By G Krishna Mohan Rao*
New Delhi: Issues like attacks on Kashmiri pandits and migrant workers in the Kashmir Valley, the safety of RTI activists, the status of Census 2021 and details of cases registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, are expected to be raised by the various party MPs when the monsoon session of Parliament commences from July 18, 2022, according to the tentative list of questions related to the Union Home Ministry.
Important bills and amendments like changes in Banning of Weapons of Mass Destruction; Amendment to the Child Marriages Act; Anti Doping Bill; Amendment to the Protection of Wild Animals Act and also an amendment to Biological Diversity Act, are also to be taken during the session.
Sources said that all these above bills were sent to select committees. If these bills were returned from the committees, the Parliament may clear them in the monsoon session, according to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahalad Joshi.
Further, several issues like reservation of jobs for “Agniveers” in paramilitary forces, riots and police firings and “demolition of homes due to protests” in various States, are among the other issues likely to be raised by the Opposition members in both the Houses.
The government has called an all-party meeting here on Sunday, July 17, 2022, in view of the monsoon session. In fact, there is hectic activity around the Parliament, besides the usual agenda of ensuring the smooth functioning of the monsoon session, the government will have to hold Presidential and Vice Presidential elections during this session on the Parliament premises. The Presiding Officers of both the Houses— Speaker and Chairman— have also called the floor leaders of various parties in the next three days. The monsoon session of the Parliament begins on July 18, 2022, and will continue till August 12, 2022.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has convened the meeting of floor leaders on Saturday at 4 pm, while the Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu will meet the floor leaders of various parties on Sunday evening. According to sources, the customary meeting of all parties has been called by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahalad Joshi on Sunday morning to discuss the agenda and seek their support for the smooth functioning of the Parliament session. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be present. Prime Minister Narendra Modi may attend the meeting as he has done so in the past. This will be the last session for Naidu in his current term which is ending on August 10, 2022.
Meanwhile, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi urged party MPs to play an aggressive opposition by raising pro-people issues and working together with other like-minded parties to corner the government. While addressing the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) meet, Sonia Gandhi made it clear that the party would demand a roll-back of the Agnipath scheme. Issues like price rise and unemployment would be on top of the congress agenda, Sonia Gandhi told the CPP.
On the first day of the monsoon session, the Presidential election would take place in room number 63 of the Parliament House. It is already known that the notification for holding the election for the Vice President’s post has been made and the last date for filing nominations is July 19, 2022. Both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Opposition are yet to name their candidates, even as the election for the vice presidency is scheduled on August 6, 2022 with both the Houses participating in voting.
On the other hand, in a major development today, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla reacted to the Opposition’s backlash over the list of words that have been marked as “unparliamentary”. The Speaker clarified that ‘’words that have been expunged have been used in Parliament by the Opposition as well as the party in power. No selective expunging of words used by only Opposition…no words banned, have removed words that were objected to previously “. He said that the decision to expunge words was taken keeping in mind the context and objections raised by other members.
Several opposition leaders and senior members of parliament have lashed out at the report of the Lok Sabha Secretariat which has released a list of words that has been designated as “ unparliamentary “. The list comes just ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament that starts on Monday. Usage of many words such as ‘corruption’, ‘corrupt’, ‘jumlajeevi’, ‘tanashah’, ‘dictator’, ‘Khalistani’, are among those that have been banned. Sources say that the removal of words has been taking place since 1954 under various political dispensations.
Any word is spoken which is against the ethos of Parliament or disrespectful in nature and can compromise the dignity of the House, the discretion lies with the chair to expunge them, Lok Sabha secretariat said. The word ‘dishonest’ was expunged in a Rajya Sabha debate on August 17, 2011. Similarly, the word ‘dishonesty’ was first expunged in the Lok Sabha debate on March 3, 2011, sources said. As part of a Parliament record, the word ‘ shame’ was expunged on March 21, 2022. The word ‘cheating’ was taken off the Parliament records as unparliamentary in the Rajya Sabha debate on March 20, 2012. It was further explained by the Lok Sabha secretariat officials that the Chair had expunged the words ‘chor ‘ and ‘loot’ the first time in the Lok Sabha debate on March 13, 2012, and ‘ Jhoot’ on April 27, 2012.
*Senior Journalist
