New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu will address the joint session of the Parliament on Thursday, June 27, at 11 AM in the Lok Sabha chamber of the new Parliament House. The first session of the 18th Lok Sabha began on Monday, June 24 and the 264th session of the Rajya Sabha will begin on June 27.
This will be the first address to the joint session of the new government. However, in February Murmu addressed both the Houses of the new Parliament during the interim budget of the previous government. She will reach the Parliament in a procession from the Rashtrapati Bhawan on Thursday, escorted by the horse-mounted presidential bodyguards.
At the Parliament building's Gaja Dwar, she will be greeted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the leaders of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. From there, she will be led by the traditional sceptre, known as Sengol, to the Lower House chamber.
On July 2-3, PM Modi is expected to respond to the debate on the motion of thanks. President Murmu is likely to give a thorough summary of the policies of the central government during the last ten years in her speech, emphasising accomplishments in a number of sectors including the social welfare, healthcare, education, defense, and economics.
A revived Opposition, meantime, is getting ready to take on the government on a number of fronts, including the irregularities in the NEET-UG, the cancelation of UGC-NET, terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, rail accidents, and the increasing cost of essential commodities.
According to Article 87 of the Constitution, the President is required to address a joint session of Parliament at the beginning of the session after each Lok Sabha election. The President also addresses a joint sitting of both Houses in the first session of the Parliament every year.
New Parliament House: The new Parliament House was inaugurated on May 28, 2023 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The new complex, built next to the existing complex has a hexagonal shape and is designed to have a lifespan of more than 150 years.
It is earthquake-resistant and has incorporated architectural styles from different parts of India. The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha chambers have large seating capacities to accommodate more members in the future keeping in mind the future delimitation exercises.
The Lok Sabha has a seating capacity of 888 members and the Rajya Sabha of 384. The new Parliament has four floors with separate offices for ministers and committee rooms. It has three entrances, named Jnana Dvara, (knowledge gate), Sakti Dvara (power gate), and Karma Dvara (karma gate).
It is worth mentioning that the new Parliament House comes under the government’s Central Vista Project which also includes reconstruction of several other government buildings and public spaces. The total cost of the project, which is likely to be completed by 2026, is estimated to be Rs 20,000 crore (US$2.5 billion)
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