Outgoing President Ram Nath Kovind gave assent to over 203 bills in last 5 years

Even though the outgoing president Ram Nath Kovind has given his assent to 203 central bills and transformed them into acts, many of these are yet to be implemented, writes ETV Bharat's Gautam Debroy.

New Delhi: The outgoing President, Ram Nath Kovind, during the last five years of his tenure has given assent to over 203 central bills, transforming them into acts. However, many of these laws are yet to be implemented considering that the government has not yet made rules for their implementation.

Some among these are lying for almost three years with the President's assent. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, assented by President Kovind on December 12, 2019, is yet to be implemented in the country. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is yet to make rules for its implementation. In April, the ministry sought an extension for framing rules for CAA for another six months from the subordinate legislation of the Parliament.

The central government introduced the law aiming to give Indian citizenship to people of six minority communities including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Christians and Parsis coming from neighbouring Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan due to religious persecution. As per CAA, migrants who have arrived in India on or before December 31 2014 may get Indian citizenship.

The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022, which was assigned by President Kovind on April 18, 2022, is yet to be implemented in absence of rules. The majority of the opposition parties opposed the bill claiming it was a direct violation of the fundamental rights of an individual. Even as many of the State governments opposed the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022, the Home Ministry has reached out to the State home departments and stakeholders to get their suggestions for framing rules for the Act.

This law allows law enforcement agencies to collect and retain biometric data of people accused of crimes, in addition to those convicted. In 2020, the three most controversial agricultural bills were assented to by the President on September 24, 2020, just to get another bill introduced by the central government for the repeal of the three bills in 2021.

Following the nationwide protests by farmers, the Central government passed the Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021 in the Parliament, also assented to by President Kovind on November 30, 2021. The three farm laws that were repealed by the government were Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act.

One of the most important bills in this regard, giving more power to one of India's law enforcement agencies, was the National Investigation Agency Bill, 2019. The bill, assented on July 24, 2019, empowers NIA officers to investigate offenses committed outside India and also mandates setting up of special courts. Similarly, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Bill, 2019 which was assented by the President on August 8, 2019, empowers the government to designate even individuals as terrorists for participating in acts of terrorism.