Key pending Bills to test Centre’s nerve

With the NDA government in a minority in the Rajya Sabha, the last seven working days of the winter session of Parliament would be very crucial in the light of key bills to be taken up for consideration in the Upper House. The government, which managed to get the Lok Sabha pass the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2008 and Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2014, may call a special session in January to pass the key bills, if it fails to do so in the coming week.

At present BJP has only 43 members in Rajya Sabha and after adding the numbers from its ally partners (TDP, Shiv Sena, Akali Dal and others), the figure barely touches 60 mark, which is too less for smooth passage of any bill in the 250-member Upper House. The alliance has to wait till 2017 to get appropriate number of members in Rajya Sabha. Even after 2017, according to political experts, Modi government will not be in a majority and would be dependent on AIADMK and BJD for passage of important bills in the elders’ house. So far during this session, Lok Sabha has already passed 13 Bills and the Rajya Sabha has cleared nine.

However, the Rajya Sabha is still to take up four Bills passed by the Lower House - The Appropriation Bill, 2014, Payments and Settlement Systems (Amendment) Bill, 2014, the Repealing and Amending (Second) Bill, 2014 and the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2014.

The Insurance Bill is about enhancing FDI limit in the capital-starved insurance sector, while the Companies Bill aims at enhancing the ease of doing business. Apart from these two key legislations, the Lok Pal and Lok Ayuktas (Amendment) Bill, 2014 is also proposed to be taken in both Houses.

In addition, the Bills proposed by the government for consideration and passing in the Lok Sabha during the rest of the session include the Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Bill, 2014, the National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Amendment Bill, 2014, the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Bill, 2014, the Anti-Hijacking (Amendment) Bill, 2010 and the Warehousing Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2014.

In addition to the four Bills to be discussed in the Rajya Sabha as passed by the Lower House, the Business Advisory Committee of Rajya Sabha has also allocated time for consideration of The Anti-Hijacking (Amendment) Bill, 2010 and The Public Premises Bill, 2014.

  At present BJP has only 43 members in Rajya Sabha and after adding the numbers from its ally partners (TDP, Shiv Sena, Akali Dal and others), the figure barely touches 60 mark, which is too less for smooth passage of any bill in the 250-member Upper House