Budget Session: Reforms or more ruckus? Experts debate

As India stands at the cusp of the Budget Session, we have 11 bills pending in the Lok Sabha and a whopping 54 bills pending in the upper house.Earlier, the Monsoon Session was a washout, with the Congress-led opposition demanding the resignations of Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje in the Lalit Modi controversy and to add fuel to fire, there was Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and the Vyapam scam.Then came the Winter Session, which like the Monsoon Session was a total washout as well, with the intolerance debate occupying centre stage. However, the question now is will the Budget Session suffer the same fate as the previous two sessions?, or will we see some business being transacted?Discussing the above debate, Sanjay Jha of the Congress said for the pass through of all the significant bills, the government must hold debates on the floor of the house because there are lot of issues that need to be addressed. “The government needs to create a platform for discussions and deliberations,” said Jha.Syed Zafar Islam of the BJP said the Indian government is committed to passage of the bills but it is unable to do so with lack of support from the opposition.According to AK Bhattacharya, Editor of Business Standard, the current situation is such that the chances of important bills being cleared is very unlikely.However, he admits that the Budget Session will not be a routine affair because the Finance Minister has to address key economic concerns and also look at fiscal consolidation and stick to the path of fiscal consolidation. Therefore, the FM will have to bite the bullet  – look at fiscal consolidation as well as allocate more resources for public infrastructure project.For the entire discussion, watch video