Modi 2.0: Union Budget to be presented on 5 July

May 31: In its first meeting, the new cabinet under Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday decided that the first Parliament session of Modi 2.0 government will be held 17 June to 26 July. Union Minister Prakash Javadekar has informed that President Ram Nath Kovind will address the joint session of parliament on 20 June and the Economic Survey will be released on 4th of July. The election for Lok Sabha Speaker will take place on June 19.

 The Union Budget for the current financial year will be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on 5 July. Ms Sitharaman, who was a commerce minister and briefly the junior finance minister in PM Modi’s first term, got the finance ministry job replacing Arun Jaitley, who opted out of this government due to ill health. Ms Sitharaman, 59, is the senior most woman minister in PM Modi’s cabinet and the second woman to head the finance department after late former prime minister Indira Gandhi.

The 40-day session will have 30 sittings, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Friday while addressing a press conference after the first meeting of the new Union Cabinet. The first two days of the session have been kept for oath-taking by the newly-elected members, he said.

In its previous term, the Modi government had on February 1 presented the interim Budget in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The first full Budget is expected to see various announcements made in the Vote-on-Account to be either implemented or taken forward.