Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman speaks in Lok Sabha during the Monsoon Session of Parliament, in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Sansad TV/ANI Video Grab)

NEW DELHI: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday slammed major opposition parties for not taking part in the discussion and passage of the new Income Tax Bill in Rajya Sabha, saying that all parties in the Business Advisory Committee had agreed to debate the Bill for 16 hours each in the two houses of Parliament.The Bill was returned to Lok Sabha after discussion. The Lower House had passed the Bill on Monday. The Bill will replace the Income-Tax Act, 1961, and seeks to make direct tax law easy to read, understand and implement.Replying to the discussion in which MPs from BJP and its allies — YSRCP and TDP — participated, Sitharaman said, “I am shocked that the Opposition doesn’t want to participate. The Opposition had agreed in the BAC to debate the bill in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha…you don’t want to discuss anything, we want to have charcha. We agreed for 16 hours of charcha (discussion) in the Lok Sabha and 16 hours of charcha here (Rajya Sabha)...where are they today?”She also said that while the Opposition often alleges that there is a need to discuss matters of public interest, it didn’t participate in the discussion on a Bill which impacts a large section of society. The new law will come into force on April 1, 2026. The FM said that the Bill does not impose any new tax rate and only simplifies the language used.The FM also introduced Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2025 which seeks to provide tax exemption for public investment funds of Saudi Arabia and its subsidiaries, tax exemption for partial withdrawal by subscribers of Unified Pension Scheme.