New Delhi:
The government headed into the Winter Session of Parliament today bracing for a very tough month ahead. On expected lines, the inaugural day opened to a stormy start with both Houses being adjourned soon after they convened.
The Lok Sabha has been adjourned till tomorrow. It was first adjourned till 12 pm. The Left had wanted an adjournment motion over the issue of price rise. But the Speaker, instead, called for the start of the Question Hour with Union Home Minister P Chidambaram giving a written reply as is the norm.
Today was the Home Minister's Question Hour day. Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) began protesting the moment Mr Chidambaram placed his reply to a question on the Naxal issue and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) member Raghuvansh Prasad Singh rose to ask a supplementary question.
MPs of the Samajwadi Party too created a ruckus over Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's move to divide the state into four. The Speaker was finally forced to adjourn the House.
After it reconvened, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee began reading out a statement on price rise. The government is hoping that this will help it keep an adjournment motion at bay, and move the issue, instead, to a discussion under Rule 193, which does not entail voting.
But members of the Samajwadi Party as well as the Shiv Sena trooped into the well of the House. MPs of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi also made some noise over the issue of Telangana. Some MPs also raised the issue of farmers in Maharashtra. The Speaker finally adjourned the House for the day.
The Rajya Sabha, meanwhile, was adjourned for the day after obituary references.
The NDA had already said that it would boycott Union Home Minister P Chidambaram in Parliament; it means that they will just not allow him to speak in House at all. (Read: NDA to boycott Chidambaram in Parliament)
Addressing the media just outside the Parliament, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today appealed to all political parties to let the session go on smoothly. "The government is prepared to discuss all the issues which the Opposition may want to discuss," he said.
Referring to the legislations that the government has scheduled for the session, Dr Singh said, "Our country's sustained development and prosperity demand that many of those Bills are converted into Acts of Parliament."
Reacting to the NDA's call for boycott, the PM said, "As far as the boycott is concerned, I sincerely hope that the political parties will desist any such temptation. There is virtually no case for a boycott of the type that has been talked about in the newspapers."
The Left parties have said they will not boycott Mr Chidambaram but will press for his resignation. The opposition wants the Home Minister to quit over his alleged role in the 2G spectrum scam.
"The then Finance Minister P Chidambaram was equally culpable as the then Telecom Minister A Raja in the 2G spectrum scam. Until his resignation is accepted, we will continue to boycott him in Parliament". senior BJP leader SS Ahluwalia had said yesterday.
The Congress-led ruling UPA, which is to introduce or discuss 54 Bills in less than a month, has appealed to the Opposition to allow working of the House and give Mr Chidambaram a chance to speak.
Law Minister Salman Khursheed had earlier praised his cabinet colleague, Mr Chidambaram, as one of the "finest" and "cutting-edge" ministers and said the Home Minister had maintained a careful silence thus far on the 2G matter, but was willing to speak on the contentious telecom issue if the Parliament wanted him to.
NDTV has learnt that the government's chief trouble-shooter Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee met BJP President Nitin Gadkari on Monday to discuss all issues that will come up during the Winter Session.
The Chidambaram boycott plan is not the Government's only worry. On the very first day today, opposition parties plan to move adjournment motions on price rise and black money. Senior BJP leader L K Advani, just back from his Jan Chetna Yatra against corruption, will move a motion against black money, which will also touch upon the explosive 2G issue. The Left, meanwhile, will put the government on the mat through a motion on inflation. With both the NDA and the Left working out a coordinated floor strategy, they seem set to stall proceedings on both these issues.
That will have the UPA government worried - crucial among the several key legislations that it plans to introduce in this session are the Lokpal Bill, Judicial Accountability Bill, Food Security Bill, Land Acquisition Bill and Education Bill.
The Lokpal Bill, understandably, is expected to generate much heat and debate. The government has promised anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare that it would make the anti-corruption legislation a reality during this session. Mr Hazare has threatened to intensify his stir if the Centre fails to pass the bill in the Winter Session. Yesterday, he reminded the government that he was watching the session closely saying, "The Government should pass a strong Jan Lokpal Bill...If a strong Janlokpal Bill is not passed, we will agitate."
Among the important Bills on the government's agenda are:
Education Bill
For Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, reform is on the agenda for the education sector. He's had opposition from both within and outside but he's hoping that this 30-day session will be different. "Everyone believes in reforms so of course it will happen," Mr Sibal told NDTV a day before the winter session.
In order to build consensus, Mr Sibal has briefed MPs from not just his own Congress party, but also allies and Opposition.
Mr Sibal's list of pending bills is a long one. The Education Tribunals Bill of 2010, which is meant to resolve disputes involving, teachers, other employees, students and universities. Also on the list the Prohibition of Unfair Practices Bill, which is meant to tackle capitation and donation issues, and has already been cleared by the Cabinet. There are also other bills like the Foreign Education Providers Bill, which seeks to provide much needed regulations in the fast-expanding education sector.
Mr Sibal also hopes to fulfill one of the promises he made when the Right to Education Bill was passed. He had been criticised for bringing in a legislation which did not include disabled children, and the HRD ministry hopes now to bring in the amended bill in which disadvantaged children will included.
Judicial Accountability Bill
The long-promised Judicial Accountability Bill is also all set to make an entry into the Parliament in this session. This bill will be replacing the Judges' Inquiry Bill of 1968.
Critics, like Anna Hazare and his team, remain skeptical about how this bill will effectively deal with judicial corruption
The main highlights of the bill include -
-setting up of a 5-member oversight committee to look into complaints against judiciary
-the committee will be headed by a former Chief Justice of India
- it will have the Attorney General as a member
- all complaints will be kept confidential
-judges will have to declare their assets and that of their spouse and their children
Law Minister Salman Khurshid said "it will be a good and effective bill" and sought to assuage the concerns of the civil society activists. Activists have problems with clauses in the bill which says the judiciary cannot make comments about the government but the Law Minister says that is a matter of debate. "All points can be debated. The bill has been tabled before. It was sent to the Standing Committee and we will try our best to have a strong law."
Activists point out that there are still many loopholes in the bill. For instance, does the judge whose removal has been recommended by the oversight committee and the Parliament, still have the right to appeal to Supreme Court. They want the government to clear these gray areas before the bill is introduced..
Right to Food Bill
Another crucial piece of legislation, the Right to Food Bill on shaky ground, barely days before it is tabled in Parliament. The government still does not know how many and who will benefit.
It all began with the Planning Commission's affidavit, to the Supreme Court, in September this year, saying that Rs. 25 in rural areas and Rs. 32 a day in urban areas are adequate for food, health and education.
The affidavit caused a massive outrage forcing the panel to lift the ceiling. The Planning commission said it will not impose any ceilings on the number of households to be included in different government schemes. Entitlements and the eligibility of rural households would now be determined after the Socio-Economic Caste Census, being conducted by the Rural Development Ministry. The results of that census are expected only by January 2012.
This change has led to sharp disagreements between the Planning Commission, the Food Ministry and Chief Ministers of various states on issues like corruption in Public Distribution Scheme, the number of poor in each state and the mechanisms adopted for identifying beneficiaries, and delivery of benefits. The Prime Minister will soon be meeting all chief ministers to take stock of the situation
More deserving households, including the transient poor, may now find place in the government's schemes. The fresh parameters, which sources tell NDTV have been pushed by both Rahul and Sonia Gandhi are -
[1] Automatically excluded: If you pay income tax, earn more than Rs. 10,000 a month you are ineligible. However the controversial parameters are that even if you own a two wheeler, a landline-phone or a refrigerator, you'll be excluded.
[2] Automatically included: The destitute, homeless and primitive tribal groups among others
would be automatically included. Each household would be eligible for 7 kilograms of grain.
[3] Deprivation criteria - This category of deprived household is expected to cover the transient poor. Households having a person with disability, people without shelter and families run by a single woman would be counted as deprived among others. Households with one deprivation would get 5 kilograms of grain; those with 2 would get 6 kilograms and households with 3-7 deprivations would get 7 kilograms of grain.
The Lok Sabha has been adjourned till tomorrow. It was first adjourned till 12 pm. The Left had wanted an adjournment motion over the issue of price rise. But the Speaker, instead, called for the start of the Question Hour with Union Home Minister P Chidambaram giving a written reply as is the norm.
Today was the Home Minister's Question Hour day. Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) began protesting the moment Mr Chidambaram placed his reply to a question on the Naxal issue and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) member Raghuvansh Prasad Singh rose to ask a supplementary question.
MPs of the Samajwadi Party too created a ruckus over Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's move to divide the state into four. The Speaker was finally forced to adjourn the House.
After it reconvened, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee began reading out a statement on price rise. The government is hoping that this will help it keep an adjournment motion at bay, and move the issue, instead, to a discussion under Rule 193, which does not entail voting.
But members of the Samajwadi Party as well as the Shiv Sena trooped into the well of the House. MPs of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi also made some noise over the issue of Telangana. Some MPs also raised the issue of farmers in Maharashtra. The Speaker finally adjourned the House for the day.
The Rajya Sabha, meanwhile, was adjourned for the day after obituary references.
The NDA had already said that it would boycott Union Home Minister P Chidambaram in Parliament; it means that they will just not allow him to speak in House at all. (Read: NDA to boycott Chidambaram in Parliament)
Addressing the media just outside the Parliament, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today appealed to all political parties to let the session go on smoothly. "The government is prepared to discuss all the issues which the Opposition may want to discuss," he said.
Referring to the legislations that the government has scheduled for the session, Dr Singh said, "Our country's sustained development and prosperity demand that many of those Bills are converted into Acts of Parliament."
Reacting to the NDA's call for boycott, the PM said, "As far as the boycott is concerned, I sincerely hope that the political parties will desist any such temptation. There is virtually no case for a boycott of the type that has been talked about in the newspapers."
The Left parties have said they will not boycott Mr Chidambaram but will press for his resignation. The opposition wants the Home Minister to quit over his alleged role in the 2G spectrum scam.
"The then Finance Minister P Chidambaram was equally culpable as the then Telecom Minister A Raja in the 2G spectrum scam. Until his resignation is accepted, we will continue to boycott him in Parliament". senior BJP leader SS Ahluwalia had said yesterday.
The Congress-led ruling UPA, which is to introduce or discuss 54 Bills in less than a month, has appealed to the Opposition to allow working of the House and give Mr Chidambaram a chance to speak.
Law Minister Salman Khursheed had earlier praised his cabinet colleague, Mr Chidambaram, as one of the "finest" and "cutting-edge" ministers and said the Home Minister had maintained a careful silence thus far on the 2G matter, but was willing to speak on the contentious telecom issue if the Parliament wanted him to.
NDTV has learnt that the government's chief trouble-shooter Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee met BJP President Nitin Gadkari on Monday to discuss all issues that will come up during the Winter Session.
The Chidambaram boycott plan is not the Government's only worry. On the very first day today, opposition parties plan to move adjournment motions on price rise and black money. Senior BJP leader L K Advani, just back from his Jan Chetna Yatra against corruption, will move a motion against black money, which will also touch upon the explosive 2G issue. The Left, meanwhile, will put the government on the mat through a motion on inflation. With both the NDA and the Left working out a coordinated floor strategy, they seem set to stall proceedings on both these issues.
That will have the UPA government worried - crucial among the several key legislations that it plans to introduce in this session are the Lokpal Bill, Judicial Accountability Bill, Food Security Bill, Land Acquisition Bill and Education Bill.
The Lokpal Bill, understandably, is expected to generate much heat and debate. The government has promised anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare that it would make the anti-corruption legislation a reality during this session. Mr Hazare has threatened to intensify his stir if the Centre fails to pass the bill in the Winter Session. Yesterday, he reminded the government that he was watching the session closely saying, "The Government should pass a strong Jan Lokpal Bill...If a strong Janlokpal Bill is not passed, we will agitate."
Among the important Bills on the government's agenda are:
Education Bill
For Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, reform is on the agenda for the education sector. He's had opposition from both within and outside but he's hoping that this 30-day session will be different. "Everyone believes in reforms so of course it will happen," Mr Sibal told NDTV a day before the winter session.
In order to build consensus, Mr Sibal has briefed MPs from not just his own Congress party, but also allies and Opposition.
Mr Sibal's list of pending bills is a long one. The Education Tribunals Bill of 2010, which is meant to resolve disputes involving, teachers, other employees, students and universities. Also on the list the Prohibition of Unfair Practices Bill, which is meant to tackle capitation and donation issues, and has already been cleared by the Cabinet. There are also other bills like the Foreign Education Providers Bill, which seeks to provide much needed regulations in the fast-expanding education sector.
Mr Sibal also hopes to fulfill one of the promises he made when the Right to Education Bill was passed. He had been criticised for bringing in a legislation which did not include disabled children, and the HRD ministry hopes now to bring in the amended bill in which disadvantaged children will included.
Judicial Accountability Bill
The long-promised Judicial Accountability Bill is also all set to make an entry into the Parliament in this session. This bill will be replacing the Judges' Inquiry Bill of 1968.
Critics, like Anna Hazare and his team, remain skeptical about how this bill will effectively deal with judicial corruption
The main highlights of the bill include -
-setting up of a 5-member oversight committee to look into complaints against judiciary
-the committee will be headed by a former Chief Justice of India
- it will have the Attorney General as a member
- all complaints will be kept confidential
-judges will have to declare their assets and that of their spouse and their children
Law Minister Salman Khurshid said "it will be a good and effective bill" and sought to assuage the concerns of the civil society activists. Activists have problems with clauses in the bill which says the judiciary cannot make comments about the government but the Law Minister says that is a matter of debate. "All points can be debated. The bill has been tabled before. It was sent to the Standing Committee and we will try our best to have a strong law."
Activists point out that there are still many loopholes in the bill. For instance, does the judge whose removal has been recommended by the oversight committee and the Parliament, still have the right to appeal to Supreme Court. They want the government to clear these gray areas before the bill is introduced..
Right to Food Bill
Another crucial piece of legislation, the Right to Food Bill on shaky ground, barely days before it is tabled in Parliament. The government still does not know how many and who will benefit.
It all began with the Planning Commission's affidavit, to the Supreme Court, in September this year, saying that Rs. 25 in rural areas and Rs. 32 a day in urban areas are adequate for food, health and education.
The affidavit caused a massive outrage forcing the panel to lift the ceiling. The Planning commission said it will not impose any ceilings on the number of households to be included in different government schemes. Entitlements and the eligibility of rural households would now be determined after the Socio-Economic Caste Census, being conducted by the Rural Development Ministry. The results of that census are expected only by January 2012.
This change has led to sharp disagreements between the Planning Commission, the Food Ministry and Chief Ministers of various states on issues like corruption in Public Distribution Scheme, the number of poor in each state and the mechanisms adopted for identifying beneficiaries, and delivery of benefits. The Prime Minister will soon be meeting all chief ministers to take stock of the situation
More deserving households, including the transient poor, may now find place in the government's schemes. The fresh parameters, which sources tell NDTV have been pushed by both Rahul and Sonia Gandhi are -
[1] Automatically excluded: If you pay income tax, earn more than Rs. 10,000 a month you are ineligible. However the controversial parameters are that even if you own a two wheeler, a landline-phone or a refrigerator, you'll be excluded.
[2] Automatically included: The destitute, homeless and primitive tribal groups among others
would be automatically included. Each household would be eligible for 7 kilograms of grain.
[3] Deprivation criteria - This category of deprived household is expected to cover the transient poor. Households having a person with disability, people without shelter and families run by a single woman would be counted as deprived among others. Households with one deprivation would get 5 kilograms of grain; those with 2 would get 6 kilograms and households with 3-7 deprivations would get 7 kilograms of grain.
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