Budget Session: President Ramnath Kovind says "Air Force will use ultramodern Rafale aircraft soon and will strengthen itself"

Background

New Delhi: The Modi government is set to present its Interim Budget for 2019 on Friday, February 1. In order to ensure smooth running of the Budget session of the parliament, which starts Thursday, Parliamentary affairs minister Narendra Singh Tomar has called an all party meeting on Thursday. On the other hand, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu has called a meeting of Rajya Sabha MPs. Even Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan has called an all party meeting on Wednesday.

This is the last Budget Session taking place ahead of Lok Sabha elections this year. The session would begin with an address by President Ramnath Kovind. President Kovind would address the MPs form both the houses of parliament from parliament’s central hall at 11am on Thursday.

It will be the last budget by PM Modi government. Is being believed that the government is likely to make major announcements I favour of middle class and farmers, considering the Lok Sabha elections are around the corner. This year, the Economic Survey will not be presented right now and will be out presented with the final budget which would be presented by the new government.

The Congress on Wednesday said the government should not bring the full fledged budget in the name of interim budget, as its tenure is till May.

Representing the Congress in the all-party meeting called by Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Congress leader in the House, Kharge said the government should restrict itself to vote-on-account.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, the Congress leader said he has demanded that there should be discussion on the Rafale deal and farmers issues during the budget session, which is starting on Thursday.

"I said in the meeting that the government should not bring full-fledged budget in the name of interim budget. It cannot do this as the tenure of this government is till May. The BJP-led government should bring only vote-on-account," he said.

12:15 PM (IST)  •  31 Jan 2019

President also said "51. My Government is completing 99 incomplete old irrigation projects so that farmers do not face any hurdle in irrigation. 71 of these projects will be completed by the next few months. Micro-irrigation is also being promoted by the Government to ensure full utilization of every drop of water".

12:15 PM (IST)  •  31 Jan 2019

"Work is being carried out with a new approach for reducing the cost of farming, providing the farmers with fair price for their crops, providing access to new markets and helping them with additional sources of income. My Government has taken the historic decision of fixing the Minimum Support Price - MSP of 22 crops at one and a half times higher than the production cost of the crop" says President Kovind