Telangana, North Easterners safety rock Parliament

Today was the first day of the final sitting of the 15th Lok Sabha.

Both Houses were adjourned soon after the reading of obituary references as MPs protesting against the creation of Telangana stormed the well of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

When Lok Sabha met again at noon, the issue of racial discrimination against people from the Northeastern states was raised. “Racial discrimination against our children from the North East is a very serious thing. We must stop it” said Ninong Ering, Minister for Minority Affairs. Lok Sabha was adjourned soon after for the day.

When Rajya Sabha met again at noon, the government tried to introduce The Prevention of Communal Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2014. This Bill is pending introduction and the government proposes to withdraw The Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2005, which was introduced in Rajya Sabha in Dec 2005. Protests against the introduction of the Communal Violence Bill led to adjournment of the House until 2:00 pm.

When Rajya Sabha met again, Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley opposed the introduction of the Bill, citing Parliament’s lack of legislative competence to enact it. According to Mr. Jaitley, many provisions of the Communal Violence Bill are related to public order, which is a state subject over which the Parliament does not have the power to legislate on. Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Derek O'Brian of the Trinamool Congress also spoke against the introduction of the Bill.

Speaking in favour of the Communal Violence Bill, Minister of Law and Justice Kapil Sibal argued that the Bill has largely to do with compensation and has safeguards in place which make the state's permission necessary for the Centre to intervene when it comes to a state subject.

The decision to introduce the Bill was deferred. Following this Defence Minister AK Antony gave a statement on the VVIP chopper deal. The Upper House was then adjourned for the day at 2:50 pm.

The Legislative Agenda for the day was as below:

Lok Sabha

Bills for Consideration and Passing

1. Right of Citizens for Time Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and of Their Grievances Bill, 2011

2. Prevention of Bribery of Foreign Public Officials and Officials of Public International Organisations Bill, 2011

Rajya Sabha

Bills for Introduction

1.The Prevention of Communal Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2014 [After withdrawing the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2005, which was introduced in Rajya Sabha in Dec 2005]

Bills for Consideration and Passing

1.The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill, 2013 (as passed by Lok Sabha)

2.The Governors (Emoluments, Allowances and Privileges) Amendment Bill, 2013 (as passed by Lok Sabha)