A meeting of the Lok Sabha’s business advisory committee has been called on March 1, 12 days before the second half of the budget session begins. The weekly meetings are usually held only during a parliamentary session. The committee, led by Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla, decides the weekly agenda of the House.
The meeting has been called early to create a schedule for discussion on ministry specific demands for grants in the House, officials said, seeking anonymity. The discussion on demand for grants is a part of the discussion on the general budget in which the functioning of ministries is discussed before their budgets are approved in Parliament.
“Usually, this schedule is prepared during the first half as discussions on demand for grants will start from the first day of the second half,” said NK Premachandran, leader of the Revolutionary Socialist Party in the Lok Sabha. “But due to ongoing opposition protests and other issues, the schedule could not be finalized. I presume the Speaker has called the meeting early to finalize the schedule for discussion on demand for grants so that it can start from March 13.”
Due to time limitations, the budget of all ministries are never discussed on the floor of the House. The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha select 4-5 ministries each for detailed discussions. The last part of the budget discussion is the passage of the Finance Bill.
Some opposition leaders said they were surprised to be informed about the meeting on March 1 but added that they will attend. “It was a bit surprising. But we are attending the meeting of the Lok Sabha Speaker,” said TMC floor leader Sudip Bandopadhyay. “We don’t know what is the agenda, but we expect it is to finalize the schedule for demand for grants discussion.”
Birla, who is currently out of Delhi, has a packed schedule in the next few days, but wants to ensure there was no delay in the important discussions on the budget, officials said.