New Delhi:
The second half of parliament’s budget session beginning today is expected to be stormy, with the Opposition set to corner the government on multiple issues including delimitation, language policy, Waqf bill and US trade tariffs.
Here are the top 10 points in this story:
- The government is expected to get the Finance Bills passed that would complete the budgetary process. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will also table the budget for Manipur, which has been under President’s Rule since last month.
- Early today, the Congress is expected to hold a meet to formulate its strategy for the second half of the budget session that will continue till April 4. The INDIA parties are expected to coordinate with the Congress.
- The Centre’s move to push the three-language policy in the Opposition-ruled southern states has snowballed into a huge row in Tamil Nadu.
- The southern states are also upset over the prospect of delimitation, likely to be implemented next year. The agitation against it, like the three-language policy, is being spearheaded by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin.
- The southern states are expecting delimitation to shrink the number of their parliamentary seats, given the success of population control programmes. This, they say, would give undue advantage to the northern states.
- Union home minister AmIt Shah has tried to alleviate their concerns, saying the states would not lose a single seat. The reassurance, he said come from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- The Opposition is also expected to resist the Waqf Amendment bill, which has been cleared by the cabinet and is scheduled to be tabled in this session. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju has said the government is keen on early passage of the Bill.
- The issue of duplication in EPIC numbers, which had sparked Opposition allegations over fake voters, may also be raised in the Parliament today.
- US President Donald Trump’s tariff offensive and the deportation of illegal Indian immigrants in chains is also expected to be among the issues that would be raised by the Opposition.
- On Saturday, Congress’s Jairam Ramesh questioned if India’s decision to cut tariffs on US products will not compromise the interests of the country’s farmers and manufacturers.
