Disruptions
in Rajya Sabha continued and the House was unable to take up the
scheduled business. In Lok Sabha, private member business was taken up.
The date for submission of the report on the Land Acquisition Bill has
been extended to August 11, 2015.
Until
yesterday, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha had functioned for 40% and 8 % of
their scheduled time, respectively. The chart below shows Question
Hour’s working in the last three weeks.
While productivity remains relatively low, the lower house has been able to take up scheduled business during the week.
The lower house this week passed four bills:
· The Repealing and Amending (fourth) Bill
· The Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill
· The Delhi High Court (Amendment) Bill
· The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill
At
the beginning of the Session, the government listed a number of Bills
that were to be taken up. With Session ending next week, legislations
related to Whistleblower’s Protection, Juvenile Justice, among others,
remain pending.
The
Whistleblowers Protection (Amendment) Bill prohibits the disclosure of
information if it falls under 10 categories. These include information
related to: (i) economic, scientific interests and the security of
India; (ii) Cabinet proceedings, (iii) intellectual property; (iv) that
received in a fiduciary capacity, etc.
The
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill permits
juveniles between the ages of 16-18 years to be tried as adults for
heinous offences. Our
vital stats captures statistics related to crimes committed by
children, their social backgrounds and incidence of repeat offences etc.