The hike in the rail fares has pretty much confirmed that the policies of NDA are going to be shadowed by the pending work of UPA this year. But the winds of change have started to blow. We will have to keep patience.
The first Budget of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government will be presented on July 10.
Parliament will be convened on July 7 for a session that will last till August 14.
Although there is no official announcement about the dates, but the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs that met on Monday is understood to have taken the decision. The Railway Budget is scheduled for July 8, while the Economic Survey will be released on July 9.
Since the government was formed in May itself, and generally the new government does not have much time to introduce big changes, it will be foolish to expect introduction of new and big policies at the outset. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu is learnt to have asked all Ministries to draw up a list of pending bills. We can expect that some of UPA bills may be tweaked and presented in the parliament while others may be simply killed.
At least four ordinances will be replaced with Acts of Parliament. It includes the one that allowed Nripendra Mishra’s appointment as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. An ordinance that transferred certain areas of Khammam district from Telangana to the successor State of Andhra Pradesh to execute the Polavaram project, and another one that amended the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act are awaiting parliamentary approval.
We can expect that the interim budget presented by the UPA will provide the lead to the new Modi government and will have its effect large on the same.
The tried and tested pet projects of PM Modi on sanitation, housing roads, infrastructure should be expected tp feature in the budget. Similarly, allocations to education, skill building, new universities and colleges should also be expected as these were mentioned in the BJP manifesto.
We may expect the announcement of scrapping of or reduced role of Planning Commission. Similarly, Railways may become a part of the central budget by the time next budget is presented and an announcement may be expected in the current budget.
We can also expect that tweaking of NREGA and Land Bills to make them more pro-growth, pro-infrastructure development. Announcement of a new Direct Tax Code and increase in the deadline of implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) cannot be ruled out. Allocation to agriculture and related industries may also be expected to increase.
Since the Swiss banks are creating a list of the people having black money stashed there, black money may too find a mention in the Parliament during the budget session.
The hike in the rail fares has pretty much confirmed that the policies of NDA are going to be shadowed by the pending work of UPA this year.
But the winds of change have started to blow. We will have to keep patience.
