The Union budget - 2021 will be introduced in parliament on February 1. According to sources, President Ram Nath Kovind will address both the houses - Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha - on January 29.
This year's budget session of parliament will be conducted in two parts. The first phase of the parliamentary session will commence on January 29 with President Kovind's address and end on February 15, while the second phase will be conducted from March 8 to April 8.
Due to the prevailing covid-19 pandemic, the last month’s winter session of the parliament was cancelled by the Centre.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi had said in a letter to the Congress's Lok Sabha leader that to prevent coronavirus spread all the political parties were in support of dismissing the session.
The contents of the letter read, "I have informally contacted floor leaders of various political parties and they have expressed their concerns about the ongoing pandemic and opined of doing away with Winter Session. The government is willing to have the next session of Parliament at the earliest. It would be appropriate to have the Budget Session, 2021 in January, keeping in mind the unprecedented circumstances created by Covid-19 pandemic (sic).”
However, the Congress party has claimed that the cancelling of the winter session was not consulted. The party blamed that the Centre had cancelled the session to avoid questions on the ongoing farmers’ protests.
Seventeen members of the Lok Sabha and eight from the Upper House of parliament had tested positive in September last year, forcing the centre to halt the monsoon session.
Many MPs had acquired the virus in parliament, while many succumbed to the infection.