Parliament's monsoon session passes 5 major bills, more on anvil

Having dispensed with a no-confidence motion at the start of the session, the government’s party floor managers have managed to run the monsoon session of Parliament successfully as several key legislations have been passed with both Houses being equally productive.

Since the current session began on July 18, both the Houses passed five major bills and there is a possibility of passage of key legislations like the bill to grant the National Commission for Backward Classes status of a constitutional authority and a bill to restore automatic arrest for cases under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The NCBC bill has been languishing for the past one year as the opposition forced amendments in Rajya Sabha.

There has been one day of adjournment in Rajya Sabha when opposition parties protested over BJP president Amit Shah’s remarks on the National Register of Citizens on July 31. Productivity of the current session is in contrast to the preceding budget session — which was a virtual washout as Lok Sabha’s productivity was 4% and Rajya Sabha’s 8%.

Acceptance of the no-confidence motion was key to the session functioning smoothly while negotiations with opposition parties helped, government managers said. The government decided to avoid a logjam after the budget session which was the least productive in the past 15 years.

Junior minister for parliamentary affairs Vijay Goel said he met opposition party leaders every morning to sort out issues on pending bills. “Congress and TMC members had some confusion about the disabilities bill. On my request, the minister met them and cleared the confusion. Similarly, the bill regarding monuments was sent to the select committee on the opposition’s request. We have been considerate to opposition’s views and were never adamant,” Goel said.

Smooth functioning of Parliament is remarkable for many reasons as it has happened despite the combined opposition’s bid to corner the government over several issues like lynchings by cow vigilantes, unemployment, political instability in Jammu & Kashmir, alleged dilution of the SC/ST Act by the SC and dilution of reservations in autonomous institutions like IITs.