Union Budget 2022: Rajya Sabha to commence debates from Feb 2, PM Modi may reply on Feb 8

With the ongoing parliament session being held under COVID-19 protocols, the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of Rajya Sabha has allocated the time for debates on the Motion of Thanks to President and on the Union Budget 2022-23, starting from February 2, while PM Modi is likely to reply to it on February 8, reported ANI. This came shortly after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Union Budget 2022 in the Parliament on Tuesday making a slew of major announcements.

Time allocated for debates in Rajya Sabha

The BAC meeting chaired by vice president M Venkaiah Naidu was which was attended by the Leader of the House Piyush Goyal, LoP Mallikarjuna Kharge and others allocated a total of 12 hours for debate on the Motion of Thanks to President for his address to the MPs of both the Houses in the first part of the current budget session, sources told ANI. While the debate on the Motion of Thanks will commence on February 2 at 11:30 AM, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to reply on February 8. The time allocated for this debate includes the time to be taken for the reply as well. 

Following this, 11 hours have been allocated for debate on the Union Budget by the Rajya Sabha MPs to which Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will reply on February 11, informed Ministers of Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi to the committee. 

Notably, to enable the Finance Minister's reply, it has been decided to do away with the Private Members' Business on February 11 and thus more than 23 hours will be spent debating on the two major items of business by the Rajya Sabha in the first part of the ongoing Parliament session.

Earlier on January 31, Monday, President Ram Nath Kovind commenced the year's first Parliament session by addressing a joint sitting of both the houses after which the Union Budget 2022 was presented by the Finance Minister on Tuesday, February 1. While the first half of the ongoing session will conclude on February 11, the second part will commence on March 14 and will finally conclude on April 8. 

FM Sitharaman presents Budget 2022 in Parliament

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday presented her fourth budget in Parliament further making a series of statements concerning various sectors. Starting from announcing various new projects, the introduction of digital currency, major disclosures for farmers, the education sector, health sector, and others, this year's budget brings a long list of significant announcements.