Parliament Monsoon Session updates July 28 | Three Bills passed in Lok Sabha amid chaos

Amid loud chants by Opposition members, the House passed three key Bills- the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation Amendment) Bill, 2023, the National Nursing and Midwifery Commission Bill, 2023, and the National Dental Commission Bill, 2023.

A bill to amend the Indian Institutes of Management Act, 2017 was also introduced in the House.

Amid the din of slogans, the Chair is carrying out a voice vote on the National Nursing and Midwifery Commission Bill, 2023.

The National Nursing and Midwifery Commission Bill, 2023 was introduced in Lok Sabha on July 24, 2023. It repeals the Indian Nursing Council Act, 1947. The Bill provides for the regulation and maintenance of standards of education and services for nursing and midwifery professionals. It also provides for the creation of a National Nursing and Midwifery Commission.

As Opposition members chant “take back Adani Bill”, Chair Rajendra Agrawal is conducting a voice vote on the Bill to amend the Mines and Minerals Act, 1957 .

What does the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation Amendment) Bill 2023, seek to do?

It seeks to grant of exploration licences to private sector players for deep-seated and critical minerals, also empowering the central government to exclusively auction mining lease and composite licence for certain critical minerals.

According to the statement of objects and reasons of the bill, the amendments “would facilitate, encourage and incentivize private sector participation in all spheres of mineral exploration for critical and deep-seated minerals”.

Coal and Mines Minister Prahlad Joshi is speaking on the Bill as Opposition members chant ‘shame shame’ in the Lower House.

The Chair has asked members to raise matters under Rule 377, Bill to further amend the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 being discussed.

Chair Rajendra Agrawal informs that the Speaker has not approved any of the Suspension of Business notices submitted by members. This leads to loud sloganeering by Opposition members asking for answers on the Manipur issue.

Amid the chaos, chair begins the process of laying papers on the table. Opposition MPs are raising placards of the INDIA alliance in the well of the House.

After INDIA bloc members said that 16-17 members will visit Manipur, BJP MP Ravi Kishan told reporters outside the Parliament that the Opposition could go anywhere they want, including “Pakistan, Sri Lanka and China.”

Displeased by Mr. O’Brien rising to his feet and speaking in the House, Vice-President Dhankhar adjourns the House for the day, saying he cannot countenance this.

The House will resume at 11 a.m. on Monday, July 31.

The Chair announced that he has received 47 notices under rule 267 to discuss the situation in Manipur.

He indicates that he has expressed clearly that a notice on short duration discussion has been accepted on the same issue, and that the government has agreed for the same.

I appeal to the House to rise above partisan interests and work in a manner so that short duration discussion that I have agreed to take place, he says. We have number of notices under rule 267, look at the precedent at how many orders have been accepted over 23 years, he points out.

TMC MP Derek O’Brien rises to object and the Chair says that he should exemplify respect for the Chair and that he is “engaging in theatrics.” He says he cannot countenance this.

The House bids farewell to retiring Member of Parliament from the State of Goa, Vinay Dinu Tendulkar. The Chair notes that Mr. Tendulkar was the first to address the House in Konkani during Zero Hour and also touches upon his long political and theatre journey.

Mr. Tendulkar, a retiring member from the BJP, thanks his senior functionaries, including Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, J.P Nadda and Manohar Parrikar. He also thanks Opposition members, including Derek O’Brien and Tiruchi Siva.

He concludes by saying that he is retiring from the House and not from politics, expressing his belief that Modi will return to power next term.

The Secretary General announced that two Bills have been passed by Lok Sabha in their sitting yesterday:

1. Repealing and Amending Bill, 2022 2. The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2022

Ministers table statements and reports on the table, followed by MoS Parliamentary Affairs V. Muraleedharan listing the government business for the upcoming week. Among others, the Rajya Sabha will take up the Delhi Amendment Ordinance, the Mediation Bill 2023 and the Biodiversity Act Amendment Bill (which was passed by the Lok Sabha.)

The Lok Sabha was adjourned within minutes as Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury referred to a 1978 precedent where the Speaker had allowed a debate on the no-confidence motion on the day it was tabled and admitted against the Morarji Desai government.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said that as per rules, the discussion can be held within 10 days.

Amid the din, Speaker Om Birla adjourned the House until noon.

The Rajya Sabha kicks of its proceedings for the day in relative calm, with birthday greetings for members and papers being laid on the table as per the revised list of business.

Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar is presiding.

The YSR Congress Party has decided to support the Narendra Modi government in Parliament and vote against the no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition bloc INDIA.

The 26-party Opposition alliance has moved a notice of no-confidence in Lok Sabha demanding the Prime minister speak on the Manipur situation inside the House. While the notice has been admitted, a decision on the date for a debate is yet to be taken.

Opposition MPs from the INDIA alliance will reach the strife-torn State, visiting both the valley and hill regions on July 29 and 30.

“We are 16-17 (INDIA alliance MPs) going to Manipur tomorrow on a one-day visit. We will go to both the places - Churachandpur and Imphal,” said CPI MP P. Santhosh Kumar on INDIA alliance leaders’ Manipur visit to July 29.

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Rule 267 allows for the suspension of rules in the pre-decided business of the day with the approval of the Chairman to debate an issue of importance. Under the section “suspension of business,” the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business define Rule 267 as an instance where “any Member, may, with the consent of the Chairman, move that any rule may be suspended in its application to a motion related to the business listed before the council of that day and if the motion is carried, the rule in question shall be suspended for the time being.”

An MP must give a notice to the Secretary-General of the House before 10 a.m. on the day they seek suspension of business to raise an urgent matter. It is up to the Chairman to admit the motion for suspension of rules. In case the Chair allows, the Motion is put to vote. The rule, however, does not apply in cases where specific provisions already exist for the suspension of a rule.

Since the start of the Monsoon Session of Parliament last week, proceedings in the Rajya Sabha have been marred by continuous protests and disruptions over differences between the Opposition and the Government on the nature of discussion on the Manipur situation.

At the centre of the disagreement is Rule 267 of the Rajya Sabha rulebook, which the Opposition insists should be invoked to discuss the issue in the Upper House. The rule has emerged as a stumbling block, with Opposition MPs filing a string of notices under the rule in the past few days, only to be rejected by Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, who in his maiden session last year termed such motions a “known mechanism of causing disruption.”

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s acceptance of the Congress’ motion of no-confidence against the (National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government will see a neat division between the ruling alliance and the Opposition’s Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). However, parties unaligned to either bloc — who account for 64 Lok Sabha seats — have taken a range of stances on how they will vote on counting day.

First off the bat was Andhra Pradesh’s ruling party, the YSR Congress Party, which has declared that its 22 Lok Sabha MPs will support the government in the no-confidence vote, thereby distancing themselves from the Opposition bloc. “How does bringing a no-confidence motion help the country? Trying to weaken the Central government at this time of disturbance in Manipur and two hostile neighbours is not in the national interest. It is time to work together and not against each other. The YSRCP shall support the government and vote against the motion,” tweeted YSRCP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Sai Reddy.

Report of the Department-related Parliamentary standing committee on external affairs:

1. Rajya Sabha member Prakash Javadekar to lay a copy of the Twenty-third Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs (Seventeenth Lok Sabha) on Action Taken by the Government on the Observations/Recommendations contained in the Sixteenth Report of the Committee on ‘India’s Soft Power and Cultural Diplomacy: Prospects & Limitations’.

2. Jugalsinh Lokhandwala to lay on the Table, a copy of Reports of the Committee on Welfare of Other Backward Classes (2022-23).

Private members’ Business from 2.30 p.m. till 5 p.m.

AAP MP Sanjay Singh and other party MPs, staging a round-the-clock protest in the Parliament House Complex against his suspension, will now hold the agitation only when parliamentary proceedings are on and not during the night.

The decision was taken after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on July 27 urged the suspended Rajya Sabha MP not to sit in protest overnight and end it every day when Parliament’s proceedings conclude. - PTI