Monsoon session: Government holds all-party meet, Cong questions PM's absence

The government held an all-party meeting on Sunday, ahead of the Monsoon session of the Parliament, which begins on Monday, to formulate a strategy to maximise the productivity of the House along with addressing the concerns of the Opposition during the course of the session.

The meeting, called by parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi, is attended by defence minister Rajnath Singh, Union minister Piyush Goyal, AIADMK MP M Thambi Durai, YSRCP MP Vijayasai Reddy, TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Apna Dal MP Anupriya Patel, Congress MPs Mallikarjun Kharge and Jairam Ramesh, Rashtriya Lok Dal MP Jayant Chaudhary and DMK MP Tiruchi Siva and others.

The Congress, however, questioned the absence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the meeting. “All Party Meeting to discuss forthcoming session of Parliament has just begun and the Prime Minister as usual is absent. Isn’t this ‘unparliamentary’?” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted.

The agenda of the meeting will be to discuss the subjects that the Opposition would like to have for discussion during the session of the Parliament.

The Monsoon session holds importance as the election of the President and Vice-President office is slated to take place in this session. The Presidential polls will be held on July 18, while the Vice-Presidential polls will take place on August 6. The term of President Ram Nath Kovind is coming to an end on July 24, while the term of Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu is ending on August 10.

The Opposition is also slated to hold its meeting later in the day to decide on the candidate for the Vice-Presidential elections. The BJP on Saturday declared West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar as NDA's vice-presidential candidate.

During the session, the Opposition is likely to raise issues pertaining to the new Agnipath recruitment Scheme for the armed forces, unemployment, inflation among others, while the Centre will seek to push several legislations during the monsoon session of Parliament.

On Saturday evening, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla sought cooperation of all parties for smooth conduct of proceedings with “decency, dignity and discipline”, even as the Opposition demanded a discussion on the Agnipath scheme, unemployment and farmers’ issues. At an all-party meeting ahead of the session beginning on Monday, Birla informed the leaders about preparations for the session. He later said leaders of all parties assured that they will cooperate in conducting the proceedings of the House with dignity.

Some of the pending bills

The Indian Antarctica Bill, 2022. The bill is pending in the Lok Sabha. The Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2019, was passed by Lok Sabha and in the upcoming session, it is likely to be taken up in the Rajya Sabha.

The Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill, 2022 was passed by Lok Sabha and is yet to be passed by Rajya Sabha.

The Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2021 is pending in Lok Sabha, The Anti-Maritime Piracy Bill, 2019 and The National Anti-Doping Bill, 2021 are also pending in Lok Sabha.

The Constitution (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Orders (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022 (in respect of State of UP - amendment regarding change of district name to be approved by Cabinet) was introduced in Lok Sabha in March 2022.

New bills to be newly introduced

The new bills to be newly introduced during the Monsoon session include The Central Universities Amendment Bill, 2022.

The Family Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2022 is also a new bill and was sent for printing on Thursday.

The other bills on the government agenda include the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2019, (in respect of the State of Assam), The Mediation Bill, 2021 (with Standing Committee chaired by Shri Sushil Kumar Modi); The Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (report of Standing Committee under examination) and the Registration of Marriage of Non-Resident Indian Bill, 2019 (report of Standing Committee under examination).

(With inputs from agencies)