The Lok Sabha commenced with protests by Opposition members demanding a discussion on the India-China border clash, and was to be adjourned for an hour. Later, the Lower House passed The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Fifth Amendment) Bill. Meanwhile, the Rajya Sabha passed The Maritime Anti-Piracy Bill, 2022. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also replied in the Upper House to the concerns raised by over 40 members regarding the Appropriation Bills 4 and 5.
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Rajya Sabha
Earlier on Wednesday, the Congress held a parliamentary party meeting, followed by a protest by Sonia Gandhi and other Opposition leaders in front of the Gandhi statue inside the Parliament premises, demanding a discussion on the India-China faceoff at Tawang. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had reportedly invited like-minded Opposition leaders to the protest.
After commencing its proceedings, the Rajya Sabha passed a motion concurring with the Lok Sabha’s recommendation to nominate ex-Rajya Sabha member Vishambhar Prasad Nishad to the Committee on Welfare of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) along with another member.
During Zero Hour, DMK MP Tiruchi Siva raised the issue of the quality of education for differently-abled students, pointing out that though the Right to Education sets aside 25% of seats for EWS and differently abled students, more needs to be done. DMK MP P. Wilson asked for Tamil Nadu’s airports to be improved for the benefit of trade and development.
During a discussion about education, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that the current national spending on education is at 4.64% of the GDP.
In the post-lunch session, the House passed resolutions approving one notification amending the eighth schedule to the Finance Act 2002, revising excise duty on aviation turbine fuel and another amending the second schedule of the Customs Tariff Act, levying export duty on some types of rice.
Following this, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman replied to concerns expressed by more than 40 members regarding Appropriation Bills 4 and 5.
She highlighted that the supplementary grant demand was greater since this was post an international situation — the Russia-Ukraine war. The forecast was that the COVID-19 pandemic was winding down, but situations have developed after the war. She said that all the items in the demand were for ensuring that the Indian economy, the farmers and the poor are given the necessary support.
She also said that India’s macro fiscal parameters are better now than in 2013, quoting from World Bank reports and expressed the belief that the way we have handled the economy during the pandemic has kept us away from recession.
To a question about the revival of BSNL, she said that in 2019, the Cabinet approval for the revival of BSNL was Rs. 54,021 crore and in 2022, Rs. 1,23,757 crore was approved. She asserted that the Centre was taking care of the “overall revival” of the company.
The Upper House then took up The Maritime Anti-Piracy Bill, 2022, for consideration and passing. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, introducing the bill, said that 14 out of the 18 recommendations of the Standing Committee on External Affairs were incorporated in the bill, with three other recommendations being observations and were duly noted and one recommendation related to defining the roles of various departments for the establishment of a coordination mechanism.
Several members spoke during the discussion on the bill and touched upon issues such as the provision for capital punishment and the mention of aircraft. Vivek K. Tankha of the Congress, pointed out the possibility of contradictions arising between the jurisdictions of India and another country over capital punishment to offences, as many other countries did not accept capital punishment.
Trinamool Congress MP Jawhar Sircar asked the External Affairs Minister to clarify if the law would be applicable only to Indian ships or apply to any ships in which Indian goods of high value were involved. He also asks the Minister to provide statistics on the number of Indians captured, number of Indian ships rescued and the value of goods to understand the seriousness of the issue, compared to a decade ago.
Mr. Jaishankar, in his reply to the discussion on the bill, said that the bill contained references to seaplanes and other aircraft due to the possibility of seaplane piracy. About capital punishment, he said that in such cases, an assurance would be given to countries that have outlawed capital punishment, if they seek to ensure that death penalty was not imposed. The provision only allowed for the punishment to be imposed if the occasion arises.
On questions about designated courts, he said that there were already designated courts such as the PMLA and NIA courts which were constituted in consultation with the Chief Justice of India and the same precedent was followed in the bill.
“It is applicable to any ship in the jurisdiction where piracy is committed and where the authorised personnel from India have taken action,” he said on the applicability of the bill. Following his reply, the House passed the bill by a voice vote.
The House then moved to listen Special Mentions during which members spoke about issues such as demand for a special category for Odisha because of frequent natural disasters by BJD’s Sasmit Patra, amendments in the POCSO act to revise the age of consent by NCP’s Vandana Chavan, prevention of sea erosion in Puducherry and the adjoining Tamil Nadu coastal areas by BJP’s S. Selvaganabathy and other such issues. The House then adjourned for the day to reconvene at 11 a.m. on Thursday (December 22).
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha commenced proceedings with loud protest from the Opposition members. Speaker Om Birla requested the Opposition to allow Question Hour to commence but the Opposition continued their protest, demanding a discussion on the India-China border clash. The Speaker then adjourned the House for an hour, within minutes of convening.
The Lower House then reconvened, continuing with the papers to be laid on the table. However, the Opposition continued to protest.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Congress demanded that the Speaker allow a discussion on the issue but Mr. Birla refused, and as a mark of protest, several members of the Opposition staged a walkout.
The House resumed discussion on the issue of drug menace in the country, which saw a heated exchange between Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi.
The Congress MP accused the government of using Pegasus spyware to track Opposition leaders and journalists. Mr. Shah took exception to the remarks and asked Mr. Gogoi to submit proof of the accusation. “Parliament is for constructive debate, not for baseless allegations and reckless politics,” the Home Minister said.
Mr. Shah also listed the steps taken by the Centre for the prevention of drug abuse. He reiterated the government’s commitment of zero-tolerance policy towards the issue and added that those found involved in trafficking will not be spared.
Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda later moved a bill to amend the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 to modify the list of Scheduled Tribes in Chhattisgarh.
The bill sought to recognise Bhuniya, Bhuiyan and Bhuyan communities as synonyms of the Bharia Bhumia community, as well as, incorporating three Devanagari versions of the name of the Pando Community into Entry 5. Finally, it proposes to include Dhanuhar, Dhanuwar, Kisan Saunra and Binjhia community into the list alongside substituting communities with corresponding names as Kond, Kondh as ‘Kondh’ in Entry 23.
Opposition members reiterated their apprehension about the government not putting forth a comprehensive bill to include all communities to the respective lists.
Anantnag MP Hasnain Masoodi asked whether the government endeavoured to send out certain “specific signals” to the communities by introducing the bills separately. Puri MP Pinaki Mishra suggested that the government must look to adopt a more holistic and broad-based approach for inclusion of scheduled tribes.
Mr. Chowdhury, the Congress leader, remarked that the House was experiencing “Arjun-raj”, adding that the Union Minister had never tabled so many bills for consideration before. He also demanded that the Kurmi community from West Bengal be included into the Scheduled Tribes list.
The House also witnessed a heated exchange between Mr. Chowdhury and Mr. Munda. Mr. Chowdhury accused the ruling BJP of being against reservations and not working effectively for the upliftment of the tribal people in India and in response, Mr. Munda accused the opposition of not implementing the Lok Committee (1965) recommendations when in power.
He added that the Tribal Affairs Ministry was only created in 1999, 52 years after independence when an NDA govt was in power. He accused the Opposition of using the tribal people for their vote bank politics, adding the present government was sensitive to their needs and would put forth more such pending applications for inclusion in the future.
Compiled by Sumedha, Saptaparno Ghosh, Sruthi Darbhamulla and Srivatsan K C.
Published - December 21, 2022 08:58 pm IST
