News Analysis India

Tag: Monsoon Session

  • Duration of monsoon session can’t be extended due to COVID-19: Maharashtra CM in letter to Governor

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday wrote a letter to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, in which he defended the government’s decision of holding the monsoon session of the state legislature only for two days starting July 5, saying that its duration cannot be extended in view of the coronavirus situation.

    He also appeared non-committal on holding the legislative assembly speaker’s election during the two-day session, saying there was no “time-frame” for it.

    Thackeray also urged Koshyari to pursue with the Centre the state government’s demand of sharing the empirical data on the Other Backward Classes (OBC) in order to take steps for restoring the political reservation for the community in local civic bodies.

    Recently, Koshyari had written a letter to Thackeray, asking him to extend the duration of the upcoming monsoon and fill the post of the legislative assembly speaker urgently citing the demands raised by a BJP delegation.

    In his reply letter, Thackeray said the duration of the legislature session cannot be extended in view of the second wave of the pandemic and the threat of a possible third wave.

    “Medical experts have predicted a severe third wave,” he said.

    Thackeray said that taking care of the health of the people and the elected representatives in the state was the responsibility of his government.

    He said the decision to hold the monsoon session for two days was taken due to the COVID-19 pandemic and cases of Delta Plus variant of the virus reported in several districts of the state.

    The government was trying to hold the election for the legislative assembly speaker’s post at the earliest, he said.

    “It is better if each and every MLA can participate in the election process. There is no point in doing things in haste. As per the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the union health ministry guidelines, an RT-PCR test done within 72 hours is held valid. So it is not correct to declare a date in advance for holding the speaker’s election,” the CM said in the letter.

    Thackeray said deputy speaker Narhari Zirwal is officiating as the speaker and he had overseen the proceedings during the budget session held earlier this year.

    “There is no violation of constitutional provision. There is no time-frame to hold the speaker’s election,” he added.

    The CM also said the government has written to the State Election Commission (SEC), requesting it to postpone the by-elections to Panchayat Samitis.

    “We are expecting a positive response from the commission in view of the threat of spread of the COVID-19,” he said.

    The SEC had recently declared elections to five Zilla Parishads and the byelections to seats in 33 Panchayat Samitis that were rendered vacant and converted to general category following the Supreme Court verdict quashing OBC quota in local bodies.

    “We have asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to find a constitutional solution to the issue. Empirical data of OBCs is required to provide representation to the community in local bodies. The data is with the central government. I urge you to also pursue with the Centre to provide the empirical data of the 2011 census to enable the state government to take further steps,” he said.

    The BJP had last week held a ‘chakka jam’ or road blockade protests across Maharashtra last week alleging that the state government had failed short to defend the OBC quota in the Supreme Court and to provide the empirical data.

  • Monsoon session of Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha to commence from July 26

    By Express News Service
    RAIPUR: The monsoon session of the Chhattisgarh Assembly will begin from July 26, a notification issued by the Vidhan Sabha secretariat said.

    The session will have five working days.

    The upcoming session is likely to be stormy as the opposition parties—BJP and Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J), have geared-up to target the ruling Congress government on issues of Covid-19 vaccination, loss of paddy during rains owing to lack of proper storage, liquor prohibition, alleged deteriorating law and order situation, issues of tribals in Bastar, elephant menace among others.

    All the specified Covid protocols are to be strictly complied during the session and public is not likely to be allowed to watch the proceedings from the visitors’ gallery. The glass panels have already been installed to separate the seating spaces of the legislators. 

  • Announcement of dates of monsoon session of Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly, session will run from 26 to 30 July

    The dates for the monsoon session of the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly have been announced. The monsoon session will run from 26 to 30 July.
    According to the notification issued by the Vidhan Sabha, there will be 5 sittings in the monsoon session. The opposition has started preparations for the monsoon session. This was discussed in the meeting of BJP office bearers recently.
    On the other hand, the ruling party has also made preparations for the monsoon session. At present, there is only 1 month to start the monsoon season. At the same time, during the monsoon session, all MLAs, ministers will have to follow the Corona guidelines.

  • Hopeful of holding Monsoon Session of Parliament on schedule in July: Union Minister Pralhad Joshi

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The government is hopeful that the Monsoon Session of Parliament will begin on its normal schedule in July, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said on Tuesday amid the second wave of COVID-19.

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

    Last year, the Monsoon Session, which usually starts in July, had begun in September.

    Sources said the modalities of holding this year’s Monsoon Session are still being discussed.

    “I am hopeful that Parliament session will be held as per its normal schedule starting in July,” Joshi told PTI.

    The authorities are confident of holding the session in July itself as most of the parliamentarians, staff members of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats and other stakeholders have received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine.

  • Monsoon session can be organized from 14 September to 1 October

    This is the first time in the history of the Indian Parliament since 1952 that such an arrangement has been made. Where 60 members will sit in the House and 51 in the Rajya Sabha galleries and the remaining 132 in the Lok Sabha chamber.

    New Delhi. On Tuesday, sources said that the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs recommended that the monsoon session of Parliament be held from September 14 to October 1. According to him, there will be a total of 18 meetings and its dates will be announced later in the day. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many preparations are going on for the monsoon session of Parliament, in which several steps are being taken for the first time due to the Kovid-19 pandemic. For example, the galleries of both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha will be used for the seating of the people and following the norms of social distance, the members will be seated in the chambers and galleries of both. According to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, members of the Upper House will be seated in both the rooms and galleries during the session.

    This is the first time in the history of the Indian Parliament since 1952 that such an arrangement has been made. Where 60 members will sit in the House and 51 in the Rajya Sabha galleries and the remaining 132 in the Lok Sabha chamber. Similar seating arrangements are also being done by the Lok Sabha Secretariat. For the first time galleries will have seating arrangement, ultraviolet disinfectant radiation, use of polycarbonate separators between the two houses and special cables, large display screens.

    No paper copy of the ordinances will be distributed in the forthcoming parliament session
    The Lok Sabha Secretariat said on Monday that during the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament, no paper copy of the ordinances will be distributed to MPs in view of Kovid-19 and instead a digital copy will be made available to them. Several ordinances implemented by the government are expected to come to Parliament in the coming session.
    The Lok Sabha Secretariat said in a statement, “Members are informed that in view of the current state of the Kovid-19 epidemic and in order to prevent the spread of infection, it has been decided that the paper of ordinances from the fourth session of the 17th Lok Sabha The copy will not be distributed as there may be a transition from physical handling to paper. ”

  • Monsoon Session of Parliament 2018 to begin from 18th July

    The Monsoon Session of Parliament 2018 would be held from 18th July till 10th August, informed Union Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers and Parliamentary Affairs, Shri Ananthkumar here today. The Minister was briefing the media after the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, chaired by Union Minister for Home Affairs, Shri Rajnath Singh.

    Shri Ananthkumar further informed that the session would have a period of 18 working days and appealed to all political parties to constructively cooperate with the Government to make this session a productive one. The legislative business would include passing of six Ordinances promulgated during the inter-session period before the Monsoon Session, 2018.

    The Minister said that the Government would bring other important bills, including the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Third Amendment) Bill, 2017, Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017, Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016, National Medical Commission Bill, 2017,Rights of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Second Amendment) Bill, 2017, inter alia, for consideration and passing in both the Houses of Parliament.

    Shri Ananthkumar also informed that the election to the post of Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha would also be held during the session as the term of Shri P. J. Kurien is ending this month.