11 Bills introduced, 3 passed as Budget session of Parliament concludes

LS devoted 27 hrs and 19 minutes to discuss the Union Budget against the allotted 20 hrs

The first Budget session of the 18th Lok Sabha concluded on Friday, with the government thanking the presiding officers of the two Houses for ensuring that not a single day of proceedings was washed out.

During the session, which began on July 22, the government introduced 11 Bills, including four in the Lok Sabha on Friday and the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, on Thursday.

The session saw the tabling of the Economic Survey and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presenting the Budget for FY25.

Parliament passed three Bills —the Appropriation Bill, Jammu and Kashmir Appropriation Bill, and Finance Bill.

According to the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry, the Lok Sabha devoted 27 hours and 19 minutes to discuss the Union Budget against the allotted 20 hours, while the Rajya Sabha discussed it for 22 hours and 40 minutes.

The Upper House, which was adjourned sine die ahead of schedule in the afternoon, witnessed sloganeering and heated exchanges earlier in the day with the Opposition members walking out after Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar struck down their demand for an apology from Bharatiya Janata Party MP Ghanshyam Tiwari for purportedly insulting Kharge last week.

Later, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X that he submitted four notices for moving a privilege motion against BJP leaders, including two against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for posting on X the expunged remarks of his colleague Anurag Thakur in the Lok Sabha.

Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien posted on X data to point out that it was the eleventh occasion since the Budget session in March-April 2020 that the government had cut short a session. The Budget session in 2020 was adjourned on March 23 instead of the scheduled end on April 3 because of the outbreak of the pandemic. While three of these 11 sessions in question were curtailed because of the pandemic, the rest were cut short by a day.

Budget session: In a nutshell

> Initial two sessions saw 22 sittings for Lok Sabha and 20 for Rajya Sabha

> Across two sessions, the Lower House functioned for 123% of its scheduled time; the Upper House for 110%

> 15 sittings in the Budget session from July 22 to August 9

> Both the Houses were adjourned sine die ahead of schedule 

> The Rajya Sabha discussed the Union Budget for 22 hours and 40 minutes

Sources: Union Parliamentary Affairs Ministry, PRS Legislative Research