The monsoon session of Parliament will start from today.
New Delhi:
A day after the show of strength by opposition parties in Bengaluru, the entire opposition is set to raise issues including Manipur violence, railway safety, unemployment, inflation, India-China border situation and trade balance between the two countries. The monsoon session of Parliament is starting from Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Center called an all-party meeting and 34 parties and 44 leaders participated in it.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi said that in the all-party meeting, the leaders raised many important issues before the government and this meeting has been called for the smooth conduct of the monsoon session, which will run till August 11 and will have 17 meetings.
“At present, the government has 31 legislative items which have been identified. We will decide later what to bring and what not, but at least 31 legislative items are fully ready now,” he said.
Some parties plan to move an adjournment motion on the Manipur violence, among other issues, on the first day of the monsoon session of Parliament on Thursday.
The opposition said that the discussion should be held in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He said, “Opposition parties have given many suggestions and leaders of our alliance have also given. All parties have demanded a discussion on the Manipur issue, on which the government is ready.”
“The government is ready to discuss all issues in the monsoon session. We have appealed to the opposition parties to support the smooth functioning of Parliament,” Mr Joshi said after the all-party meeting.
The government plans heavy legislative business with the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 among 31 Bills on its agenda for the Monsoon Session of Parliament beginning on Thursday.
Apart from the Personal Data Protection Bill, the Bill to replace the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance, 2023 promulgated in May this year is one of the other major Bills listed for the Monsoon Session. The ordinance deals with the regulation of services in Delhi and was promulgated after the Supreme Court’s decision on an appeal by the Delhi government.
Other bills on the government’s agenda include the Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2019; The DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2019; The Arbitration Bill, 2021; The Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2022; The Multi-State Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2022; The Repealing and Amending Bill, 2022; The Public Trust (Amendment of the Provisions) Bill, 2023; The Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023; The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Third Amendment) Bill, 2022 (in relation to the State of Himachal Pradesh); The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Fifth Amendment) Bill, 2022 (in relation to the State of Chhattisgarh); Postal Service Bill, 2023; The National Cooperative Universities Bill, 2023; and The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment) Bill, 2023.
The list also includes the International Monetary Fund and Bank Bill, 2023; The Provisional Collection of Taxes Bill, 2023 18; The National Dental Commission Bill, 2023; The National Nursing and Midwifery Commission Bill, 2023; The Drugs, Medical Devices and Cosmetics Bill, 2023; The Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2023; The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023; The Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2023; The Press and Periodicals Registration Bill, 2023; The Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2023; The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2023.
Railways (Amendment) Bill, 2023; The National Research Foundation Bill, 2023; The Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Castes Order (Amendment) Bill, 2023; The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and The Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Tribes Orders (Amendment) Bill, 2023 are also among the 31 bills on the government’s agenda.
The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 was approved by the Union Cabinet earlier this month.
This government had withdrawn the Personal Data Protection Bill from Parliament last August and had said that it would bring a new bill. The Supreme Court ruled in 2017 that privacy is a fundamental right and the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023, is an important pillar of a comprehensive framework of technology regulations being drawn up by the Centre.
The previous version of the bill came after an extensive consultative process and was also scrutinized by a joint parliamentary committee. The government has held another round of consultations to prepare the new bill.
The Bill, which seeks to replace the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance, 2023, seeks to set up a National Capital Civil Services Authority consisting of the Chief Minister, the Chief Secretary of Delhi and the Principal Home Secretary of Delhi.
The authority will make recommendations to the Lieutenant Governor (LG) regarding transfers and postings of officers and disciplinary matters.
While the government is expected to push its legislative agenda, the opposition parties plan to raise a range of issues including Manipur violence, railway safety, unemployment, inflation, India-China border standoff and trade imbalance between the two countries.
Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary said that the demand of our party is the statement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Manipur issue in the House.
“…the first demand of our party is that the PM should make a statement on the Manipur issue in the House and give us a chance to discuss it. Tomorrow we want to bring an adjournment motion on it.”
“Besides, a large part of the country is battling floods. This should also be discussed. The (Balasore) railway accident should also be discussed,” he said.
“There is unemployment and inflation – these are common issues. But the blow to constitutional institutions should also be discussed. The India-China border situation and trade between the two countries should also be discussed…” he said.
Besides this, the Indian Union Muslim League MP in the all-party meeting said that there are strong protests against the Uniform Civil Code. I told the government that it was dangerous and it would disturb harmony among people in India.
“I also raised my concern about Manipur in the all-party meeting. I urged the government to intervene and solve the problem,” he said.
In addition, BJD MP Sasmit Patra Biju Janata Dal advocated parliamentary approval of the Women’s Reservation Bill.
After the meeting, BJD MP Sasmit Patra Biju said, “BJD pitched for parliamentary approval of the Women’s Reservation Bill and also demanded special status for Odisha in the all-party meeting. We also raised the issue of pending construction of more than 7 lakh houses for the poor under the central government’s scheme.”
Congress leader Pramod Tiwari demanded a discussion on the Manipur issue.
Pramod Tiwari said, “Manipur is not just a state issue, but an international border. There should be a discussion and PM Narendra Modi should answer. We appeal to the ruling party to allow Parliament to function properly.”
Apart from this, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) Mahua Maji said that there are many issues on which the central government is not paying any attention. In today’s meeting, we discussed the issues related to our area. The Santali laborers working in the border areas are not getting any contingency benefit.
She further said, “There is acute power shortage as the Adani project is not providing the required 25 per cent power to the state. There should also be a women’s reservation bill. So, these are the issues we wanted to discuss in this Parliament session.”
Bharat Rashtra Samithi Party leader Kancherla Keshav Rao said that the irony of the entire meeting is that we started the meeting by first ordering the subjects. There are two things we must know; Firstly, the Supreme Court has said ‘No’ to it and it should be clarified.
After the all-party meeting, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Amarendra Dhari Singh raised the issue of ordinance of Manipur, Delhi.
Amarinder Dhari Singh said, “I also raised the issues of Manipur, special ordinance in Delhi and special package in Bihar.”
The grand old party Congress will raise the Manipur situation, attacks on the federal structure and other issues in the upcoming session.
The Congress leader said, “We want to discuss the situation in Manipur in the upcoming session of Parliament. The second issue is the attack on democratically elected state governments through governors and LGs, the Delhi ordinance being one such example.”
He said that the party will attack the central government on the issue of price rise in Parliament as well.
“The third issue is price hike… and of course, the JPC issue on the Adani scam. We will oppose the Forest Conservation Act Amendment Bill and the amendment to the Biological Diversity Act. We will oppose the Delhi Ordinance,” he said.
Earlier, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh chaired an all-party meeting convened by the central government for the smooth functioning of the Monsoon Session of Parliament beginning on Thursday.
The monsoon session of Parliament will continue till August 11. There will be a total of 17 sittings during the session. The monsoon session will begin in the old Parliament House.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV Staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)