The Budget session of Parliament, for 2011, is the time for redemption. Fears that the Opposition would not allow the two Houses to function have been laid to rest as its demand that the Government allow a Joint Parliamentary Committee to examine the 2G scam has been acceded to. So the country can be certain of one thing at least: Parliament will work. But to what effect is less easy to be sure about. There are a large number of bills that it needs to consider and then get around to passing. But whether anything so constructive will actually happen is anybody's guess. The record of the last few years is not very encouraging. In consequence, some very important reforms have been held up. Overall, it is not easy to assign blame for this state of affairs. Both the Government and the Opposition have behaved badly. For example, the former could have conceded the JPC in the winter session itself but waited until it was left with no other option; the Opposition could have achieved the same results with the Public Accounts Committee's examination of the CAG's report on the 2G scam but it, too, pushed for political advantage. The country suffered. It must be hoped that both have seen the folly of their ways and will allow Parliament to function smoothly. The rest of the world is already viewing India with some discomfort because of the series of scams that have come to light in the last six months; now if it sees that Parliament has become something of a farce, the gains of the last decade run the risk of being frittered away.
That said, it is not going to be easy going for the Government. Inflation will be a big issue. The Government, having given assurance after assurance that it would soon be brought down, and having failed to do so, has finally acknowledged — to quote the President — that “Inflation has been a problem in the past year” and that her Government's foremost priority in 2011-12 will be to “to combat inflation and, in particular, to protect the common man from the impact of rising food prices”. The Opposition is unlikely to take this at face value and we can expect a measure of contrived fuss in the two Houses. The second promise that the President has made is “to address frontally the concern regarding the lack of probity and integrity in public life”. But as she must know, there are bottlenecks in the system, and the necks of bottles are at the top.
Finally, if the Prime Minister missed an opportunity at his press conference to demonstrate that he was in control, the Budget session presents another in which he can show that the Government has regained control not just of prices but also politics and governance. It is mainly in that sense that he is right when he says it will be a crucial session.