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Thursday, November 23, 2017

Indian Parliament’s Winter Session to be held from December 15,2017 to January 5,2018

The Winter session of Parliament will be held from December 15, 2017 to January 5,2018 the cabinet committee on parliamentary affairs declared on Friday Nov 24,2017 amid indications that the Opposition was planning to raise issues such as demonetisation, GST glitches and the Rafale deal to attack the government.

The Parliament session will begin a day after the second and final phase of polling for the Gujarat assembly election.

“This will be a 14-day session, 25th and 26th December will be Christmas holidays,” parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar said.

Note

By convention, Parliament meets for three sessions in a year.

The longest, the Budget Session, is held towards the beginning of the year, a three-week Monsoon Session follows from July to August, and then there is the Winter Session, also three weeks long, in November-December.

The dates for each session are announced at least 15 days in advance, so Members have time to submit their questions and give notice for Parliamentary interventions

Why is a Parliament session important?


Law-making is dependent on when Parliament meets. Also, a thorough scrutiny of the government’s functioning and deliberation on national issues can only take place when the two Houses are in session. Predictability in the functioning of Parliament is key to a well-functioning democracy.

Must Parliament always meet at specified times?

No

In 1955, Lok Sabha recommended a calendar of sittings for each session, the cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru agreed to the recommendation, but it was not implemented.

The Constitution does not specify when or for how many days Parliament should meet.

Article 85 only requires that there should not be a gap of more than six months between two sessions of Parliament.

Article 85 says the President can summon a session of Parliament “at such time and place as he thinks fit”. Thus, a session can be called on the recommendation of the government, which decides its date and duration.

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