Parliament winter session to be held from Dec 1 to 19: Kiren Rijiju

NEw new delhi: Parliamentary affairs government minister Kiren Rijiju proclaimed on sat that the overwinter session of Parliament will be held from December 1 to 19, indicating an unusually short session.Last year, the winter session was held between November 25 and December 20.“The Hon’ble President of India Smt. Droupadi Murmu ji has approved the proposal of the Government to convene the #WinterSession of #Parliament from 1st December 2025 to 19th December, 2025 (subject to exigencies of Parliamentary business),” Rijiju tweeted.He also appealed for a constructive and meaningful session. “Looking forward to a constructive & meaningful Session that strengthens our democracy & serves the aspirations of the people,” he added.The Opposition argued that the short session means that the government has little business and doesn’t want to allow any Opposition-sponsored debate.“It has just been announced that the Winter Session of Parliament will be from Dec 1st till 19th. This is unusually delayed and truncated. It will be just 15 working days. What is the message being conveyed? Clearly the Government has no business to transact, no Bills to get passed, and no debates to be allowed,” tweeted Congress’ Rajya Sabha chief whip Jairam Ramesh.The upcoming session will be important as the new vice pesident C P Radhakrishnan, who was elected in September, will debut as the chairman in the Rajya Sabha. All eyes would be on him and more importantly his equation with the Opposition’s lawmakers.It will also be held after the high-stake battle for the Bihar election. Its result might cast a shadow on the overall mood of the parties, said a senior Congress leader.The last monsoon session had turned out to be one of the most eventful sessions of Parliament, which witnessed the unexpected resignation of former vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar and a series of protests over the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Review (SIR). It also witnessed the passage of some important pieces of legislation.With several days washed out in protest over the SIR of voter roll in Bihar and the aggressive protest against the 130th Constitution amendment bill, the Lok Sabha’s productivity had slipped to 30.6%. It worked for 37 hours and 7 minutes and wasted 84 hours and 05 minutes-- highest wastage in the 18th Lok Sabha--, according to parliamentary data. The Upper House clocked 38.88% productivity as it worked for only 41 hours and 15 minutes. Less than 10% of questions could be answered orally in both Houses.A new Income Tax bill to simplify the tax law, the National Sports governance Bill that aims to reform sports administration, and The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill to ban online money games and its promotion were among the key pieces of legislation passed in the month-long session.The government is yet to declare its agenda for upcoming winter session.