presented by finance minister Arun Jaitley comes against the backdrop of interesting circumstances.
Ten Facts Regarding Budget:
- PM said the budget session is very important and the government takes very sincerely the suggestions given to it by the opposition during a discussion in the all-party meeting, said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar.
- The focus of the union budget will be job creation, small businesses and rural schemes, reported news agency Reuters, quoting officials. “The budget is likely to offer incentives to the farm sector and small businesses,” Reuters quoted an official as saying.
- The Opposition plans to counter the government on rising incidents of rapes, the alleged “attack” on constitutional institutions and the plight of traders. “We want to raise these issues as they are important.
- The gross domestic growth forecast for the year ending March 2018 has been predicted as 6.5 percent, the weakest in four years. The slowdown has been attributed to the rollout of nationwide goods and service tax (GST) last year and a shock moves to ban high-value currency notes in late 2016.
- They set legs for the budget and declared after a recess, parliament will meet again from March 5 to April 6.
- The two other key bills for the session – the triple talaq legislation that’s pending in Rajya Sabha, and the bill seeking constitutional status for the OBC commission, are seen to have political significance for the BJP.
- The BJP strongly supports the abolition of instant triple talaq, which has been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The bill proposes a three-year jail term and a possible fine for any Muslim man who indulges in the practice.
- The BJP also hopes to consolidate its support among backward classes by giving constitutional status to the OBC commission, which will make it more powerful.
- The all-party meeting, was attended by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who represented the government. The opposition was represented by Mallikarjun Kharge of the Congress, Mulayam Singh Yadav of Samajwadi Party, D Raja of the CPI, Kanimozhi from the DMK, Derek O’Brien and Sudip Bandhopadhyay of Trinamool Congress.
- The session will begin with President Ram Nath Kovind‘s address – his first – to a joint sitting of members of both houses.