Monsoon Session: Day 13

Disruptions in Rajya Sabha continued and the House was unable to take up the scheduled business. In Lok Sabha, private member business was taken up. The date for submission of the report on the Land Acquisition Bill has been extended to August 11, 2015.

Until yesterday, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha had functioned for 40% and 8 % of their scheduled time, respectively. The chart below shows Question Hour’s working in the last three weeks.

While productivity remains relatively low, the lower house has been able to take up scheduled business during the week.

The lower house this week passed four bills:

• The Repealing and Amending (fourth) Bill
• The Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill
  
• The Delhi High Court (Amendment) Bill
  
• The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill
  

At the beginning of the Session, the government listed a number of Bills that were to be taken up. With Session ending next week, legislations related to Whistleblower’s Protection, Juvenile Justice, among others, remain pending.

The Whistleblowers Protection (Amendment) Bill prohibits the disclosure of information if it falls under 10 categories. These include information related to: (i) economic, scientific interests and the security of India; (ii) Cabinet proceedings, (iii) intellectual property; (iv) that received in a fiduciary capacity, etc.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill permits juveniles between the ages of 16-18 years to be tried as adults for heinous offences. Our vital stats captures statistics related to crimes committed by children, their social backgrounds and incidence of repeat offences etc.