Parliament Diary

A day before Parliament is due to break for recess, discussions on the Budget continued in both Houses. Speaking on the debate, a Member expressed his dissatisfaction on the absence of a dedicated non-lapsable fund for modernisation of the defence forces as recommended by the 15th Finance Commission. The Member further added that the Finance Commission had recommended 41% of Centre's taxes to be devolved to the state governments but due to high share of cesses and surcharges, this had effectively come down to 30%.

Another Member said that he was encouraged by the strong economic indicators. The forex reserves, FDI inflows, record exports, buoyant taxes place the macroeconomic fundamentals of the economy on a sound footing in a difficult time, the Member said in support of the Budget.

Before the Budget discussion in the Upper House, questions were put to the I&B Minister of State regarding the scheme for the welfare of journalists. To a question on the status of a Committee report to review the Journalist Welfare Scheme, the Minister informed the House that the report is under the consideration of the government. Another Member made an intervention regarding the absence of a Chairperson at the Press Council of India. The post became vacant in November 2021.

During the Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha, a Member drew the attention of the House to the difficulties of senior citizens and urged the government to increase the allocation for their betterment. In Lok Sabha, replying to a question, the Civil Aviation Minister updated the House about the 2020 Calicut Airport air crash. The Minister said that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau report is being evaluated by a Committee within the Ministry.

The Home Affairs Committee tabled its report on police reforms in Parliament.

At the time of uploading this post, the Finance Minister was responding to the discussion on the Union Budget in Lok Sabha.