Legislative Business :
A total of 41 bills (9 Bills in the Lok Sabha and 32 Bills in the Rajya Sabha) were pending at the conclusion of 2nd Session of Seventeenth Lok Sabha and 250th Session of Rajya Sabha. 41 bills were introduced (34 in the Lok Sabha and 7 in the Rajya Sabha) during the period, making a total of 82 bills. Out of these, 39 bills were passed by both the Houses. 7 Bills, (4 in Lok Sabha and 3 in Rajya Sabha) was withdrawn. A total of 36 bills (6 bills in the Lok Sabha and 30 bills in the Rajya Sabha) were pending in both Houses of Parliament at the conclusion of 4th Session of Seventeenth Lok Sabha and 252nd Session of Rajya Sabha.
The Monsoon Session 2020 of Parliament:
The Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Shri Prahlad Joshi in a statement on the Monsoon Session, 2020 informed that the productivity of Lok Sabha was approx. 167% and that of Rajya Sabha was approx. 100.47% during the Monsoon Session, 2020. He said that the Monsoon Session, 2020 of Parliament which commenced on 14th September, 2020 was scheduled to culminate on 1st October, 2020 but due to COVID-19 pandemic risks after transaction of essential business Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned sine-die on Wednesday, the 23rd September, 2020 yielding 10 sittings spread over 10 days
He further informed that during the Session, 22 Bills (16 in Lok Sabha and 06 in Rajya Sabha) were introduced. Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha individually passed 25 Bills each. 27 Bills were passed by both the Houses of Parliament which is best ever rate of passage of Bills per day i.e. 2.7 Bills. While mentioning about the 11 ordinances , he said that all the 11 Ordinances which were promulgated during inter session were replaced by Acts of Parliament during the Monsoon Session, 2020. Four old pending Bills in Lok Sabha and one old Bill in Rajya Sabha were withdrawn, the Minister added.
Financial Business:
The Union Budget for 2020-21 was presented to the Lok Sabha on 1st February, 2020. General Discussions on Union Budget were held in both the Houses. The Lok Sabha also discussed and voted the Demands for Grants 2020-21 and Supplementary Demands for Grants for the year 2019-20, Supplementary Demand for Grant in respect of the State of Jammu and Kashmir for 2019-20, Demands for Grants in respect of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir for the year 2020-21 and Demands for Grants in respect of the Union Territory of Ladakh for the year 2019-20. Rajya Sabha also returned all the Appropriation Bills, and the entire Financial Business was completed before 31st March, 2020.
Budget Session 2020:
The Budget Session, 2020 of Parliament which commenced on Friday, 31st January, 2020 has been adjourned sine die today i.e. Monday, the 23rd of March 2020. In between both the Houses also adjourned for recess on Tuesday, the 11th February, 2020 to reassemble on Monday, the 2nd March, 2020 to enable Departmentally related Standing Committees to examine and report on the Demands for Grants relating to various Ministries/Departments.
In a statement on Budget Session, Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Shri Prahlad Joshi informed that the first part of the Budget Session yielded a total of 9 sittings of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. He added that in the second part of the Session there were 14 sittings of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. "During the entire Budget Session, 2020 there were in total 23 sittings in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha", Shri Joshi said. During this Session a total of 19 Bills (18 in Lok Sabha and 01 in Rajya Sabha) were introduced. 15 Bills were passed by Lok Sabha and 13 Bills were passed by Rajya Sabha. Total number of Bills passed by both Houses of Parliament is 12. Further, 2 Bills were withdrawn in the Rajya Sabha.
PM lays foundation stone of New Parliament Building
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the New Parliament Building today. The new building is an intrinsic part of the vision of ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’ and will be a landmark opportunity to build a peoples’ Parliament for the first time after independence, one which will match the needs and aspirations of ‘New India’ in the 75th anniversary of independence in 2022.
The Prime Minister remarked that democracy elsewhere is about election procedures, governance and administration. But democracy in India is about life values, it is the way of life and the soul of a nation. He added India's democracy is a system developed through centuries of experience. There is also a life mantra, an element of life as well as a system of order in the democracy in India. He said it is India's democratic strength that is giving new energy to the development of the country and giving new faith to its countrymen. He said democracy in India is constantly being renewed every year and it is seen that voter turnout is increasing with every election.
Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs celebrates the Constitution Day:
The Union Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs celebrated the Constitution Day here today to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution of India. 60. The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Shri Pralhad Joshi and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, joined the Hon’ble President in reading out the soul of the Constitution i.e. the Preamble to the constitution from Kevadia, Gujarat. A self-pledge on Fundamental Duties and Swachhata was also undertaken after reading of the Preamble to the Constitution. A Webinar on “Fundamental Principles and Values of the Constitution – an interface among Legislature, Judiciary and Executive” was also organised in New Delhi.
Special Multi-Media Exhibition on the Constitution Day at Kevadia draws appreciation of Parliamentarians and Legislators: Even as India celebrated the 71st Constitution Day with enthusiasm with nation-wide reading of the Preamble led by the President Shri Ram Nath Kovind, a Special Exhibition on the Constitution Day at Kevadia in Gujarat, drew appreciation of Parliamentarians and Legislators. This Exhibition, organized by the Bureau of Outreach Communication of Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in collaboration with the Parliamentary Museum and Archives, as part of the 80th All India Conference of Presiding Officers at the Statue of Unity site in Gujarat, was inaugurated by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Shri Om Birla on Wednesday. The Exhibition traced the journey of democratic tradition in the country, right from Vedic Times, through the Lichchavi republic to the making of Modern India.
80th All India Presiding Officers’ two-day Conference
80th All India Presiding Officers’ two-day Conference was addressed by Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi on 26th Nov, 2020 in Kevadiya, Gujarat inaugurated by the President of India. On the occasion of celebration of the Constitution Day, the PM’s address assumes significance as the theme of the event is harmonious relationship between the three wings of the state—legislature, judiciary and executive.
While addressing the Conference, the Hon’ble Prime Minister inter-alia, urged all the Presiding Officers of all the legislative bodies all across the country to make headway towards the complete digitisation of the legislatures so as to make the functioning of the legislatures paperless legislative and to adopt innovative and technology in Legislatures. PM also urged Presiding Officers to adopt the system wherein not only the legislators but all the citizens of the country will also have the access to the central database and all the important real time information. To fulfil this goal, National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) has already been developed under the auspices of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs , Government of India as one of the MMPs under Digital India programme to make the working of the all the legislatures paperless.
One Nation One Application :National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA)
‘e-Vidhan’ is one of the 44 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) under Digital India Programme launched by Government of India with a vision to transform the country into a Digitally Empowered Society and knowledge economy. The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has been made the ‘Nodal Ministry’ for the implementation of e-Vidhan MMP re-designating it as National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) in all the 31 States/ UTs with Legislatures on the line of Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly to make the functioning of State Legislative Houses paperless.
e-Vidhan software of Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha was upgraded as National eVidhan Application (NeVA), a single application covering all 39 Houses (Lok Sabha+ Rajya Sabha+ 31 Assemblies+ 6 Councils) to bring all the legislatures of the country together, on one platform thereby creating a massive data depository without having the complexity of multiple applications.
The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has recently completed the development of the new modules of ‘Digital House’ application suite for all the legislatures along with the Bills, Committee Module and the Reporter’s Module. The other modules which were earlier developed have also been upgraded namely, Question Processing, User Management, Department Module, Member’s Module, Minister’s Module, Master Data, etc. The mobile application in both android and IOS version has also been upgraded and modified with new features.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for implementation of NeVA has been signed with the States/UTs viz. Bihar (Assembly), Bihar (Council), Punjab, Odisha, Meghalaya, Manipur, Gujarat, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Puducherry, Tripura. The Detailed Project Report (DPR) for sanction of the NeVA Project has been submitted by Bihar (Assembly & Council), Punjab, Odisha, Nagaland, Manipur. Further, the NeVA Project has been sanctioned for Punjab, Odisha, Bihar (both the Houses), Nagaland and the first installment of Central financial assistance has been released to them.
Web-portal of National Youth Parliament Scheme: A new portal based National Youth Parliament Scheme (NYPS) https://nyps.mpa.gov.in/ was developed on 26th November, 2019 for better implementation of the Youth Parliament Programme by improving upon process. This Portal serves the whole programme end to end digitally beginning with the registration of educational institutions on the portal to training on the basis of contents available on the website and putting report of the Youth Parliament conducted and in the end taking out participation certificates digitally. An urgent need was felt to introduce a new programme of youth parliament by using the power of ICT to expand its outreach to every nook and corner of the country and all the students so as to achieve the objectives of strengthening the roots of democracy, inculcating the healthy habits of discipline, developing tolerance of views of others and enabling the student community to understand about the functioning of parliamentary and democratic institutions.The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has been conducting youth parliament competitions around 8000 schools/ Universities and colleges in the country to inculcate democratic values and ethos among youth.
MPs take 30 per cent salary cut over Covid-19
India, as the rest of the world, is grappling with Corona Virus (COVID-19) pandemic which has severe health and economic ramifications for the people of the country. Immediate expeditious relief and emergency assistance measures are being taken to prevent and contain the spread of said pandemic. In order to manage and control such situation, it became necessary to raise resources from different sources including by reduction of salary of Members of Parliament.
The Cabinet in its meeting held on 06.04.2020 approved the proposal of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs to reduce the Salary of Members of Parliament by 30 per cent for one year commencing from 01.04.2020 to meet the exigencies arising out of Corona Virus (COVID-19) pandemic. Consequently, an Ordinance namely, the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 (No.3 of 2020) was promulgated on 7th April, 2020 for enabling the salary of Members of Parliament to be reduced by thirty per cent for a period of one year commencing from 1st April, 2020 to meet the exigencies arising out of Corona Virus (COVID-19) pandemic.
To replace the above Ordinance, the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament (Amendment) Bill, 2020 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 14.09.2020 and passed by it on 15.09.2020. The Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on 18.09.2020. The Bill was assented to by Hon’ble President of India on 24.09.2020 as Act No 19 of 2020.
In addition to above, the Joint Committee on Salaries and Allowances of Members of Parliament in its sittings held on 5th and 6th April, 2020, recommended for (i) 30 % deduction per month from the constituency allowance for one year period effective from 01.04.2020 and (ii) 30% deduction per month from the office expenses allowance (only from stationary component and not from the salary component for employees) for one year period effective from 01.04.2020. Ministry gave its concurrence and thereafter the following Notifications to this regard were issued by Lok/Rajya Sabha Secretariats of Parliament on 7th April, 2020
Consultative Committees
The Ministry constitutes Consultative Committees of Members of Parliament and makes arrangements for holding their meetings during sessions and inter session periods. After the constitution of 17th Lok Sabha 37 Consultative Committees had been constituted for various Ministries/Departments. The following activities were undertaken during the year-
· One Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Labour and Employment was constituted on 28th July, 2020.
· 16 meetings of the various Consultative Committees were held and 7 scheduled meetings were postponed due to Covid-19.1
- 13 Members of Parliament (Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha) were nominated on various Committees/Councils/Boards, etc., set up by the Government of India.
· Deletion of membership of 63 MPs were done from the list of various Consultative Committees due to their Resignation/Retirement/demise etc.
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RCJ/SS