Winter Session: Parliament passes 14 of 18 bills, Lok Sabha achieves 114% productivity

After closing of Winter Session of parliament on Friday, productivity of Lok Sabha stands at 114% and Rajya Sabha stands at 94% respectively, according to PRS. In this session Lok Sabha has spent over 130 hours of which 55.6 hours have been on legislative issues, states PRS. Moreover, Rajya Sabha which has clocked in 105 hours, spent 55.4 hours on legislation. winter session which commenced on vember 18 ended on December 13 prematurely, after both houses were suspended due to furore over Rahul Gandhi's 'Rape in India' comment and Opposition protests over CAB.

Source: PRS

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Bills discussed and passed

According to PRS, 17 bills were introduced - all in Lok Sabha of which 10 new bills have been passed in both houses. Only one bill - Central Sanskrit Universities bill which was passed by Lok Sabha is yet to be tabled in Rajya Sabha. Overall 18 bills were debated upon, 14 bills have been passed by both houses, Personal Data Protection Bill has been referred to a Joint committee and Surrogacy Regulation Bill has been referred to a select committee.

Here are key bills passed:

• Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019: most contentious bill of session amends Citizenship Act 1955 to make refugees who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, eligible for citizenship.  Moreover, Bill exempts exempt inner line permit areas in Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh and areas falling under Sixth Schedule in region and will be applicable to members of se communities having arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014.

• Special Protection Group (Amendment) Bill, 2019: This Bill had two major changes - only Prime Minister of country and family that resides with him immediately will be given SPG security and a former Prime Minister will be provided SPG cover only for a period of five years after he or she leaves office. 

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• Trans Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019: This bill makes a requirement for an individual to acquire a "trans certificate" from District Magistrate - making medical examination a pre-requisite to be certified as a 'trans'. While applying for a change in certificate, this certificate has been made mandatory, upholding rights of self-identification.

• Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019: Bill aims to lay down a framework for processing of personal and private data by public and private entities, allowing exemptions for certain kinds of data processing, such as processing in interest of national security, for legal proceedings, or for journalistic purposes. It also has a data-localization clause, which states that certain critical personal data must be stored solely within country and also calls for national-level Data Protection Authority (DPA) to be set up.

• Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019: This Bill prohibits commercial surrogacy allowing only altruistic surrogacy (surrogacy which involves monetary compensation). Bill also states that intending couple should have a ‘certificate of essentiality’ and that surrogate mor must be a close relative of couple, a married woman between 25-35 years and possesses a certificate of medical and psychological fitness for surrogacy.

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Time spent on legislation:

PRS also explains that on an aver, Lok Sabha discussed a Bill for 3.6 hours while  Rajya Sabha discussed for 3.1 hours. longest debate in both houses was on Citizenship amendment bill where Lok Sabha clocked in 7.5 hours, while Rajya Sabha spent 8.9 hours. This session which also marked 250th session Rajya Sabha incidentally also saw 179 days since Lok Sabha t appointing a Deputy Speaker. 

Source: PRS 

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