Parliament Session to Begin July 22, Government and Opposition Gird for Intense Debate

New Delhi: The upcoming session of Parliament, scheduled from July 22 to August 12, promises to be a charged affair as opposition parties, buoyed by recent gains in the Lok Sabha elections, prepare to rigorously challenge the government. In anticipation, the government has called for an all-party meeting on Sunday, July 21, to ensure smooth proceedings. Representing the government will be Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, while the opposition will be led by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi.

The government is keen to avoid the disruptions experienced in the previous session, where issues such as NEET dominated discussions. Nevertheless, the opposition is ready to spotlight various contentious issues, including inflation, train accidents, the Agniveer scheme, and the rising number of soldier casualties in Jammu and Kashmir due to terrorist attacks.

Additionally, the Samajwadi Party is expected to bring up the Yogi government’s directive requiring shop owners’ names to be displayed along the Kanwar Yatra route. Internal conflicts within the Uttar Pradesh BJP and broader issues of constitutional protections and reservation policies are also likely to be hotly debated.

A significant highlight of this session will be the presentation of the first budget of the Modi Government 3.0, scheduled for Tuesday. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will introduce the general budget, followed by discussions on the Demand for Grants and the passage of the Appropriation Bill. The budget for Jammu and Kashmir will also be addressed.

The government plans to introduce and pass six bills during this session, including the Finance Bill, Disaster Management Bill, Boilers Bill, Indian Aircraft Bill, Coffee Promotion and Development Bill, and Rubber Promotion and Development Bill. To streamline the proceedings, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has formed a Business Advisory Committee comprising 14 MPs from various parties, tasked with deciding the business agenda and debate schedules.

The committee includes BJP MPs Nishikant Dubey, Anurag Singh Thakur, Bhartruhari Mahtab, PP Chaudhary, Baijayant Panda, and Dr. Sanjay Jaiswal, alongside Congress MPs K Suresh and Gaurav Gogoi, TMC’s Sudip Bandyopadhyay, DMK’s Dayanidhi Maran, and Shiv Sena UBT’s Arvind Sawant.

In preparation for the session, the Congress, under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership, has developed a comprehensive action plan focusing on youth, farmers, laborers, and the economically disadvantaged. Key issues to be raised include youth unemployment, the NEET paper leak, the discontinuation of the Agniveer scheme, and the increasing terrorist activity in Jammu and Kashmir.

With elections in Jammu and Kashmir on the horizon, the Congress intends to aggressively question the central government’s policies, particularly the increased powers of the Lieutenant Governor and the delay in granting full statehood and holding elections. Additional issues such as violence in Manipur and Tripura, as well as Chinese encroachment, will be leveraged to challenge the government’s stance on nationalism.

The stage is set for a heated parliamentary session, with both the government and opposition prepared to engage in robust debate on a wide array of critical issues.

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