COVID-19: No winter session of Parliament this year, budget session in January

The Centre on Tuesday (December 15) said that there will be no winter session of Parliament this time because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi confirmed this in a letter responding to Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary, who has demanded for a short Winter Session. Chaudhary had asked fora short Winter Session to discuss new farm laws that have sparked massive farmer protests near Delhi borders.

According to Joshi, all parties supprted the scrapping of the Winter session in order to curb the spread of coronavirus and hold the Budget Session in January.

It is expected that the Budget session would be held in the last week of January and Budget would be tabled on February 1.

Several Congress leaders had demanded for a Winter Session, with COVID-19 precautions in place, to hold discussions over crucial matters, including the farmer protests, the economy and the simmering border tension with China at the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh.

It may be recalled that the monsoon session of Parliament was cut short in September after some MPs tested coronavirus positive.

The winter session of Parliament usually starts from the last week of November and the budget session starts from the last week of January. As per the Constitution, there should not be a gap of six months or more between two sessions.