Parliament's budget session to start on Feb 21

The decision to recommend the date for convening of the session to the President was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs chaired by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is also Leader of the House in Lok Sabha.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister P K Bansal told reporters that other details related to the session will be worked out shortly.

The session starts with the Address of the President to a joint sitting of both the Houses of Parliament, which is a statement of the government's policies and programmes for the next financial year.

The meeting was attended by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi, Law Minister Veerappa Moily and Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran, besides Bansal and Ministers of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Narayanasamy and Ashwani Kumar.