The government has prepared a long list of legislative business to be conducted during the winter session of Parliament starting on Thursday. And the Opposition parties are equally ready to confront it on a host of issues ranging from a fair price for sugarcane to the scandals related to allocation of 2G spectrum at below market prices and revelations of alleged hawala transactions by the former Jharkhand Chief Minister, Madhu Koda, and his numerous associates.
If the Opposition parties are bent on extracting maximum political mileage from these scandals, the political ace with the government could prove to be the voluminous Liberhan Commission Report on the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992.
Although Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said he did not know whether it would be tabled in this session, Home Ministry sources said this could be done during the last few days of the session scheduled to end on December 21.
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Earlier, the government indicated that it would table the report, submitted to it in June this year, along with an Action Taken Report. Normally such reports are tabled within six months of the date of submission.
Several Opposition parties are using their considerable resources to mobilise a large gathering of farmers on day one of Parliament. The Bharatiya Janata Party said its president, Rajnath Singh, will move an adjournment motion on this issue in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, opposing the government’s intention to pass the Sugarcane (Control) Amendment Bill 2009.
While the Opposition is confident it will be able to defeat this Bill at least in the Rajya Sabha — there is informal coordination among some parties — Mr. Bansal thought the ruling coalition will be able to overcome the difficulties.
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All in all, the short winter session is expected by all to be busy, noisy and full of action. The Bill to give women 50 per cent reservation in panchayats and local bodies pending in the Rajya Sabha is expected to become an Act this session.
The Representation of People Act is to be amended to clarify the law related to disqualification, the Minister told journalists, adding that the Women’s Reservation Bill that reserved 33 per cent Parliamentary and Assembly seats for women would have to wait, as the standing committee had not completed its work yet.
A long list of 62 new Bills is ready for introduction, including the much-awaited Equal Opportunity Commission Bill; the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill and the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill. The government has also listed for “introduction” the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill.
However, many of these could be sent to the relevant standing committee for further discussion before they are taken up for consideration and passing.