Parliament Diary

Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were unable to function today due to disruptions.
Both Houses were adjourned repeatedly because of MPs protesting against the
impending statehood for Telangana and the plight of Tamil fishermen arrested by
Sri Lankan authorities. Both Houses were repeatedly adjourned until 2:00 pm, at
which point Parliament was adjourned until tomorrow.

The 15th Lok Sabha has been productive for 63 percent of the total scheduled
time so far. Only a fifth of the meeting time was spent on legislative work.
That is, only 13 percent of the time originally scheduled for sitting was spent
on legislative work.

Important Bills pending in Parliament currently include the Seeds Bill and the
Pesticides Bill, which have been awaiting passage for 10 and 6 years
respectively, as well as three long-pending constitutional amendments for
reservation for women in legislatures, panchayats and municipalities.

A number of Bills related to higher education are also currently pending. These
include the Foreign Educational Institutions Bill, which sets regulations for
the entry of foreign universities; the National Accreditation Regulatory Authority
Bill, which provides for establishing an authority for accrediting colleges;
and the National Academic Depository Bill, which seeks to establish a national
database of academic awards in electronic format. These Bills have not been
passed by either House and may also lapse in the next two months.

The Legislative Agenda for the day was as below:

Lok Sabha
Bills for Consideration and Passing
1. Right
of Citizens for Time Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and of Their
Grievances Bill, 2011
2. The
Prevention of Bribery of Foreign Public Officials Bill, 2011 
3. Narcotic
Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment)
Bill, 2011
4. Regional
Centre for Biotechnology Bill, 2011

Rajya Sabha
Bills for Consideration and Passing
1. The
Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending)
Bill, 2013 (as passed by Lok Sabha)
2.  The Governors (Emoluments, Allowances
and Privileges) Amendment Bill, 2013 (as passed by Lok Sabha)
3. The
Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University Bill, 2012
4. The
Whistle Blowers Protection Bill, 2011 (as passed by Lok Sabha)

Important Standing Committee Reports presented today: 
- Standing Committee on Public Grievances, Law and Justice to present its
report on the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013
- Standing Committee on Coal and Steel to present its report on "Coal
Pricing and Issues relating to Coal Royalty" 
- Public Accounts Committee to present its report on "Performance of Civil
Aviation in India"