Parliament Diary

The first sitting of the Budget Session of the 16th Lok Sabha was held
today. The Session consists of 28 sittings and will focus on financial
business related to the Union and the Railway Budget.  For more information on the Session, check out the Session Alert.

The day saw the Lower House unable to function due to repeated
disruptions over the issue of price rise and inflation by Opposition
parties. 

In the Upper House an extended discussion on the issue of price rise was held from 11 am to 3 pm. Rajya Sabha then undertook The National Institute of Design Bill, 2013 which was discussed and passed by the House.

In Lok Sabha, the Congress Party wanted to raise the issue of price rise
as an Adjournment Motion. The Speaker asked for the matter to be raised
as a Short Duration Discussion under Rule 193. Opposition parties then
entered the well of the House leading the Speaker to adjourn Lok Sabha
for the day.

Adjournment Motions are very rare and are used to bring a matter of
urgent public importance for discussion. They are seen as a strong
disagreement with government policy. If the Adjournment Motion is
accepted, the House adjourns after voting. During the 15th Lok Sabha,
only two Adjournment motions were allowed by the Speaker. The first was
in 2011 on the issue of money deposited illegally in foreign banks and the action taken and the second was in 2012 on illegal infiltration into Assam and large scale ethnic violence in parts of Assam.

In Rajya Sabha, the issue of price rise was discussed by several
political parties. Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad raised the
issue of increase in prices of essential commodities and rail fare. In
response, the Leader of the House Arun Jaitley stated that the
government was already taking action and deemed the fare hike necessary
by saying that the railways had encountered “a 30,000 crore loss on
passenger fare”. Following Mr. Jaitley’s response a number of opposition
parties staged a walkout. Rajya Sabha then continued to undertake
legislative business for the day and adjourned at 5 pm

The Legislative agenda for the day was as following:
Lok Sabha
Bill for Introduction
1. Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2014 [to replace an Ordinance]

Rajya Sabha
Bill for Consideration and Passing
1. The National Institute of Design Bill, 2013
 
Legislative Agenda for the Session
In addition to the Union Budget (General and Railway) and the Budget for
Delhi, the legislative agenda for the Budget Session is as under: 
· 9 Bills listed for Consideration and Passing
· 6 Bills listed for Introduction, Consideration and Passing [4 of them to replace Ordinances which were promulgated when Parliament was not in session]
· 5 Bills listed for Introduction