Budget Session: Centre, Opposition agree to discuss farmers’ protests
Confrontations are also likely over the Narendra Modi government’s Union Budget for 2021-’22.
The Centre and the Opposition parties came to an agreement on the discussion of farm laws on Wednesday. The deliberations will take place in the Rajya Sabha, where the Question Hour has been suspended for two days. A high-decibel session is expected in both Houses of Parliament, with discussions over the new farm laws on the cards.
Confrontations are also likely over the Narendra Modi government’s Union Budget for 2021-’22. While the government claimed the Budget was unprecedented and honest, the Opposition said it had failed to address core economic problems at a time when India is suffering from its worst recession in years while battling the coronavirus pandemic.
Opposition parties, including the Congress, on Tuesday had staged a walkout four times from the Upper House after their demand for suspension of business of the day to take up the farmers’ agitation was rejected by Chairperson Venkaiah Naidu.
The Lower House, too, witnessed unruly scenes as the day’s business had to be suspended multiple times before adjourning for the day.
Live updates
11.43 am: Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad talks about the situation in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370, reports The Hindu. “I never heard Atal Bihari Vajpayee or any BJP leader who ever demanded that Jammu and Kashmir should be split into two,” he adds. “There was a demand for UT in only one district of Ladakh [Leh], not Kargil.”
11.40 am: Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu has cautioned MPs against recording proceedings of the House on mobile phones, saying such unauthorised acts and then sharing it on social media may be a breach of Parliamentary privilege and contempt of the House, reports PTI.
10.03 am: Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu has suspended three Aam Aadmi Party MPs – Sanjay Singh, ND Gupta, and Sushil Gupta – after sloganeering inside the Rajya Sabha, reports News18.
9.48 am: The farmer protests will be discussed for 15 hours in Parliament, the Centre has said in a development in its talks with the Opposition, reports NDTV. The deliberations will take place in the Rajya Sabha, where the Question Hour has been suspended for two days.
9.15 am: Congress MP Rajeev Satav gives a Zero Hour notice in Rajya Sabha over demand for withdrawal of three farm laws, reports India Today.
9.06 am: The Opposition, led by the Congress, has submitted a slew of suspension of business notices in Rajya Sabha over the farmers’ agitation, reports News18. The notices have been tabled before Vice Chairperson Venkaiah Naidu by Congress MPs Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma, Bahujan Samaj Party, Communist Party of India, All India Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the CPI(M).
9.04 am: Proceedings for the day begin in Rajya Sabha.
Delhi: Proceedings of Rajya Sabha begin. #BudgetSession2021 pic.twitter.com/0fv7jULdPR
— ANI (@ANI) February 3, 2021
9.08 am: A high-decibel session is expected in both Houses of Parliament today, with discussions over the new farm laws on the cards. Opposition parties including the Congress on Tuesday staged a walk out four times from the Upper House after their demand for suspension of business of the day to take up a discussion on more than two-month-old farmers’ agitation was rejected by Chairperson Venkaiah Naidu.