News Analysis India

Tag: Monsoon Session

  • Police’s request to reduce people gathering for Parliament protest has been declined: Farmer leader

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police on Sunday asked farmer unions to reduce the number of people who would gather in front of Parliament to protest against three agri laws from July 22, but it has been declined, a farm union leader said.

    “We informed police that every day 200 farmers will go to Parliament from the Singhu border during the Monsoon session.

    It will be a peaceful protest and protesters will have identification badges also,” Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh national president Shiv Kumar Kakka said.

    The Monsoon session of Parliament will start on Monday and is scheduled to conclude on August 13.

    Every detail about each protester will be given to police, including a demonstrator’s Aadhaar card and mobile phone number, he said.

    Police have offered an alternative place for the demonstration and have asked unions to reduce the number of protesters.

    ALSO READ | Opposition parties to give adjouarnment notice in Parliament over farmers’ issues: RSP leader Premachandran

    This request of the police has been declined by farmer leaders, Kakka said.

    The Delhi Police will give its reply on Monday and the timing of the protest will also be decided, he said.

    Farmers have been protesting against the central laws since November last year at Delhi border points of Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur.

    The legislations were enacted in September last year.

    The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of over 40 farmer unions spearheading the stir against the central laws, has planned that around 200 farmers will protests outside Parliament every day during the period of the Monsoon session.

    A tractor parade in Delhi on January 26, that was to highlight the demands of the farmer unions to repeal the, had dissolved into anarchy on the streets of the national capital as thousands of protesters broke through barriers, fought with the police, overturned vehicles and hoisted a religious flag from the ramparts of the iconic Red Fort.

    The SKM had earlier said at a press conference that two days before the Monsoon session begins, a “chetavani patra” (warning letter) will be issued to all opposition MPs to protest the farm laws inside the House.

    Farmers agitating against the three farm laws claim that the legislations will do away with the Minimum Support Price system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporations.

    Over 10 rounds of talks with the government, which has been projecting the laws at major agricultural reforms, have failed to break the deadlock between the two parties.

  • Govt holds all-party meeting ahead of Monsoon session of Parliament

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A day before the Monsoon session of Parliament begins, the government on Sunday held an all-party meeting that was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and floor leaders of various political parties.

    Besides Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union minister and Leader of House in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi were present at the meeting.

    Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury also attended the meeting.

    Floor leaders of all prominent opposition parties, including Derek O’ Brien from TMC, Tiruchi Siva from DMK, Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav and BSP’s Satish Mishra were also present.

    Apna Dal leader and NDA ally Anupriya Patel and LJP leader Pashupati Paras also attended the meeting.

    The Monsoon session of Parliament will start from Monday and is scheduled to conclude on August 13.

    On day one of the session, the prime minister will introduce the newly inducted ministers to both the Houses.

    It is the convention that after the formation of a new government or an expansion or reshuffle in the Union Council of Ministers, the prime minister introduces new ministers in both the Houses.

    There was a major rejig in the Union Council of Ministers recently.

    While several new faces were inducted, some ministers were elevated to the Cabinet rank and portfolios of some others were changed.

    Some new members who recently entered Lok Sabha following bypolls would also take oath as members of the lower house on Monday.

  • Government plans to introduce 17 bills in Monsoon session, including three to replace ordinances

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The government has listed 17 new bills for introduction in the Monsoon session of Parliament beginning July 19.

    Three of the bills seek to replace ordinances issued recently.

    Once a session starts an ordinance has to be passed as a bill within 42 days or six weeks, else it lapses.

    One of the ordinances was issued on June 30 prohibiting any agitation and strike by anyone engaged in the essential defence services.

    The Essential Defence Services Ordinance 2021 came in the backdrop of the announcement by major federations of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) to go on indefinite strike from the later part of July to protest the government’s decision to corporatise the OFB.

    The Essential Defence Service Bill, 2021 has been listed to replace the ordinance, according to a Lok Sabha bulletin issued on July 12.

    The Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Bill, 2021 is another bill that seeks to replace an ordinance.

    According to the government, the ordinance was brought to provide a permanent solution and establish a self-regulated, democratically monitored mechanism for tackling air pollution in the NCR and adjoining areas, rather than limited ad-hoc measures.

    The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2021 also seeks to replace an ordinance issued recently.

    The proposed bill seeks to provide speedier, cost-effective, semi-formal and less disruptive framework for insolvency resolution of corporate debtors in distress.

    The government has also listed The Indian Antarctica Bill, 2021 for introduction.

    The proposed bill seeks to provide a harmonious policy and regulatory framework for India’s Antarctic activities and to provide national measures for protecting the Antarctic environment and dependent and associated ecosystem as per the Antarctic Treaty, according to the details available in the Lok Sabha bulletin.

    The Petroleum and Minerals Pipelines (Amendment) Bill, 2021 seeks to make the system of laying of pipelines for transportation of Petroleum and Minerals, robust.

    The government has also listed ‘The Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2021’ fr introduction in the session.

    “The proposed amendments entail de-licensing of the distribution business and bring in competition, the appointment of a member from law background in every Commission, strengthening of APTEL, penalty for non-compliance of RPO, prescribing rights and duties of consumers,” according to details available in the bulletin.

    The proposed ‘The Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2021 listed for introduction seeks to prevent and combat trafficking in persons, especially women and children.

    It is aimed at providing care, protection, assistance and rehabilitation to the victims, while respecting their rights, and creating a supportive legal, economic and social environment for them, and also to ensure prosecution of offenders.

    According to the financial business listed in the bulletin, there would be a presentation, discussion and voting on Supplementary Demands for Grants for the year 2021-22.

    There would also be a presentation, discussion and voting on Excess Demands for Grants for the year 2017-18.

    Six other bills are pending in various stages before the two Houses and parliamentary panels.

  • BJP huddles before Monsoon session as Opposition set to corner Modi government in Parliament

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Top BJP leaders and Union ministers, including party president J P Nadda, Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, held a meeting to discuss matters related to the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament and frame the party’s strategy to counter the opposition, sources said.

    The meeting was held at Union Minister Rajnath Singh’s residence, they said.

    The Monsoon session of Parliament, which is scheduled to start from July 19, will be the first session after the second wave of COVID-19, which was far more worse than the first.

    The opposition is expected to rake up this issue and launch a scathing attack on the government.

    Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Bhupender Yadav and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and ministers of state Arjun Ram Meghwal and V Muraleedharan, among others, were present in the meeting.

    Besides them, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi also attended the meet.

    The BJP leaders held wide ranging discussions on the party’s floor strategy for the upcoming session and also to ensure the passage of important bills and financial business including Supplementary Demands for Grants, the sources said.

    With the opposition being exuberant after the BJP’s defeat in the assembly election in West Bengal and planning to raise issues related to the second wave of COVID-19, the BJP wants to further fine tune its strategy so that it can effectively counter the opposition while at the same convincingly put forward its case, they said.

    The meeting lasted for more than an hour at Singh’s residence who also chairs the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs and is deputy leader of the BJP in Lok Sabha.

    Around 17 bills are listed for introduction in Lok Sabha, including and five bills for consideration and passage, and a similar number of bills are expected to be introduced in Rajya Sabha as well.

  • Take up farmers’ demands in Parliament before any other business: Samyukt Kisan Morcha asks Opposition parties

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Tuesday said that it will press the opposition parties to ensure that the farmers’ demands on the three new agri laws and MSP are addressed in Parliament before any other business is transacted during the upcoming Monsoon session.

    The umbrella body of over 40 farmer unions that is spearheading the agitation for the scrapping of the central agri laws said the preparation for their planned protests at the Parliament from July 22 is in full swing.

    “Farmers and leaders from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and even from distant states like West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka are arriving at the borders of Delhi to participate in the protest.

    “As planned by SKM, the protest will be planned and executed methodically and peacefully, with 200 farmers participating in the protest every day,” it said.

    The SKM said that any attempt to stop the farmers from protesting “will be illegal and unconstitutional”.

    The amalgam said it will issue letters to all the opposition MPs of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on July 17 as a precursor to the protest on July 22, “demanding that they raise the demands of the farmers in Parliament and ensure that these demands are discussed and met before any other business is transacted in Parliament,” it said.

    Farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at Delhi’s borders for over seven months.

    They are demanding a rollback of the three contentious agri laws and also seeking a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP).

    Most of the opposition parties have openly supported the farmers’ agitation.

    The three laws – The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020 – were passed by Parliament in September last year.

    The Centre has offered to amend the laws but has ruled out their scrapping.

  • Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari in race to become Congress leader in Lok Sabha 

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: With the monsoon session of Parliament beginning next week, the Congress is looking at a leadership change in the Lok Sabha. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is expected to be replaced as the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha as part of the party’s organisational reshuffle.

    According to sources, Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari are leading the race to replace him. The names of Gaurav Gogoi, Ravneet Singh Bittu and Uttam Kumar Reddy are also doing the rounds. Sources further said former Congress president Rahul Gandhi will not take up that position.

    Chowdhury is also the president of the Congress unit in West Bengal, where the party was wiped out in the recent Assembly elections. Ever since, rumours about his axing as the party’s leader in the Lok Sabha were doing the rounds, citing the one-man-one-post rule, especially because he has no leverage now. The speculation has since strengthened with indications that the rule will be rigorously enforced now.

    As for Tewari, he is also in the race to head the troubled Punjab unit of the party, which is expected to be announced soon. The monsoon session will begin in July 19.Both Tharoor and Tewari are part of the group of 23 leaders who wrote to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi last year seeking clarity on leadership issues.

    The monsoon session is expected to be stormy with the Congress planning to demand a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Rafale jet deal. A French court’s recent order to probe charges of corruption and favouritism in the deal, gave impetus to the Congress campaign against the bilateral agreement. The government’s handling of the second wave of the pandemic, too, will be under the critical gaze of parliamentarians.

  • BJP to introduce private members’ bills on population control, uniform civil code in Monsoon session

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: BJP MPs will introduce private members’ bills on population control and uniform civil code in the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament, according to information from the secretariats of both Houses.

    The private members’ bill on population control comes close on the heels of the law commission of BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in the country, putting up a draft bill on the issue on its website, inviting suggestions from the public till July 19.

    BJP Lok Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh Ravi Kishan and Rajya Sabha MP from Rajasthan Kirori Lal Meena are scheduled to introduce the private members’ bills on population control and uniform civil code respectively in the very first week of the Parliament session which is starting from July 19.

    A bill introduced by a member other than a minister is known as a private member’s bill and there is little possibility of it becoming a law without the government’s support.

    The proposed legislations on population control and uniform civil code, issues that usually trigger heated polemics in the country, are in line with the BJP’s ideological agenda.

    Opposition parties have criticised the BJP’s moves in this regard, claiming that they are aimed at targeting one specific community, while the BJP has accused them of pursuing appeasement politics.

    According to the details available with Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats, Kishan and Meena will get an opportunity to introduce their respective private members’ bills on July 24, which was decided through the lottery system.

    A notice for a similar bill on population control has also been given by BJP MP in Rajya Sabha Rakesh Sinha.

    The proposed legislations on population control emphasise on deincentivising couples having more than two children, by making them ineligible for government jobs and subsidies on various facilities and goods given by the government.

    The draft UP population control bill says people having more than two children will be debarred from contesting local bodies polls, applying for government jobs or receiving any kind of subsidy.

    Similar legislation is under discussion in another BJP-ruled state Assam.

    Meanwhile, Vishva Hindu Parishad, a member of the ruling BJP’s ideological family, has objected to the one-child policy norm of the draft population control bill in UP, saying it is likely to further increase the imbalance between different communities and contract the population as well.

    “The preamble of the bill states that this is a bill, inter alia, to stabilise the population and promote the two-child norm. The Vishva Hindu Parishad agrees with both objects,” the organisation’s working president, Alok Kumar, said in a letter to the Uttar Pradesh State Law Commission (UPSCL) on Monday.

    However, Sections 5, 6(2) and 7 of the bill, which incentivise public servants and others to have only one child in the family, go “well beyond the said objects”, he said.

    Asked about the bill he intends to introduce, Sinha said population growth has been ringing an “alarm bell” for the country and asserted that a central law is “most required” as it will be applicable across the nation.

    The unchecked population growth needs to be regulated, he said.

    Noting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a critical intervention in the debate over the issue during his speech on August 15, Sinha said that Modi had called for a balance between resources and population.

    The discourse over the issue should not be seen through caste and religious angles, Sinha said.

    According to PRS Legislative, no private members’ bills have been passed by Parliament since 1970.

    A total of 14 such bills have received Parliament’s nod.

  • Madhya Pradesh assembly’s monsoon session to start on August 9

    By PTI
    BHOPAL: The monsoon session of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly will begin on August 9, official sources said on Monday.

    A total of four sittings will take place during the four-day duration of the session, which will culminate on August 12, an official said.

    Besides question hour, the House will transact other necessary official business.

  • Monsoon session of Parliament to start from July 19, conclude on August 13: LS speaker Om Birla

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla Monday said all Covid-related protocols will be followed during the Monsoon Session of parliament scheduled to begin from July 19.

    He said those who have not been vaccinated against coronavirus will be requested to undergo an RT-PCR test before entering the parliament premises during the session.

    Addressing a press conference in the parliament complex, Birla said 323 MPs have been fully vaccinated against the virus, while 23 have not been able to take their first jab due to some medical reasons.

    Birla said both the Houses will sit simultaneously and proceedings will start from 11 am.

    The Monsoon Session of parliament will begin from July 19 and conclude on August 13.

    Since the pandemic began, three sessions of Parliament were curtailed while the winter session last year had to be cancelled.

    The Monsoon Session, which usually starts in July, had begun in September last year owing to the pandemic situation.

  • BJP should let Maharashtra monsoon session to function in people’s interest: Sanjay Raut

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said the opposition BJP should allow the two-day monsoon session of the Maharashtra legislature to function smoothly if it has the interest of the state’s people in mind.

    The two-day monsoon session of the state legislature will begin on Monday.

    Talking to reporters here, Raut said the opposition should allow the legislature proceedings to go on smoothly for the two days.

    “Pandemonium is not the way to corner the government. Such tactics can be adopted by the other side as well. This will not solve problems of vaccination (against coronavirus), COVID-19, unemployment and economy,” said Raut, whose party shares power with the NCP and Congress in Maharashtra as part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance.

    He said the Maharashtra government has several issues for discussion on problems being faced by people in the state.

    “If the BJP feels committed towards the welfare of the state, it will allow the legislature session to function. The people of the state want the two-day session not to be washed away in pandemonium,” the Rajya Sabha member said.

    On reports that he met BJP leader Ashish Shelar on Saturday, Raut said “the more such rumours spread, the stronger the MVA alliance will become”.

    “We may have political and ideological differences, but if we come face-to-face at public functions, we will cordially greet each other. I have had coffee with Shelar openly,” the Sena’s chief spokesperson said.

    To a query on the state government planning to bring a resolution in the legislature opposing three central farm laws, Raut said if the MVA is proposing such a resolution, it means all the three allies are in support of the resolution.

    NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik on Saturday said the state government will pass a resolution during the monsoon session against the three central farm laws.

    Farmers have been camping at Delhi’s borders since November 2020 with their demands that the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 be rolled back and a new law made to guarantee minimum support price for crops.