Parliament Review: As Disruptions Continue, Government Passes Important Bills. No-Confidence Motion Listed for Discussion Next Week

• Bharath Kancharla

Both houses of parliament continued to witness disruptions even during the second week of the monsoon session of 2023 on the Manipur issue. The opposition’s no-confidence motion is listed for discussion next week. Multiple important bills were passed this week.

Business in both houses of the Parliament continues to be affected amidst the walkouts by oppositions, adjournments, and other disruptions. While the discussion on the No-Confidence motion moved by the opposition was approved at the Lok Sabha’s business advisory committee meeting, the same was boycotted by the opposition as they demanded the house to immediately take up the discussion.  Amidst the continued protests and absence of opposition parties, the Government has passed various bills. Here is our second review of the current Monsoon Parliament sessions. The first review can be read here. 

Bills introduced and passed in the Parliament 

Despite objections from the opposition on the legislative business taking place when a no-confidence motion is moved & pending, the Government has proceeded with introducing and passing various bills. Here is a review of the bills introduced, taken up for discussion, and passed in the parliament between 27 July 2023 and 03 August 2023. 

• Lok Sabha passed the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2023, and the Repealing and Amending Bill, 2022 on 27 July 2023. While the former was passed via Voice vote, the latter was passed without any debate. Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill was also passed in Rajya Sabha on 02 August. 2023. 
• Rajya Sabha discussed and passed Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2023, through a voice vote on 27 July 2023.  This was later also passed in Lok Sabha on 31 July 2023. 
• Before the adjournment of the house on 28 July 2023, three bills were passed in Lok Sabha – the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation Amendment) Bill, 2023, the National Nursing and Midwifery Commission Bill, 2023, and the National Dental Commission Bill, 2023. 
• The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023, was introduced in the parliament on 01 August 2023. The GNCTD (Amendment) Bill, 2023 empowers the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi to exercise sole discretion on several matters including those recommended by the National Capital Civil Services Authority, and the summoning, prorogation, and dissolution of the Delhi Legislative Assembly.  The discussion on this bill is taken up on 03 August 2023. 
• The Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha and passed through a voice vote. It amends the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 to simplify compliance requirements for domestic companies. It also removes research and bio-survey activities from the purview of benefit-sharing requirements.  
• Rajya Sabha also passed Multi-state Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill and Mediation Bill, 2021. 
• The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 was introduced in Lok Sabha on 03 August 2023.  The bill seeks to establish a robust framework for the protection of personal data in the digital realm. 

Standing Committee reports & Action Taken Reports 

Here is a snapshot of the various Standing Committee Reports and Action Taken reports that were submitted to the parliament. 

• Thirty Second Report of the Committee on Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) pertaining to the Department of Rural Development (Ministry of Rural Development) was submitted to the Lok Sabha on 27 July 2023. 
• Committee on Welfare of Other Backward Classes has submitted The Twentieth Report (17^th Lok Sabha) on two subjects. 

The Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology (2022-23) presented the “Forty-seventh Report of the Committee on the subject ‘Review of the functioning of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). It also submitted “The Forty-Eighth Report of the Committee on “Citizens’ Data Security And Privacy”. 

Action taken reports were also submitted to Lok Sabha 

Important Questions 

• Excess stock of Wheat and Rice in FCI Godowns: As per data provided by the Ministry of Rural Development and Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, the total stock of Rice and Wheat available in the central pool as of July 2023 is 253.49 Lakh Metric Tons (LMT) and 301.45 LMT respectively against food grains stocking norms of 135.40 LMT for Rice and 275.80 LMT for Wheat. 
• Responding to a Question in Lok Sabha, the Ministry of Home Affairs provided Year-wise and State-wise details of the number of missing girls & women in India. The answer also provided the various actions and initiatives taken by the government to address this issue. 
• The total number of frauds across various Scheduled Commercial banks for the period 2013-14 to 2022-23 was provided by the Ministry of Finance. 
• State-wise details of the number of dropouts and suicides relating to medical students across UG & PG were provided by the Ministry of Health. 
• Question relating to the Issuance of FASTag and revenue sharing with the States was raised and responded to in Rajya Sabha. As per the data provided in the response, more than 6.76 crore FASTags were issued as of March 2023. Details of user fee collection on National Highways and Details of top-100 user fee plazas during the Financial Year 2022-23 were also provided in the response. 

Lok Sabha to take up discussion on No-Confidence motion on 08 August 2023

The no-confidence motion moved against the government will be taken up for discussion on 08 August 2023. The decision was taken in the Lok Sabha’s Business Advisory Committee, even as the opposition parties walked out in protest for not taking up the debate on priority. The motion will begin on 08 August and continue till 10 August 2023. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to reply at the end of the debate.