Bihar assembly 5-day monsoon session begins; supplementary budget tabled

Five other bills are scheduled for the current session and two days have been earmarked for discussion over them

Bihar deputy chief minister Tarkishore Prasad, who also holds the finance portfolio tabled the first supplementary budget on Monday, the first day of the five-day monsoon session. The first supplementary budget of ₹27,050.17 crore for the 2021-22 fiscal comprises ₹14,161.90 crore for schemes, ₹12,885.05 crore for establishment and committed expenditure, and ₹3.21 crore under the central schemes head.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav addresses media outside Bihar legislative assembly during the first day of the monsoon session, in Patna on Monday July 26. (PTI)

Panchayati raj minister Samrat Choudhary tabled the Bihar Panchayati Raj (amendment) Bill, 2021, which has been necessitated due to the promulgation of the Panchayati Raj (amendment) Bill Ordinance, 2021, earlier this year to avoid the gap following the completion of five-year term of the elected representatives and the delay in fresh election due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Five other bills are scheduled for the current session and two days have been earmarked for discussion over them. The other bills are Aryabhatt Knowledge University (amendment) Bill, 2021, Bihar Health Sciences University Bill, 2021, Bihar Engineering University Bill, 2021, and Bihar Sports University Bill, 2021.

The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (amendment) Bill, 2021 will also be tabled in the assembly to provide amendments in fiscal targets for 2021-22, as recommended by the 15th Finance Commission and the government of India. Another bill to be tabled is the Bihar Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

The assembly was adjourned on Monday after obituary references to nearly 35 past and present members of the two Houses of the Bihar Legislature and two governors who passed away between the Budget session and the monsoon session, the period that coincided with the Covid-19 second wave. Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha also referred to a large number of deaths, including of doctors and frontline warriors, caused during the second wave. The House also paid tributes to Kargil martyrs and spoke about the supreme sacrifices Indian forces made for the motherland.

Earlier, the Opposition members stood at the entrance of the assembly with placards, shouting slogans against the police action inside the legislative premises on March 23, when the House witnessed the worst-ever scenes over the Bihar Special Armed Police Bill, 2021. Some of them also wore black badges. Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and CPI-ML leaders tried to raise some issues inside the House also, but the Speaker did not allow it, saying the House would run only as per rules.

“We will keep raising people’s issues on the floor of the House. There are plenty of issues,” said Yadav.