Parliament session from June 17, Budget on July 5

The first session of the newly-elected Lok Sabha has been convened from June 17 to July 26 and the new government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will present its first Budget on July 5, in which it is expected to provide an insight about the programmes to be undertaken in the second term.

The 40-day session will have 30 sittings, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Friday while addressing a press conference after the first meeting of the new Union Cabinet.

The first two days of the session have been kept for oath-taking by the newly-elected members, he said.

The election for Lok Sabha Speaker will take place on June 19.

President Ram Nath Kovind will address the joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on June 20 and the subsequent days will see a discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the his address.

The Economic Survey, which gives the status of the country's economy, will be presented in Parliament on July 4.

A day later, the Budget will be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the only woman to hold the portfolio after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

In its previous term, the Modi government had on February 1 presented the interim Budget in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The first full Budget is expected to see various announcements made in the Vote-on-Account to be either implemented or taken forward.

Among those proposals, the Cabinet already on Friday decided to expand the PM Kisan scheme of giving Rs 6,000 to small farmers to cover all the agriculturists.

The other major highlights of the interim Budget, presented by Piyush Goyal, included exemption on income tax of individuals up to an earning of Rs 5 lakh per annum and provision of a monthly pension of Rs 3,000 to workers in the unorganised sector.

"We hope this session will be fruitful and all parties will cooperate in the smooth functioning of the House," Javadekar said at the press conference.

--IANS

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