Monsoon Session begins today: What to expect over 19 sittings of Parliament

India Today, July 16, 2017

A total of 16 Bills have been listed for introduction and passing while two others for withdrawal during the Monsoon session of Parliament beginning today.

The Monsoon Session of Parliament begins today, the day when over 4,850 legislators will be casting their votes to elect the next President of India.
Parliament will be in session till August 11 and hold 19 sittings during the period. According to the PRS Legislative Research, a total of 18 Bills have been listed for consideration and passing.
While 16 Bills have been listed for introduction, consideration and passing, two are mentionedfor withdrawal.

WHAT TO EXPECT DURING MONSOON SESSION

  • Nine of the listed Bills have already been passed by the Lok Sabha and are awaiting the nod from the Rajya Sabha. Among these legislations are, the Whistle Blowers Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015 and the National Commission for Backward Classes (Repeal) Bill, 2017.
  • The Whistle Blowers Bill specifies grounds under which disclosures related to corruption may not be made public while the National Commission for Backward Classes (Repeal) Bill, 2017 proposes to annul the National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993.
    Bills like the Indian Institute of Management Bill, 2017 the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013 and the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 have been listed for passage by both the Houses.
  • Of the 16 Bills listed for introduction, consideration and passing, are the National Sports University Bill, 2017, the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FDRI) Bill, 2017.
  • The two Bills listed for withdrawal are the Participatory of Workers in Management Bill, 1990 and The Northeast Council (Amendment) Bill, 2013.
  • Meanwhile, a women’s collective, comprising more than 1,600 organisations, has pitched for the passage of the “long pending” Women’s Reservation Bill in the Monsoon Session of Parliament.
  • With the slogan “Ab 33 per cent nahi 50 per cent”, the National Alliance for Women’s Reservation Bill has demanded 50 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies instead of 33 per cent.
  • “The Prime Minister had congratulated African countries for women’s majority in their parliament. But when it came to his country, he never said a single word about this Bill,” general secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women, Annie Raja, said.
  • In India, women hold a mere 12 per cent of the seats in Parliament and nine per cent in state assemblies, Director of Centre for Social Research, Ranjana Kumari, said, adding, “Unless there are more women in politics, their concerns cannot be addressed effectively.”
  • Director of the Joint Women’s Programme, Jyotsna Chatterjee, said that the BJP had “committed” support to the women’s reservation bill in its 2014 election manifesto, and now it was time for the party to stand by it. “It is high time to prove what they had declared in their election manifesto. The government says ‘beti bachao beti padhao’, but what about her political rights,” she said.
  • Eyes will also be on the Code on Wages Bill during the Monsoon session of Parliament. Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya yesterday said his department is working hard to lay the Code on Wages Bill in the Parliament in the upcoming Monsoon Session.
  • The labour ministry had earlier sought a Cabinet approval for the new labour code on wages, a move which is seen as a first step towards labour reforms. “If the new bill is passed in the Parliament and becomes an Act, it will significantly improve the ease of doing business as well as ensure minimum wages to all workers,” the minister said.
  • The Code on Wages Bill, which will ensure universal minimum wage for all industries and workers, has already been approved by the union finance minister Arun Jaitley-led inter-ministerial panel on labour. The Code on Wages Bill also seeks to empower the Centre to set a minimum wage across sectors, which the states will have to follow.
  • The minimum wage will be applicable to all classes of workers, which at present, is applicable to scheduled industries or establishments in the law. Under the Code on Wages, the labour ministry has chalked out plans to streamline the definition of wages by amalgamating four wage-related statutes. Employees now grapple with nearly half a dozen definitions of wages in various Acts across the Centre and states, Dattatreya said.
  • “We have decided to amalgamate 44 labour laws into four codes that include code on wages, code on industrial relations, code on social security, and code on safety, health and working conditions,” the minister added.

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