On the first day of Parliament's Monsoon Session, held amid the coronavirus pandemic and after a 23.9% contraction in GDP, the Lok Sabha decided to do away with Question Hour and private members' business.
The Lower House adopted the motion to suspend Question Hour, with the government maintaining that it is not running away from any discussion and will reply to all questions raised by the Opposition.
Slamming the move, the Opposition led by the Congress said that Question Hour is the "golden hour of the House".
Question Hour, the first business of the day, allows members are to ask questions pertaining to the public interest from ministers
The 18-day Monsoon Session under the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic began with many firsts, including sitting of the two Houses in shifts without any days off, entry only to those having a negative COVID-19 report and masks compulsory.
Barring the first day (today), Rajya Sabha will convene in the morning from 9 am till 1 pm and Lok Sabha in the evening from 3 pm to 7 pm.
In run-up to the session, while over 4,000 people, including MPs and staff, have been tested for COVID-19, most parliamentary operations have been digitised, entire premises sanitised and doors made touch-free.
Seventeen members of Parliament tested positive for coronavirus in the mandatory tests carried out before the monsoon session started this morning, according to NDTV. Among the infected MPs, the BJP, with 12, has the maximum number, the YRS Congress has two MPs, the Shiv Sena, DMK and RLP one each.
'Govt trying to throttle democracy'
Moving the motion, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad JJoshi said the Lok Sabha session is being held in extraordinary circumstances amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the House resolves that starred questions and private members' business may not be brought before it for transaction during the session.
Leader the Congress' charge Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the argument and rationale put forth by Joshi is far from convincing. He said Question Hour is recognised as an essence of parliamentary democracy and executives are accountable and answerable during Question Hour.
In such an extraordinary situation, if the House is running, "why has the Question Hour been singled out?" he asked. "We get a chance to raise issues of common people. Question Hour is simply a golden hour of the House," he said, adding by doing way with this, the government is trying to "throttle democracy".
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said Question Hour and private members' business are a cornerstone of democracy and it is essential for the existence of parliamentary democracy. "I urge the Speaker not to allow the executive to encroach on the territory of the legislature. It is a shameful day," he said. He also requested for a division, which was not accepted by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
Congress’ Manish Tewari said Question Hour is the only time when the Opposition can hold the government accountable. Meanwhile, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee said the Question Hour is an integral part of the basic structure of parliamentary procedure and "we cannot destroy that part". "We also have our views to express, kindly do not take away this advantage. It will take the entire glamour, 50 percent glamour of running the Parliament," he added.
Joshi said before arriving at this decision, deputy leader in the Lok Sabha and defence minister Rajnath Singh spoke to almost all leaders of various parties.
"I would like to tell various leaders who questioned the suspension of Question Hour that all state Assemblies, including Punjab, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, have run sessions for a day or two and passed several bills, whereas the Government of India decided to run for 18 days and hold discussion on bills," Joshi said.
People are saying this is the basic structure of Parliament then what had happened in 1975, he questioned. In the last five years, 60 percent of Question Hour in Rajya Sabha and 40 percent in Lok Sabha was wasted, he added. There are so many ways to question the government and it is not running away from discussion and "we are going to reply to all questions which you are going to raise," he said.
The defence minister said that leaders of most parties agreed over no Question Hour and Zero Hour for 30 minutes.
Rajnath said that he has discussed the matter with several leaders and noted that this session is being held in an extraordinary situation. "We apprised you (Speaker) of it following which decision was taken by you. I appeal to all members of House to cooperate as session is being held in an extraordinary situation. We need support from all as the House will run only for four hours,” he added.
He said that issues can be raised through unstarred questions, which will be replied to by ministers. If members are not satisfied from that reply, they you can seek clarifications during Zero Hour, Rajnath further added.
'Future doctors have committed suicide'
Meanwhile, DMK MP TR Baalu raised the matter of NEET aspirants in Tamil Nadu ending their lives recently. "I would like to draw the attention of this House and the government to the plight of 12 students who had committed suicide, all from rural background, because of NEET," he said.
He added that these students had passed Class 12 through state board syllabus and NEET is conducted only on basis of CBSE syllabus. “Future doctors of India have committed suicide,” he said, adding that without knowing much of the CBSE syllabus, helpless students are ending their lives.
No discussion on India-China row
Chowdhury tried to raise the issue of India-China border tensions, but the Speaker asked him to raise it in the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee. Birla said this is a sensitive issue and it should be raised in a sensitive manner.
Chowdhury said, "I would like to seek the attention of the government and the defence minister that for last several months, Indian citizens are worried because at the borders. Today also, there is a news report that China is watching our president".
Over 1 lakh cases in 13 states
Health minister Harsh Vardhan informed the House that four months of lockdown helped prevent approximately 14-29 lakh cases and 37,000-78,000 deaths due to COVID-19.
“These four months were utilised to create additional health infrastructure, enhance human resource and produce within India critical elements such as PPEs, N-95 masks and ventilators. A case in point is the increase in dedicated isolation beds 36.3 times and dedicated ICU beds above 24.6 times to what existed in March 2020. Whereas there was no indigenous manufacturing of PPE, with the requisite standards, at that point in time, we are now self-sufficient and, in a position to even export the same,” he said.
The minister also said that India has been able to limit its cases and deaths per million to 3,328 and 55 respectively, which is one of the lowest in the world as compared to similarly-affected countries.
The maximum cases and deaths have been primarily reported from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, West Bengal, Bihar, Telangana, Odisha, Assam, Kerala and Gujarat. All these states have reported at least 100,000 cases.
“Constant monitoring of the disease trend, analysis of available infrastructure and planning in advance for the future has averted a major crisis as was faced by many developed countries. In addition, a total of 12,826 quarantine centres with 598,811 beds have been created,” said Harsh Vardhan.
Bill to bring UBCs, MSCBs under RBI ambit introduced
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced The Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2020 — to protect the depositors of Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs) and Multi State Cooperative Banks (MSCBs). This Bill, which replaces an ordinance issued in the last week of June, seeks to bring UCBs and MSCBs under RBI’s supervision process applicable to scheduled commercial banks.
Replying to objections raised to the introduction of this Bill, Sitharaman said that the Bill is primarily aimed at protecting depositors in cooperative banks and is focused only on those cooperatives that use the word ‘bank’ and therefore receiving and dealing with deposits.
The finance minister also rejected the contention that the Lok Sabha has no legislative competence for this Bill as it related to a subject of cooperatives, which is in the States List of the Constitution. “The legislative competence of this house is well established under Entry No 45 of the Union List. Regulation of Banking also comes under Entry no 43 of Union List. Bill will only apply to those Cooperative societies which uses the word bank, banker or banking,” she said
On the issue of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s point that there has been a legal challenge in court and therefore the Lok Sabha cannot go ahead with the introduction of the Bill, Sitharaman said there is no interlocutory relief that has been provided in the court and also there are no directions given by the court in the matter against the operation of this ordinance.
She highlighted that cooperative banks in the country have been regulated by the RBI since 1965 and this Bill only seeks to extend the applicability so that some of the banking regulation laws also apply to them. She asserted that State Cooperative laws are not being proposed to be amended. “State cooperative laws are not being touched in this proposed amendment,” she said.
Bill to reduce MPs salaries introduced
Joshi introduced the Salary, Allowance and Pension for Members of the Parliament Bill, in order to replace an ordinance to the effect cleared by the Union Cabinet on 6 April and promulgated on 7 April. The ordinance had come into force to amend a law to reduce the salaries of Members of Parliament by 30 percent for one year "to meet the exigencies arising out of COVID-19 pandemic". It inserted a new sub-section in the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament Act 1954 to give effect to reduction in salaries.
BJP MP Ravi Kishan raised the issue of drug trafficking in the entertainment industry, appealing to the Centre to thwart any attempts of drug smuggling from neighbouring countries.
"Problem of drug trafficking and addiction is on a rise. Conspiracy is being hatched to destroy country's youth and our neighbouring countries are contributing to it. Smuggling of drugs from Pakistan and China is done every year. It is brought via Punjab and Nepal," he said.
Lok Sabha MP and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah attended Parliament proceedings for the first time since the revocation of Article 370 on 5 August last year.
Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi will miss a large part of the session as she left for the US on Saturday for a routine medical check-up and will return after a fortnight. She is accompanied by her son and party leader Rahul Gandhi, who is likely to return within a week to lead the Congress’ offensive in Lok Sabha, PTI reported.
from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/3kswu3N
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