New Delhi: The Prohibition of Electric Cigarettes (Production, Manufacture, Import, Export, Transport, Sale, Distribution, Storage and Advertisement) Bill, 2019, the Special Protection Group (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and the Dadar and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Bill, 2019 are likley to be discussed in Rajya Sabha on Monday.
Last week, the Lower House of the Parliament passed the bill to seek the prohibition of e-cigarettes in India. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that lack of a ban on tobacco cannot be the justification for not banning a new addiction which India cannot afford. Chemicals in nicotine used for e-cigarette can cause cancer, cardiovascular diseases and effects adolescent brains.
The bill further seeks to replace an ordinance issued on September 18 of this year, stating any person who contravenes these provisions will be punishable with imprisonment of up to one year, or a fine of up to one lakh rupees, or both.
For any subsequent offence, imprisonment of up to three years along with a fine of up to five lakh rupees. The proposed legislation also prohibits to use any place for the storage of any stock of e-cigarettes and a person storing stock of e-cigarettes, will be punishable with an imprisonment of up to six months, or a fine of up to Rs. 50,000/-, or both.
Another important bill to amend the SPG Act will also be discussed in the Upper House. Last week, the Lok Sabha passed the amended bill, which proposes to give SPG cover only to the Prime Minister and his immediate kin, and ex-PM and his family for five years. The Union Home Minister Amit Shah will move the bill on the floor of the House.
The Lower House witnessed ruckus between the Oppositions and the home minister on Wednesday. Shah attacked the Gandhi family during the discussion over the amendments in Lok Sabha. Sources said that even in the Upper House the opposition parties will contradict the incumbent government.
On the same day, the Lok Sabha passed another bill to merge the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, which presently has only one district with the UT of Daman and Diu, which has two districts. The merged UT will be named as the "Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu". This bill was moved by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the last week and now will be moved and discussed in the Rajya Sabha by Shah.
The Rajya Sabha has recorded productivity of 84 per cent during the second week of the ongoing winter session, despite disruptions related to important issues like the political crisis in the state of Maharashtra and economic slowdown in India.
During the second week, members of Rajya Sabha availed a total of 22 hours and 15 minutes transacting the business of different kinds, the RS Secretariat said. Further, the members, however, made up 1.31 hours by sitting beyond the scheduled time. Setting up a new record, during the week, all listed 15 special questions were orally answered twice. Of the total 60 special questions listed for 4 working days, a total of 43 accounting for 71.66% of the total was orally answered.
During the second week of the ongoing winter session, the Upper House passed two bills – The Transgender (Protection of Rights) Bill and The Chit Funds (Amendment) Bill.