Budget Session to begin from Monday; govt to pitch for triple talaq bill in Rajya Sabha

The Budget Session of Parliament will open on January 29, 2018.

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New Delhi: The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017 related to triple talaq, the Codes of Wages Bill, 2017 and Rights of Children to Free and Compulsory Education, 2017 are among the important bills that are set to be tabled for discussion in the Budget Session of Parliament that begins on Monday.

As many as 28 bills will be tabled in the Lok Sabha, while 39 bills are listed for the Rajya Sabha for the upcoming session.

Long pending issues including the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016 and the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016, will be discussed in the Lower House, ANI reported. Meanwhile, the triple talaq bill passed in the Lok Sabha in the 2017 Winter Session, will be in focus in the Upper House of the Parliament.

The Budget Session will open on January 29, 2018, with the customary address of President Ram Nath Kovind to a joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Following the address by the President, the economic survey will be tabled in the two Houses.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present the current BJP-led NDA regime's last full-fledged budget on February 1, 2018. The first spell of the session will end on February 9. Parliament will meet again between March 5 and April 6, 2018.

Budget Session will provide a total of 31 sittings spread over a period of 68 days
from Mon, 29th Jan 2018 to Fri 6th April, 2018, with a recess for both Houses between Friday, 9th Feb 2018 to Mon, 5th Mar 2018 pic.twitter.com/CkX9JdH9vA

— Ananthkumar (@AnanthKumar_BJP) January 28, 2018

Meanwhile, the government on Sunday said it would "leave no stone unturned" to ensure the passage of the triple talaq bill in the Budget Session of Parliament and asserted that it would talk to various parties for a consensus on the issue.

An all-party meeting on Sunday was held and was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Parliamentary Affairs Minister  Ananth Kumar, besides leaders of the Opposition and other parties.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan also held a dinner meeting with party leaders for the session's smooth functioning.

Addressing the floor leaders of the various parties in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, PM Modi was quoted as saying by  Kumar that the government accords importance to issues raised by the parties. 

He said that PM Modi had urged the leaders to create a "constructive atmosphere for the national good".

Kumar also described the meeting as 'fruitful' and said the PM had urged the leaders of the parties to make the session successful.

Highlights of all party meeting -Budget Session 2018

Shri @narendramodi exhorted all Political Parties to collectively strive to create a constructive atmosphere in Budget Session to achieve National Good pic.twitter.com/xMFOW4JpOU

— Ananthkumar (@AnanthKumar_BJP) January 28, 2018

PM urged to make #ParliamentaryStandingCommittee system of Parliament a role model of Participative Democracy that may be adopted across State Legislatures in India pic.twitter.com/8y93cRssIj

— Ananthkumar (@AnanthKumar_BJP) January 28, 2018

"We will leave no stone unturned and persuade and request all political parties so that the bill is passed in the Rajya Sabha, as it has been in the Lok Sabha," he said when asked about the triple talaq bill after the meeting.

"We are very hopeful that the bill which is going to negate 'talaq-e-biddat' and pave the way for empowering Muslim women will be passed in the Rajya Sabha, too," Kumar said.

He further said that he, along with Ministers of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel and Arjun Ram Meghwal, will approach various political parties to evolve a consensus for its passage.

"Like the way parties passed the GST unanimously, we are requesting them to pass this bill which is going to ban the practice of instant triple talaq among Muslims," Kumar said.

To a question about the demands of various parties during the last session that the bill be referred to a select committee, he said it was now the property of the Rajya Sabha.

"The matter is before Rajya Sabha. Till the deliberations are going on...It is for the House to decide," Kumar said.

On the forthcoming session, he said, "We feel the Budget Session will be very successful and fruitful".

(With PTI inputs)