Monsoon session set to be held from Sept 14 to Oct 1 with Covid guidelines
NEW DELHI : Indian Parliament’s much-awaited monsoon session should start from September 14 and end on October 1 , the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs headed by defence minister Rajnath Singh has recommended, according to people familiar with the matter.
The dates will now have to be approved by the Union cabinet, which will then forward them to the President.
CCPA has also suggested a total of 18 sittings as the government has a total of 11 ordinances to clear, the people cited in the first instance added on condition of anonymity. The government is also bracing for a demand from Opposition parties to debate the India China border conflict, the Covid situation, the state of the economy, problems of migrant workers and the recent allegations against social media giant Facebook.
According to the people, the government is discussing with stakeholders, a plan that involves skipping the Question Hour to reserve more time for debates and legislative business. “Conducting Question Hour requires huge manpower which is not advisable amid pandemic. We are talking to different parties before taking the final call,” said one official. HT has previously reported that during wartime in 1962, 1965 and 1971 and the Emergency (1975-77), the Lok Sabha didn’t have question Hour.
Officials added that the government and the two presiding officers will also decide whether the proceedings of the two Houses be in two shifts—lok Sabha at 9am and Rajya Sabha at 3pm, or vice versa —or spread across alternative days. According to officials, the Rajya Sabha secretariat favours shifts.
“There is also a possibility that we run the House during weekends. As it is, the MPS would not have much to do at home amid the pandemic and working extra hours in the weekend will help the House transact more business,” said a senior official.
The Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has called a meeting on August 27 to discuss how to prepare for the session.
The Houses are being prepared for the session with measures such as ultraviolet germicidal irradiation of the air-conditioning system, 10 display screens for live proceeding, placards to indicate names of parties, earmarked seats for top leaders and special cables linking the two Houses.