Budget session: Will pending Bills get time?

(From Business Line)

Byline: official indications, the government may consider "fine-tuning" the rules

THE BUDGET session of Parliament begins under exciting circumstances, in the backdrop of elections to three State Assemblies, including Bihar. Counting of votes is scheduled for February 27, just a day before the Union Budget 2005-06 is presented. The outcome of the year's first Assembly polls may leave a lasting impact on Parliament, perhaps leading to change of political equations.

Apart from the political fallout of the polls, nature's upheaval that came in the form of an hither-to-unfamiliar tsunami on December 26 and left in its trail death and devastation in vast areas is expected to dominate the early part of the three-and-half-month session. Controversy had already been raked up over whether the Government could have taken some precautionary action to minimise death and destruction. Members from the affected States are expected to call for liberal loans and even grants for rehabilitation of the victims and renewal of vast infrastructure. Faced with the task of presenting an already difficult Budget because of various …