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Weight of expectation

Young Bites. Dated: 6/18/2019 10:34:17 AM

Everybody is looking forward to the Budget as the 17th Lok Sabha convenes. The Opposition seems to be in a disarray.
As the 17th Lok Sabha has its inaugural session today, it is expected to lay the policy map of the Narendra Modi government with the Union Budget expected to set the tenor of proceedings. This will be the maiden Budget for new Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who has a tough call to make at a time when the economy is sputtering, banks are tight-fisted about lending and there is no room left to be adventurist about reforms. Particularly when GDP growth is slow, no matter what the battle about percentages, and joblessness is a monstrous decelerator. Then there is the expectation of welfarism and populism from a new Government, which has returned on a mammoth verdict and needs to honour the promise of development. There will be challenges of boosting investment while giving tax breaks. And the rosy doles of the vote-on-account this January will be assumed to continue as the Prime Minister has committed to empowering the poor economically with quotas and pivoted all his discourse around improving the lot of the underprivileged. Standing on a cliff, Sitharaman’s Budget will have to be actionable, not one of intent. Politically speaking, the Lok Sabha will be a one-sided match with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) having the vote of 303 MPs, a humongous chunk where the Opposition bloc hardly has a chance. The Congress can claim to be a very distant second with 52 but it is yet to work out a coherent House strategy. It is still confused about its floor leader what with Rahul Gandhi not quite ready to be assertive about his political role within the party, leave aside being its face. Much has loosened in the mahagathbandhan space, its frontline leaders still smarting under their pathetic electoral performance. And since the alliance of convenience didn’t quite work on the ground, each has drifted away, the quickest being the collapse of the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party (SP-BSP) deal. In fact, they stand sharply divided as ever. Still, in the interest of parliamentary debate, democratic spirit and institutional decorum, the Opposition needs to present a strategic counterweight and frankly, the Congress has to take the lead in coalescing a response during discussion on crucial Bills that are expected to be tabled. The Triple Talaq Bill is the ruling NDA’s priority. In its first tenure, it had failed to get the Bill cleared in the Rajya Sabha as the Opposition opposed the criminality clause. Two Medical Bills, the Indian Medical Council (Amendment Bill), 2019 and the Homoeopathy Central Council (Amendment Bill), 2019, will be reintroduced, too. Given the doctors’ stir, both are aimed at bringing in accountability, transparency and quality in the governance of medical education in the country. However, all eyes will be on indiscipline and disruptions in Parliament, which not only stall necessary business but also tarnish the image of this esteemed institution. Important legislations are held up. Besides, adjournments eat into the valuable Question Hour. According to figures, the 16th Lok Sabha recorded really low working hours. It met for 1,615 hours, 40 per cent lower than all full-term Parliaments. One hopes the 17th Lok Sabha will at least mean business.