Polity & GovernancePriority2025-02-13

Budget Session 2025 First Half Concludes

In News

What Happened

The first half of the 2025 Parliament Budget Session concluded on February 13, following nine productive sittings. During this period, both Houses debated and passed the Motion of Thanks on President Droupadi Murmu's address, the Union Budget 2025-26 was presented, and the historic Income-Tax Bill 2025 was introduced. Parliament has now entered a four-week recess and will reconvene on March 10.

Why It Matters

The parliamentary recess is a crucial democratic mechanism that allows specialized committees to meticulously scrutinize the exact spending plans of various ministries away from the political heat of the main chambers. Concurrently, the introduction of the Income-Tax Bill 2025 marks a monumental shift in India's fiscal policy, aiming to simplify six decades of complex tax laws into an easily understandable code.

Background

History & Context

The Indian parliamentary system traditionally splits the Budget Session into two halves, a practice formalized after the inception of the Departmentally Related Standing Committees (DRSCs) in 1993. This recess period ensures democratic accountability by allowing 24 DRSCs to review the exact spending plans (Demands for Grants) of various ministries. During the first half, the President delivers a Special Address mandated by Article 87(1), which is then debated via the Motion of Thanks. Additionally, in July 2024, the Finance Minister announced a comprehensive review of the Income-Tax Act, 1961. This exhaustive six-month drafting process—involving extensive stakeholder consultations and nearly 75,000 person-hours—culminated in the introduction of the Income-Tax Bill 2025 on the final day of the session's first half.

What Changed

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Introduction of Income-Tax Bill 2025: Introduced on February 13 to replace the 1961 Act, significantly reducing sections from 819 to 536 and chapters from 47 to 23.
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Virtual Digital Assets (VDA) Included: The legal definition of 'undisclosed income' for search and assessment cases is expanded to explicitly include virtual digital assets (like cryptocurrencies) alongside money, bullion, and jewelry.
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Digital Search Powers: Tax authorities are now explicitly empowered to gain access to a 'virtual digital space' during search and seizure operations, including the legal right to override access codes.
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Standardized Tax Year: The new IT Bill introduces a straightforward 12-month 'Tax Year', aiming to eliminate the confusing dual concept of Financial Year (FY) and Assessment Year (AY).
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Record Participation in Debates: The Motion of Thanks saw extensive debate, engaging the Lok Sabha for over 17 hours (173 members) and the Rajya Sabha for nearly 22 hours (73 members), well beyond the allotted time.

What Did NOT Change

Despite the massive overhaul of the Income-Tax Act's language, the substantive policies—such as residency rules, the classification of heads of income, and most existing penalties—remain fundamentally unchanged in the base draft. Furthermore, the essential constitutional mechanisms of the budget process, namely the Annual Financial Statement (Article 112) and the President's Address (Article 87), operated exactly as prescribed by tradition.

Prelims Angle

NCERT Connection

In Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Chapter 5 (Legislature), the text discusses 'Instruments of Parliamentary Control', specifically focusing on how Parliament controls the executive via debates and financial approval. The events of this session perfectly illustrate this: the Motion of Thanks acts as the primary debate on government policy, while the recess operationalizes the 'Committee System' where DRSCs dissect the Demands for Grants, proving that real financial control happens in committee rooms before the final vote in the Lok Sabha.

Common Misconceptions

✗ Parliament remains in continuous sitting from the start of the Budget Session until the Budget is finally passed.

✓ The Budget Session is explicitly split into two parts, separated by a nearly month-long recess (Feb 13 - March 9 in 2025), specifically so DRSCs can scrutinize Demands for Grants.

Citizens assume 'passing the budget' is a single continuous debate, not realizing the most detailed scrutiny happens off-camera in committee rooms during the recess.

✗ The President writes her own address to outline her personal vision for the country at the start of the session.

✓ The President's Address is a statement of the Government's policy and achievements, drafted by the Council of Ministers and approved by the Cabinet.

Because the President reads it at the joint sitting, citizens assume it is the President's own speech, whereas she is fulfilling a constitutional duty under Article 87(1) following the Westminster parliamentary model.

✗ The newly introduced Income-Tax Bill 2025 implements all the new tax slab changes announced in the budget speech.

✓ The Income-Tax Bill 2025 replaces the overarching statutory framework of the 1961 Act (effective April 2026), while the specific annual tax rates and slab adjustments are modified through the annual Finance Bill 2025.

The concurrent introduction of the overarching IT Bill 2025 and the annual Finance Bill 2025 conflates permanent structural law changes with annual rate changes in the public mind.

Practice Questions

Q1

How Many Correct

Consider the following statements regarding the parliamentary procedures observed during the first half of the Budget Session: 1. The Special Address by the President at the commencement of the first session of the year is mandated by Article 87(1) of the Constitution. 2. During the parliamentary recess in the Budget Session, the Departmentally Related Standing Committees (DRSCs) vote on the Demands for Grants for various ministries. 3. The Income-Tax Bill 2025, introduced during the session, expands the definition of 'undisclosed income' in search cases to explicitly include virtual digital assets. How many of the above statements are correct?

Q2

Match the Following

Match the following Constitutional Articles/Features (List I) with their corresponding subjects seen in the Budget Session 2025 (List II): List I 1. Article 112 2. Article 87(1) 3. Income-Tax Bill 2025 4. Demands for Grants List II A. President's Special Address B. Annual Financial Statement C. Scrutinized by DRSCs during the recess D. Reduction of legal sections from 819 to 536 Select the correct code:

Q3

Assertion & Reason

Assertion (A): The President's Address at the beginning of the Budget Session is debated in Parliament strictly through the 'Motion of Thanks'. Reason (R): Parliament cannot directly debate or critique the President's Address because the President is the nominal head of state, and the address is drafted by the Cabinet representing the government's policy. Select the correct answer:

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