Members of Parliament should not fail in their basic duties of legislation, scrutiny of the Budget and holding the Government accountable. After all, the people have elected them for this purpose

All eyes will be on the Union Budget which will be presented at the end of this week on February 1. The Budget Session is all set to begin with the customary President’s address to the joint session of Parliament on January 31. The session is important because this is when the Parliament scrutinises the fiscal proposals of the Government and votes for the Budget. 

There will be two phases of the Budget Session, with the first scheduled from January 31 to February 11 and the second from March 2 to April 3. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who will be presenting her second Union Budget, would attempt to stage a reversal of the sharp decline that has gripped the economy and is expected to announce a slew of measures to boost it. According to official data, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is likely to shrink to five per cent this fiscal, the slowest pace in about a decade. The International Monetary Fund (IMF)  has slashed India’s GDP growth rate to 4.8 per cent for the current fiscal and 5.8 per cent for 2020-21. Though fiscal indicators suggest that the economy will bounce back in the first half of 2020, a lot depends on the Government’s budgetary announcements. It is likely that the Union Government may skip all populist measures to focus on industry-specific boosters.

Sitharaman has already announced certain steps like support to exporters, the housing industry, Micro and Small Enterprises and  Non-Banking Financial Companies. Some new income tax slabs with simple and fairer income tax, relaxation in Long-Term Capital Gain (LTCG) and relief in Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT) are also expected.

Incidentally, the last Budget Session was one of the busiest in the last two decades. According to official data, both Houses spent nearly half their time on legislative business, passing 30 Bills and working more than 70 hours extra.

However, for all this to happen, the Parliament needs to function normally. In the last decade, the Parliament has not functioned well with several disruptions and adjournments. Of late, some Bills were even passed without discussion in the House. A total of 42 Bills are pending before the Parliament to be cleared during the forthcoming session. Will this session be more productive and peaceful? Most probably not, in view of issues like the economic downturn and the resultant job losses, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC), the National Population Register (NPR) and the countrywide protests plaguing the country right now. 

The student community and  civil society have shown their apprehensions over the twin measures with students taking a lead over others. So these issues are bound to top the list of the Opposition, with the Congress Party already giving an indication to this effect.

The second issue which the Opposition is likely to beat the NDA Government with is the sliding economy. The Opposition could put the Government on the mat for the consistent decline in the GDP as several macro indicators signalling recovery reveal that it could take some more time. The Finance Minister has to address issues like the lack of jobs and decline of growth in almost all sectors, including manufacturing, civil aviation, agriculture, infrastructure and banking.

The third area of concern is the state of affairs in the former State of Jammu and Kashmir. Though the Bill for its bifurcation was passed in the last session, normalcy is yet to return in the Valley and the Congress and other parties are likely to push for a discussion on the situation.

The Centre wants to get the Personal Data Protection Bill passed, which will allow data to be stored abroad with consent and mirror images in India. A Bill to link the Aadhaar to voter identity cards for new voters is also likely to be introduced. The sale of Air India is another controversial issue. While the Government is looking at completing disinvestment of Air India in the current fiscal, half a dozen AAI airports are to be bid out on a PPP model. It is not clear whether the Opposition will chalk out a joint strategy to take on the Government or not. The Modi Government is banking upon a divided Opposition, which has helped the Government push through even contentious Bills like the abrogation of Article 370 and the recent CAB, in the past. The Congress wants to take a leadership role in uniting various political parties but there is resistance from major players like the Trinamool Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party. It would be better if Parliamentarians decide to debate key issues instead of walking out and making noisy scenes. In a democracy, a civilised discussion would go a long way in solving problems. The members should not fail in their basic duties of legislation, scrutiny of the Budget and holding the Government accountable. After all, the people have elected them for this purpose.

(The writer is a senior journalist)