Budget Session begins in Parliament; Economic Survey 2020-21 to be released today

The Budget Session of Parliament is all set to kickstart on Friday, January 29, with the presentation of the country's Economic Survey. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present Economic Survey 2020-21 in Parliament today. After the presentation of the Economic Survey 2020-21, chief economic adviser (CEA) KV Subramanian will address a press conference tentatively at 3:30 PM in New Delhi, finance ministry said.

The Economic Survey 2020-21 comprises data on the performance of the economy in the past year, future challenges and the way forward.  The Economic Survey is like a report card of India that provides detailed statistical data covering both microeconomics and macroeconomics.

The document analyses the trends in sectors like agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure,  import, export, foreign exchange reserves, taxations, etc. The survey forecasts the country's economy in the next year by giving out detailed reasons why it believes the economy will expand faster or decelerate. The Economic Survey 2020-21 has two parts -- one consists of the economic challenges that the country is facing and the second is the review of year gone-by.

Every year, the Economic Survey is presented on January 31 but this year it will be on January 29. The Union Budget will be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1. The Budget Session will be held in two parts --January 29 to February 15 and March 8 to April 8, and will have a total of 33 sittings.

With a view to have a paperless Budget, all the documents and the Economic Survey would be made available online soon after the authenticated copies are laid on the table of Lok Sabha.

This session will be held as per COVID-19 protocols, with Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha meeting in shifts of five hours each -- with the Upper House meeting from 9 AM to 2 PM and the Lower House in the evening from 3 PM to 8 PM.

This year's Economic Survey is being tabled in Parliament at a time when the country's economy has severely been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. In 2020, India's GDP contracted 23.9 per cent in the first quarter ( April-June) and further by 7.5 per cent in the second quarter (July-September),  according to National Statistical Office.

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