Parliament’s monsoon session begins tomorrow amid Covid pandemic

at 5:03 pm
Opposition parties
File Photo

New Delhi (NVI): The monsoon session of Parliament will begin from tomorrow amid the Covid-19 pandemic and it will have 18 sittings spread over as many days till October 1. A total of 47 items have been identified for being taken up during the session, the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs said in a statement.

This will be the fourth session of 17th Lok Sabha and 252nd Session of Rajya Sabha. All the days including Saturdays and Sundays of the ensuing session will be working days. The 47 items that will be taken up include 45 bills and 2 financial items.

The total eleven 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) 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.

Other pending legislations in the Houses required to be considered and passed during the Session are The Pesticides Management Bill, 2020. The National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCIM) Bill, 2019 as passed by Rajya Sabha.and the National Commission for Homoeopathy (NCH) Bill, 2019as passed by Rajya Sabha.

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.

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 Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs said in an official release.

In addition to that, the Zero Hour will be there and the un-starred questions will be laid on the table.

-ARK