Waqf Bill among 19 legislations on government's agenda for Parliament's budget session; opposition parties highlight their issues

New Delhi [India], January 31 : The budget session of Parliament will commence on Friday with the government outlining its legislative agenda including the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the opposition parties pressing on issues of their concern including price rise and unemployment.
The budget session will commence with President Droupadi Murmu addressing joint sitting of the two Houses. The Economic Survey will also be tabled on Friday ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget on Saturday.
After the all-party meeting convened by the government, Congress leader Pramod Tiwari accused the government of failing on the economic front.
"Congress expressed concern that the BJP government is systematically killing constitutional values and traditions...We expressed concern over the manner in which the incident occurred in the Kumbh Mela. We are seeing that now the date of independence of the country is also being changed by the Chief of the RSS. Not only this, we also expressed concern over the insult of Babasaheb Ambedkar by Home Minister Amit Shah... Gandhi ji was assassinated on this day but this government is killing him every day and promoting the principles of Godse," he alleged.
"The Waqf Board meeting was held as if all the decisions were already written... The committee that has been formed for One Nation One Election deliberately has 2 fewer members of the opposition and 2 more members of the ruling party, it makes it seem that all the preparations are already done. We also discussed how the government has completely failed on the economic front... The government is not concerned about Manipur," he added.
BJD MP Sasmit Patra said the party will press for special category status for Odisha.
"There were very critical issues that were raised by the BJD today in the all-party meeting right before the Budget session. Party President Naveen Patnaik advised and directed the BJD parliamentary party to strongly take up the issue of demanding special category status for the state of Odisha. This has been a long-standing demand. In 2014, the BJP in its election manifesto had specified on its first page of the manifesto that if they came to power, they would ensure special category status for the state of Odisha," he said.
"They say they are a double-engine government. They are in Delhi. They are in Odisha. So, therefore, why is the special category status not coming in? So BJD will very strongly demand special category status for the state of Odisha," he added.
The all-party meeting was chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and attended by 52 leaders from 36 political parties including union ministers.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said that tentatively 16 items of legislative business and three items of financial business have been identified for being taken up during this session.
The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs also stated that the Government is prepared and ready to discuss any other important issue on the floor of the Houses as per rules of both Houses.
The legislative agenda of the government includes Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Railways (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Bill, 2024, the Boilers Bill, 2024, the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Coastal Shipping Bill, 2024, the Merchant Shipping Bill, 2024 and the Finance Bill, 2025
The two Houses will take up discussion and voting on Demands for Grants for the year 2025-26 and introduction, consideration and passing of the related Appropriation Bill.
There will be discussion and voting on Second and Final Batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for the year 2024-25 and introduction, consideration and passing/return of the related appropriation bill.
There will also be discussion and voting on Demands for Excess Grants for the year 2021-22 and introduction, consideration and passing/return of the related appropriation bill.
Rijiju said with the Rajya Sabha Chairman and Lok Sabha Speaker, the Business Advisory Committees will decide the duration of discussions on the President's address and the budget discussion.
He said Parliament will not function on February 5 due to Delhi polls.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that at the all-party meeting, the opposition members expressed their strong protest of the way Joint Parliamentary Committee on Waqf Bill functioned.
"In the traditional pre-session All-Party meeting this morning, all Opposition leaders have expressed their strongest protest on how the JPC on the Wakf Amendment Bill was made to function. It has made a complete mockery of all parliamentary traditions and practices. Such committees used to be a force to be reckoned with - now they have been reduced to be a farce to be reckoned with," Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.
"Since the establishment of the Standing Committees in the mid-1990s, Parliament has followed a One MP, One Standing Committee rule. Now there are 26 BJP MPs who are members of 2 Standing Committees. This shows how the Duo are seeking to control the Standing Committees," he added.
The first part of budget session will continue till February 13 and the two Houses will again meet on March 10 after recess with the session concluding on April 4.