On the ninth day of Session, Lok Sabha passed the Coal Mines (Special Provision) Bill, 2015. The bill replacing the ordinance prescribes the procedure for auction of 204 coal blocks that were cancelled by the Supreme Court in September 2014. Opposition parties expressed their objections to certain provisions of the Bill and also called for division on specific amendments moved.
Lok Sabha also passed the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015 today. Among other things, the Bill raises the cap of foreign investments in Indian insurance companies to 49%.
Question Hour in Rajya Sabha was briefly adjourned due to the opposition’s demand for the government to take action against the Tihar Jail authorities who allowed the interview of the Nirbhaya rape accused.
Rajya Sabha today passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2015. The Bill merges the Persons of Indian Origin cardholders’ scheme with that of Overseas Citizen of India cardholders from a specified date. The parent act required 12 months of continuous stay in India before applying for citizenship in certain cases. The Bill relaxes this requirement up to 30 days. The Bill was passed by Lok Sabha earlier this week.
The upper house also began discussion on the Delhi High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2014.
Parliament will not meet tomorrow and on Friday on account of Holi.
At the end of the first two weeks of Parliament a number of legislations were taken up by both the Houses.
Bills introduced:
1. The Andhra Pradesh Reorganization (Amendment) Bill, 2015
2. The Warehousing Corporations (Amendment) Bill, 2015
3. The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015
Bills introduced, considered and passed by Lok Sabha:
Bills considered and passed by Rajya Sabha:
Bills introduced and passed by both the Houses:
As of yesterday, Rajya Sabha’s productivity is at 105% of its scheduled time, while Lok Sabha’s is at 102% of its scheduled time. Question Hour in the lower house has functioned for 76% its scheduled time and 100% of its scheduled time in the upper house. For more information about the functioning of Parliament you can visit our Session Track page here.