Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day on Monday after two bills were passed without discussion, amid multiple adjournments and continued protests by Opposition MPs on the Pegasus snooping issue and the three controversial farm laws. The House was adjourned for the day after the two bills — the Factoring Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2020, and the National Institutes of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management Bill, 2021 — were passed by voice vote.
No discussion on the two bills could take place as Opposition members continued to stage protests demanding a discussion on the Pegasus snooping allegations and the farmers’ demand for repealing the three agriculture laws passed last August.
Sheohar MP Rama Devi, who was chairing the proceedings, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi and Minister of State Arjun Ram Meghwal urged members to return to their seats to allow a proper discussion of the bills. But when their appeals went unheeded, the Chair went ahead with the consideration and passing of the bills.
While Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke before moving the Factoring Regulation Bill, giving a brief background on why the amendments to the Bill were being made, Food Processing Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras simply moved the Bill for consideration and passing. The Factoring Bill, Ms. Sitharaman said, was for the benefit of Medium and Small Scale Enterprises (MSME) and adding the government had accepted all the changes suggested by the Standing Committee which went into the details.
Earlier in the day, the House saw repeated adjournments and when it met at 2 p.m. and ran for a few minutes, papers were laid on the table and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
As soon as the House met in the morning, Speaker Om Birla paid tributes to personnel of the armed forces for their valour during the 1999 Kargil War with MPs observing a period of silence for those who sacrificed their lives.
He also congratulated Mirabai Chanu for winning a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Opposition members thereafter went into the Well raising slogans, and waving placards on both the Pegasus snooping scandal and also in support of agitating farmers over the three controversial farm laws. Congress members were joined by members of the DMK, NCP, Left and Indian Union Muslim League.
Senior members including Rahul Gandhi, Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari were seen moving to the aisle in support of the MPs who were sloganeering. While some members Mr Tewari demanded the presence of the Prime Minister in the House, others raised slogans such as “Modi sarkar jawab do (Modi government please answer)” on the Pegasus issue.
Published - July 26, 2021 06:11 pm IST
