By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: With the Monsoon session of Parliament on Monday began , Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on way to the House, talked to media and delivered a strong message on the China dispute at the border during his traditional comments before the parliament session.
“We hope parliament and all members will unitedly send the message that the nation stands with our soldiers,” PM Modi said.“Our soldiers are standing firm at the borders with a lot of courage, passion and strong resolve to protect their motherland. They are standing on difficult heights and in a few days, will weather snow. In the same manner, I am confident parliament will send a message, in one voice, that it stands firmly behind soldiers guarding our borders,” said the Prime Minister.
The PM said until there is a vaccine, “we cannot drop our guards” and must follow virus protocol. We want that a vaccine be developed at the earliest from any corner of the world, our scientists succeed and we succeed in bringing everyone out of this problem,” he noted.
“Parliament session is beginning in distinct times. There’s Corona and there’s duty. MPs chose the path to duty. I congratulate and express gratitude to them. This time RS-LS will be held at different times in a day. It’ll be held on Saturday-Sunday too. All MPs accepted this,” said the prime minister.
The government is likely to make a statement in parliament on the India-China stand-off, which peaked in June when 20 Indian soldiers were killed in the line of duty in a clash with the Chinese at Galwan Valley.This is the first parliament session after the coronavirus outbreak in the country. Therefore all safety measures have been taken to conduct the session to ensure no health risk to parliamentarians and staff.
The fourth session of 17th Lok Sabha and 252nd Session of Rajya Sabha is scheduledto be held on Monday,September 14, and subject to exigencies of Government Business, may conclude on Thursday, October 1. The Session will provide a total of 18 sittings spread over a period of 18 days (all the days including Saturdays and Sundays of the ensuing session will be working days) and a total of 47* items have been identified for being taken up during the Monsoon Session, 2020. (*Includes 45 Bills and 02 financial items).
The total 11 Bills replacing the ordinance namely: (i)The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020. (ii) The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Prices Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020.(iii) The Homoeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Bill, 2020. (iv) The Indian Medicine Central Council (Amendment) Bill, 2020. (v) The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020.(vi) The Insolvency & Bankruptcy (Second) Amendment Bill, 2020 ( vii) The Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2020. (viii) The Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Bill, 2020 (ix)The Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (x) The Salary and Allowances of Ministers (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (xi) The Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament (Amendment) Bill, 2020 are required to be passed during the ensuing Monsoon Session.
Further, some important pending legislations in the Houses required to be considered and passed during the Session are (i) The Pesticides Management Bill, 2020. (ii) The National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCIM) Bill, 2019 as passed by Rajya Sabha.(iii)The National Commission for Homoeopathy (NCH) Bill, 2019as passed by Rajya Sabha.(iv)The Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda Bill, 2020 as passed by Lok Sabha.(v) The Aircraft (Amendment) Bill, 2020 as passed by Lok Sabha. (vi) The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (vii) The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020 as passed by Lok Sabha.(viii)The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2020 as passed by Lok Sabha.(ix)The Rashtriya Raksha University Bill, 2020(x) The National Forensic Science University Bill, 2020. (xi) The Indian Institutes of Information Technology Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 as passed by Lok Sabha (xii)The Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment), Bill, 2019 as passed by Lok Sabha.(xiii)The Dam Safety Bill, 2019 as passed by Lok Sabha.(xiv)The Major Port Authorities Bill 2020 (xv) The Code On Social Security and Welfare, 2019 (xvi) The Occupational Safety, Health And Working Conditions Code, 2019 (xvii) The Industrial Relations Code Bill, 2019
Some other new bills likely to be introduced, considered and passed during this session are: (i) The Bilateral Netting of Financial Contracts Bill, 2020 (ii) The Factoring Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (iii) The Pension Fund Regulatory And Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (iv) The National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Bill, 2020 (v) The Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2020.(vi) The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (vii) The Foreign Contribution (Regulation)Amendment Bill, 2020(viii) The Representation of People (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (ix) The Prohibition of Employment as manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (x) The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill, 2020.(xi) The Multi State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (xii) The Jammu and Kashmir Official Language, Bill, 2020.
There are few bills for withdrawal during the session namely: (i) The Allied and Healthcare Professions Bill, 2018 (ii) The Mines (Amendment) Bill, 2011 (iii) The Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Amendment Bill, 2011(iv)The Building and Other Construction Workers Related Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2013(v)The Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Amendment Bill, 2013. This will be the first Parliament session being held amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore all safety measures have been taken to conduct the session as per guidelines issued for Covid-19.
There will be a four-hour session for each House each day (9 am to 1 pm for Rajya Sabha and 3 pm to 7 pm for Lok Sabha. But on the first day only i.e. on 14th September of the Lok Sabha will meet in the morning session. The session will see other measures like seating MPs in a staggered way in chambers of both Houses, as well as galleries to maintain physical distancing norms, introduction of mobile app for registering of MPs’ attendance and seats separated with poly-carbon sheets in the House.The Zero Hour will be there and the un-starred questionswill be laid on the table.
The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha had already issued a three-line whip to its Rajya Sabha MPs, asking them to be present in the House on Monday, the first day of the monsoon session of Parliament.”All Biju Janata Dal Members in Rajya Sabha are hereby informed that some very important Legislative Business will be taken up for discussion and passing in the Rajya Sabha on September 14, 2020,” Dr Sasmit Patra, Chief Whip, Biju Janata Dal (Rajya Sabha) had said.”All Members of Biju Janata Dal in Rajya Sabha are therefore requested to be positively present in the House throughout the day on September 14, 2020,” he added.The election for the post of Deputy Chairman of the Upper House is slated to take place on September 14, the first day of the monsoon session of Parliament. JD-U member Harivansh has been fielded as the NDA nominee for the post.
