Railway Budget On Feb 24, Survey On 25

This years railway budget is likely to be presented on February 24 and the economic survey on February 25, according to a tentative schedule drawn up by the Lok Sabha secretariat. The general budget will, as usual, be presented on February 28, a Friday.

The session is to open with the Presidents address to members of both houses on February 20. The Constitution requires that the first session of every year open with an address by the President.

The government would fall if the vote on the customary motion of thanks for the Presidents address and the various votes on budget-related motions are not carried or are carried with amendments.

However, after a tense period soon after Sitaram Kesari became the Congress President, United Front leaders appear confident that they will make it through the long session unscathed.

They acknowledge that the Congress sabre-rattling will continue through much of the session but hold that Kesaris plan to form an alternative government has been foiled by Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) president GK Moopanar.

He has distanced himself from Congress president Sitaram Kesari, at least for the present. A number of senior Congress leaders have been in touch with TMC leaders and ministers in recent days to try and persuade them to change their minds, but havent succeeded yet.

President Shankar Dayal Sharma has already issued a notification summoning the Lok Sabha on February 20.

The Lok Sabha secretariats provisional calendar for the sesion provides for 35 sittings, 21 of them before the recess from March 22 to April 20.

Various aspects of the budget and demands for grants are to be studied by standing committees during the recess.

Four days each have been reserved for private members bills and resolutions.