Parliament Winter Session to begin today; FM Sitharaman likely to introduce Central Excise (Amendment) Bill

NEW DELHI: The 6th Session of the 18th Lok Sabha and the 269th Session of the Rajya Sabha will commence on Monday, December 1, at 11 am, marking the beginning of the Winter Session of Parliament.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to introduce the Central Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2025, today, aimed at amending the Central Excise Act, 1944.

In addition, the Finance Minister could also introduce the Health Security se National Security Cess Bill, 2025, for augment the resources for meeting expenditure on national security and for public health, and to levy a cess for this on the machines installed or other processes undertaken by which specified goods are manufactured and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto, the list of business said.

The Bill has been allocated six hours for discussion in the Lok Sabha.

The government is also likely to introduce the Manipur Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill, 2025, which has been allocated three hours for discussion.

Ahead of the session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will brief accredited media representatives at 10 am at Hans Dwar, Parliament House, on the opening day of the Sixth Session of the Eighteenth Lok Sabha. Such briefings by the Prime Minister traditionally set the tone for the legislative and political agenda of the session.

As per the list of businesses, the day will begin with obituary references to former BJP MPs Col. (Retd.) Sona Ram Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Malhotra, former Congress MP Ravi Naik, and actor-turned-politician and former BJP MP Dharmendra.

The government has listed a total of 13 Bills for consideration during the Winter Session, many of which have not been examined by a Standing Committee.

The other legislative proposals likely to be taken up include the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2025; the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2025; the Repealing and Amending Bill, 2025; the National Highways (Amendment) Bill, 2025; the Atomic Energy Bill, 2025; the Corporate Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2025; the Securities Markets Code Bill (SMC), 2025; the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2025; the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2025; and the Higher Education Commission of India Bill, 2025. (ANI)