The first session of the 17th Lok Sabha will begin on June 17 and go on till July 26.
Nirmala Sitharaman, the country’s first full-time woman Finance Minister, will present the Union Budget on July 5.
The decision was taken during the first Cabinet meeting of the newly-elected government.
“This will be a fruitful session, and we hope that all parties will cooperate,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said at a briefing, following the meeting.
The first two days of the session will be dedicated for oath-taking of the new members.
On July 19, the new Speaker will be elected.
With 353 members, the NDA is in a comfortable majority giving it a wide leeway on picking anyone for the post.
The House will once again not have a Leader of Opposition, a Cabinet-rank position, since none of the Opposition parties meet the eligibility criterion.
Congress is three short
The leader of the largest Opposition party that has not less than one-tenth of the total strength of the House is appointed the Leader of the Opposition. The Lok Sabha has 545 members. So the required number is 55.
The Congress, which is the second largest party in the House after the BJP, has only 52 members, three short of the mark.
On June 20, the joint session of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha will be addressed by President Ramnath Kovind.
The President’s address usually is a window to government policies and development plans ahead.
Following the norm, the economic survey will be tabled on July 4, a day ahead of the presentation of the Budget.
