Parliament adjourns after paying tribute to deceased members

New Delhi, Feb 21 (ANI): Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned till Tuesday after tributes were paid to former members who had died in the intervening period between the Winter and Budget Sessions.

Tribute was also paid to Hindustani classical vocalist and Bharat Ratna Bhimsen Joshi.

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, introduced his newly reshuffled cabinet colleagues in the Rajya Sabha. They include Praful Patel, Sriprakash Jaiswal, Salman Khurshid, Ashwani Kumar, K.Venugopal and Beni Prasad Verma.

Earlier in the day, Dr. Singh said the Budget Session of Parliament is very crucial and hoped proceedings would be peaceful.

" This Budget Session of Parliament is very crucial. We hope to bring some important pieces of legislation for consideration of Parliament," he told reporters at Parliament House.

The Government has been under Opposition attack over 2G spectrum allocation, the Adarsh Housing scam, the Commonwealth Games and ISRO S-band scams.

On Monday, at an all-party meeting called by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, the government conveyed to the Opposition that it would move a resolution for Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) in the House on February 22, which will be followed by a discussion on the floor of the House.

Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal will move a motion to this effect in Parliament on February 22 and the Speaker is expected to decide on the terms of reference of the JPC.

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will present the "General Budget" to the Lok Sabha on February 28.

The session will be in two parts-the first upto March 16 and the second from April 4 to 21.

The Railway Budget will be presented before the Rajya Sabha on February 25.

The standing committees of various ministries will use the recess between the two parts of the session to scrutinise the budgetary demands for grants. (ANI)