Cong pins hopes on key Bills to revive fortunes

• Food Security Bill is set to come up in Upper House on Monday
• RTI Amendment Bill is scheduled to be taken up for discussion in Lok Sabha

Venkat Parsa

New Delhi: As the Monsoon Session enters the last week, before Parliament adjourns sine die, key Food Security Bill and Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill will be taken up in the Rajya Sabha. Both the key Bills have been passed in the Lok Sabha. The Food Security Bill is set to come up in the Upper House as early as on Monday.

The Congress political managers are pinning hopes on party revival on these key Bills, as the party is headed for crucial Assembly elections later this year-end. Amid the enveloping economic gloom, the Congress hopes to capture imagination of the people through these key social legislations.

The Food Security Bill aims to cover 67 per cent of the population that includes 75 per cent people in the rural areas and 50 per cent people in the urban areas. It seeks to give rice at Rs 3 a kg, wheat at Rs 2 a kg and coarse grain at Re 1 a kg. The Land Acquisition Bill, which aims at giving just and fair compensation to families whose land has been acquired for industrial purposes. It is expected to make land acquisition process acceptable, as early it had led to protests in many parts of the country.

The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill 2013, seeking to amend RTI Act to exempt political parties from providing information under the transparency law is also scheduled to come up for discussion in Lok Sabha on Monday. The RTI Amendment Bill was introduced on August 12 in the Lower House by Union Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions V Narayanasamy to move that the Bill to amend Right to Information Act, 2005, be taken into consideration. It is expected to figure on the List of Business for Lok Sabha on Monday. The RTI Amendment Bill could not be discussed on earlier occasions on August 23, 24, 26 and 29, owing to disruptions in the House.

The Government has proposed an amendment in Section 2 of the RTI Act, which defines public authority, to exempt the political parties. Political consensus has emerged that a political party is not public authority, as claimed by the Central Information Commission (CIC).

The Union Cabinet had last month cleared the proposal to amend the RTI Act to give immunity to political parties and negate a Central Information Commission (CIC) order to this effect. The proposed amendments, if accepted by Parliament, will make it clear that the definition of public authority shall not include any political party registered under the Representation of the People Act.

The Union Cabinet decision had come nearly two months after the Central Information Commission (CIC) order to bring six national political parties – Congress, BJP, NCP, CPM, CPI and BSP – under the RTI Act. The CIC had, in its order on June 3, held that the six national parties have been substantially funded indirectly by the central government and were required to appoint public information officers as they have the character of a public authority under the RTI Act. The CIC order had evoked sharp reactions from political parties, especially Congress, which strongly objected to the CIC order as overstepping its brief. In fact, it is the Congress, which is credited with bringing in the transparency law. Many RTI activists, however, have opposed the proposed amendments.