Parliament Winter Session: The winter session of Parliament is going to take up key economic bills for discussion including the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Amendment Bill, Taxation Law Amendment Ordinance and Competition (Amendment) Bill etc
HIGHLIGHTS
- This session of the Parliament will mark the 250th session of the Rajya Sabha
- The Session will provide a total of 20 sittings spread over a period of 26 days including four Private Members’ days
- This is the second Parliament session of the BJP-led NDA government Of The 2nd Phase.
The Winter Session of Parliament, which is all set to start on Monday, is likely to witness heated discussions as the Opposition looks to raise issues of economic slowdown, job crisis and the lockdown in Jammu and Kashmir as the Modi dispensation seeks to push through the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
Among the key issues that are likely to emerge as flashpoints between the Opposition and the treasury benches are the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, economic slowdown, unemployment and the government’s plan to bring the Citizenship Bill.
The 250th Rajya Sabha Session, slated to commence today, will have 20 sittings between November 18 and December 13.
This is the second Parliament session of the BJP-led NDA government which returned to power with a greater mandate in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The first session of the government was very productive which saw both Houses passing key legislations such as the one to penalise the practice of instant triple talaq and the UAPA law that gave more power to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
In the most momentous move of the last session, the two Houses passed a resolution to scrap the special status accorded to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into two union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Important Bills Of This Parliament Session Are:
1. The Companies (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019- This bill seeks to amend the Companies Act, 2013 to stiffen norms around corporate social responsibility compliance, lessen a load of cases in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), decriminalise some offences and facilitate the ease of doing business.
2. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019- The bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 24, 2019. This bill is an amendment to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 and aims at ensuring a time-bound process for settling insolvency in companies and among individuals.
3. The Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2019- This bill amends the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 and aims to rationalise the role of the government in working of multi-state cooperative societies and safeguarding the interest of depositors.
4. The Taxation Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019- Taxation laws (Amendment) Ordinance proposes a tax rate cut from 30% to 22% for the existing companies and 25% to 15% rate cut for new manufacturing companies.
5. The Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2019- This bill aims to bring about structural changes in the governing framework of the Competition Commission of India (CCI). It also proposes to structure and expand CCI’s activities by setting up regional offices across India.
6. Personal Data Protection Bill– This bill proposes to ensure the protection and regulation of all elements of personal data and promote the digital economy.
Bills Pending In Rajya Sabha:
1) The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019 as passed by Lok Sabha;
2) The Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment), Bill, 2019 as passed by Lok Sabha;
3) The Dam Safety Bill, 2019 as passed by Lok Sabha;
4) The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019 as passed by Lok Sabha;
5) The Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial (Amendment) Bill, 2019 as passed by Lok Sabha;
6) The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2019;
7) The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019;
8) The National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCIM) Bill, 2019;
9) The National Commission for Homoeopathy (NCH) Bill, 2019; and
10) The National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management Bill, 2019.
Bills For Withdrawal In Rajya Sabha:
1) The Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 1987;
2) The Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy Pharmacy Bill, 2005;
3) The Pesticides Management Bill, 2008;
4) The National Commission for Human Resources for Health Bill, 2011;
5) The Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2013;
6) The International Financial Services Centres Authority Bill, 2019; and
7) The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019
The Opposition is likely to attempt cornering the Centre over economic slowdown, the J&K situation, unemployment and the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
