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Finance minister P. Chidambaram outside Parliament during the budget session. (PTI)
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New Delhi, March 22: Parliament’s budget session went into a month’s recess today amid continued protests by Tamil Nadu parties against the government’s failure to strengthen the US-piloted UN resolution against Sri Lanka.
These protests had disrupted Lok Sabha proceedings for the past few days too. The Centre has the consolation of getting the railway and general budgets as well as the sexual offences bill passed in both Houses, but the bulk of its heavy legislative agenda remains pending because of the frequent disruptions.
While there had always been doubts about the passage of the bills that look to rev up economic reforms, even key social-sector bills such as those on land acquisition and food security have got stuck.
The amended food security bill was listed for discussion and passage in the Lok Sabha today but the protests by Tamil Nadu parties prevented any transaction of business.
What will worry the government is the failure to pass the amendment bill to the Sebi Act, which would have replaced the recent ordinance that widened the norms for appointing the presiding officer of the Securities Appellate Tribunal.
The ordinance was promulgated on January 21 to tackle the difficulty in finding a presiding officer for the tribunal, a statutory body that hears appeals against orders passed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). The ordinance will lapse now, compelling the government to re-issue it.
The next half of the budget session starts on April 22 and ends on May 10. The government has to get the Finance Bill passed in that small window of around 13-14 working days, pushing other key bills lower down the priority list.
Sonia Gandhi is keen on getting the food security bill passed at the earliest, and Rahul Gandhi wants to push the land acquisition bill.
The Congress and the BJP will be occupied with the Karnataka elections during the budget session’s second half, increasing the chances of clashes and disruptions in Parliament that could significantly reduce the number of working hours.
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