Parliament's Budget Session begins today, here's what is on the agenda

The Budget Session of Parliament begins on Tuesday with the maiden address of President Droupadi Murmu to the joint sitting of both Houses - Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. After her address, the Economic Survey will be also tabled today.

Meanwhile, Opposition parties have geared up to target the government on a range of issues including the Adani-Hindenburg row. However, the Centre asserted it was willing to discuss every matter allowed by rules.

At an all-party meeting on Monday, opposition parties raised the Adani issue and the conduct of governors in some states ruled by them. Several regional parties signalled their intention to also raise issues relating to unemployment, price rise and the Centre's alleged bias in sharing revenue with states.

The Budget session will have 27 sittings. The first part of the session will conclude on February 14. Parliament will reconvene on March 12 for the second part of the session and continue till April 6.

What's on the agenda?

The government plans to bring around 36 bills - including four related to the budgetary exercise - during the session.

The meeting saw Sanjay Singh of the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP), Manoj Jha of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and leaders representing other opposition parties like the Shiv Sena faction headed by Uddhav Thackeray, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Left raising the Adani issue and seeking discussion on it during the session.

The BRS and the DMK which govern Telangana and Tamil Nadu respectively raised the issue of the conduct of governors in their respective states.

Sources said the BRS is also reaching out to some opposition parties for boycotting the President's address to lodge its protest against the government over various issues.

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TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay said space must be given to opposition parties in Parliament and the legislature should not be used merely for passing bills.

Parties like the YSR Congress, the BRS, the Biju Janata Dal(BJD) and the Trinamool Congress(TMC), in power in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha and West Bengal respectively, made a fresh pitch for the passage of a bill ensuring quota for women in legislatures.

The YSR Congress also demanded a nationwide caste-based economic census at the meet with its leader Vijaysai Reddy asserting that it is necessary to know the economic status of the backward castes who are "lagging behind" on social and development indicators.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will on Wednesday present the last full-fledged Union Budget of the Modi government before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

(With inputs from PTI)