Both houses of Parliament, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, were adjourned sine die on Friday, a day before the scheduled end of the session.
The Budget session, which began on July 22, was scheduled to end on August 12, but Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla adjourned the House sine die a day earlier. Earlier in the day, the Rajya Sabha was also adjourned sine die.
During the session, the Finance Bill was passed. A bill to amend the Waqf Amendment Law was also tabled and referred to a joint committee of Parliament amid protests over its provisions.
Kiren Rijiju, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Minority Affairs, thanked the Speakers of both Houses and said that Parliament saw very good business transactions in both Houses with active participation of the members.
“After many years, neither the Budget session nor the entire Parliament session was wasted even for a single day, and we saw very good business transactions in both the Houses along with active participation of the members. On behalf of all the members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and the government, I would like to thank the Speakers of both the Houses for their tremendous help in running the Houses,” Rijiju said at a press conference.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla informed that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2024-25 on the floor of the House on July 23. The general discussion on the Union Budget 2024-25 lasted for 27 hours and 19 minutes and 181 members participated in the discussion. The Finance Minister responded to the discussion on July 30, Birla informed.
Birla further informed that twelve government bills were introduced and four bills were passed during the session. The bills that were passed are as follows: The Finance Bill, 2024, The Appropriation Bill, 2024, The Jammu and Kashmir Appropriation Bill, 2024; and The Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak, 2024.
The day of the Rajya Sabha was disrupted by several adjournments due to opposition protests and a walkout by Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar.
Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan demanded an apology from Dhankar after a heated exchange of words over BJP MP Ghanshyam Tiwari's remarks against opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge.
The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha passed a motion appointing 31 of their members to a joint committee of the Houses. Om Birla said that the productivity of the House was above 130 per cent.