Delhi riots, slump in economy to put govt on the back foot in Parliament

New Delhi: Parliament is reconvening on Monday after a recess of 19 days in the Budget session and is expected to be stormy with the Opposition set to corner the government on Delhi riots and the slump in economic growth.

The Congress is likely to move an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha and suspension of business under rule 267 in the Rajya Sabha.

Congress floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the party will press for the resignation of Home Minister Amit Shah.

A Congress delegation put forward the demand for Shah's resignation when it met the President.

While Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal has said that the Opposition has given notices on Delhi riots, he said the discussion should focus on avoiding such incidents anywhere in the country.

The Congress will also raise the issue of income tax raids in Chhattisgarh, which it says happened without the knowledge of the state government and under the CRPF protection. The Congress on Sunday alleged the government steps were "coercive".

"Over the last four days, multiple raids on various locations have been carried out by the Income Tax Department in Chhattisgarh. Unfortunately, for the Modi government, the clumsy method, manner and timing of these raids have exposed their mala fide intentions and designs," alleged Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala.

The party will also raise several economic issues such as the falling GDP in the third quarter. It has alleged that the government is not doing enough to control the economic decline. In a sarcastic way, the party alleged that the latest GDP numbers reflected "karo-na" (don't do anything) virus that has plagued the functioning of the government.

"The economy is in a shambles; stagflation is setting in as every economic indicator is showing a downward trend. But the government continues to function as an ostrich," said the party.

Economic woes

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be facing questions on the seven-year-low growth rate of 4.7 per cent while the session may see possible passage of the Banking Regulation Act Amendment Bill to bring multi-state cooperative banks under the RBI's regulation.

Pulled down by a contraction in manufacturing, India's GDP growth slipped to a nearly seven-year low of 4.7 per cent in the third quarter (October-December) 2019, data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Friday showed. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, in the corresponding quarter of 2018-19, was recorded at 5.6 per cent.

The Finance Minister has termed the 4.7 per cent growth as showing "steadiness" in the economy.

In this session, the Parliament will likely clear the Bill to help prevent any further recurrence of Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank-like crisis, sources said.

The government has increased deposit insurance cover by five-fold to Rs 5 lakh to ensure the security of public money in banks.

The Cabinet had, last month, approved an amendment to the Banking Regulation Act to bring multi-state cooperative banks under the central bank's purview.

There are 1,540 cooperative banks with a depositor base of 8.60 crore having total savings of about Rs 5 lakh crore. The proposed law seeks to enforce banking regulation guidelines of the RBI in cooperative banks in order to increase professionalism and improve corporate governance, while administrative issues will still be guided by Registrar of Cooperatives.

The Finance Bill 2020 and The Direct Tax Vivad Se Vishwas Bill were introduced in the session that started on January 31 and ended on February 11. The second half of the Budget session is scheduled to conclude on April 3.