New Delhi: The second week of the winter session of Parliament begins today and is being expected to be a stormy one. The government has plans to pass a total of over 26 bills during the entire winter session. The disruptions in the sessions continue for various reasons, including the farm protests that are still ongoing, as well as the suspension of the Rajya Sabha MPs from the entire winter session. This may cause a hindrance in the passing of the bills.
Disappointed by the lack of smooth functioning of the House due to perpetual disruptions, Chairman Venkaiah Naidu had said that Parliament should run for at least 100 days in a year and that all the people involved in the proceedings of Parliament should ensure its smooth functioning. He further said that everyone should ensure that the House runs in an effective and meaningful manner, further highlighting that when political parties are in opposition, they advocate running the House for 100 days in a year, but entirely forget about it once they are in the government. He also advocated for the state legislatures to run for at least 90 days in a year. Naidu also expressed concern that MPs do not take committee meetings seriously and remain absent and advised everyone to introspect.
Apart from the uproar in the Rajya Sabha, on a supposedly brighter side, the Lok Sabha gave its most productive performance on record on the fourth day of the winter session i.e; on December 2. Despite the ongoing tussle between the ruling party and the opposition, the Lok Sabha was praised for getting done about 204% of the work. On Thursday, the Covid pandemic and various aspects related to it were discussed in the Lok Sabha. 96 MPs participated in the discussion that lasted for 11 hours and 3 minutes.
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On the same day, the Dam Safety Bill-2019 was also passed. Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said that a discussion on this had been in process for the last 40 years. But now, that the bill has been passed, it will turn into a law. Additionally, the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill was also introduced on December 2. This bill is for regulation and supervision of assisted reproductive technology clinics, prevention of misuse, safe and ethical practice of reproductive technology services. The government says that it will prove to be important in the direction of protecting the reproductive rights of women. Besides these, the Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju also introduced a bill related to the service and salary of High Court and Supreme Court judges in the Lok Sabha, wherein he proposed an amendment in the High Court Judges' salary and Conditions of Services Act.
However, it is worth noting that in the winter session of Parliament so far, the Lok Sabha could run for only 24 minutes on the first day on November 29 and again for only 24 minutes on the second day as well. On the third day, it went on for about 422 minutes and on December 2, the session lasted for a total of 735 minutes, setting a new record. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla also congratulated all the MPs for setting a new record in terms of work and healthy and positive discussion in the House.
