The Budget Session
of the Parliament commences on Friday and will get underway with President Ram
Nath Kovind’s address. The Union Budget will be presented to both houses of the
Parliament on February 1 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. This year will
be Sitharaman’s third Union Budget.

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The
President will deliver his address to a joint-session of the Parliament at 11
am on Friday following which Sitharaman will present the annual Economic Survey,
which is usually presented on the opening day of the Budget Session.

The
Economic Survey is one of the most important documents presented by the Finance
Ministry as it summarises the annual economic development across the country
over the financial year, as well as providing the resource allocations mentioned
in the Budget.  

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The Budget
Session is slated to end on April 8, with a 20-day recess period from February
15 to March 8, when the Parliamentary Committees will discuss various budgetary
proposals and Demands for Grants for various ministries and prepare their
reports.

Health-safety
protocols will be followed throughout the entirety of the Session, along the
lines of the Monsoon Session last year, which ended abruptly after a number of
MPs tested positive for the coronavirus. The Winter Session was then
called off in light of the pandemic.

Also like
the Monsoon Session, the Rajya Sabha will meet in the first half of the day, while
the Lok Sabha will hold its sessions in the second half.

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This year’s
Budget Session comes at a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government is faced with multiple
issues such as the farmers’ protest over the three contentious farm laws – passed
in the Monsoon Session, the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing economic
fallout and others.

With assembly
elections for West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry coming up,
Opposition leaders will be geared up to put the government under pressure and
proceedings are likely to be fiery affairs.