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New Delhi: The
government was able to pass a mere 11 bills, including nine
appropriation bills related to the railways, the general budget
and the Jharkhand budget and two against gender crimes, against
the 68 listed for the first half of the budget session that
concluded Friday.
"The financial items and the motion of thanks to the president's
address had to be passed in the first half of the session. In the
remaining time, two other legislations were passed," an official
told IANS, not wanting to be named.
During the first half, the government introduced only two bills -
the Agricultural Biosecurity (Amendment) Bill, 2013, and The
National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research
(Amendment) Bill, 2013.
The budget session started Feb 21 and will now reconvene April
22-May 10.
The two bills to curb crimes against women are the Sexual
Harassment of Women at Workplaces (Prevention, Prohibition and
Redressal) Bill, 2012, and the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill,
2013.
Parliament lost several hours as it was disrupted over several
issues, including Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde's statement
that he had intelligence about the twin blasts in Hyderabad Feb
21, the DMK and the AIADMK protesting against a United Nations
resolution against Sri Lanka, the Central Bureau of Investigation
raids on DMK leader Stalin and Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma's
remarks against Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Congress sources said the three major bills for the second half of
the budget session are the food security bill, the land
acquisition and rehabilitation bill, the Lokpal bill and bills
relating to economic reforms.
The anti-rape bill was taken up in the first half as it replaced
an ordinance promulgated by President Pranab Mukherjee and had to
be passed by April 4.
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplaces (Prevention,
Prohibition and Redressal) Bill, 2012, mandates that any
organisation with 10 or more employees has to set up an committee
to look into any complaints.
The penalty for violation will be Rs.50,000. Repeated violations
could result in higher penalties and cancellation of licence or
registration to conduct business.
The bill covers not only employees, but also clients, customers,
apprentices and daily wage workers.
The anti-rape bill provides for enhanced punishment for rape,
makes stalking and voyeurism criminal offences and fixes the age
of consent for sex at 18.
The widely-debated bill seeks to provide enhanced punishment for
crimes such as rape and gang-rape, prescribing punishment
extending to death sentence for offenders for inflicting any
injury which causes death of the victim or causes them to be in a
persistent vegetative state.
The issue was in focus after the brutal assault and gangrape of a
Delhi girl Dec 16, 2012. She later succumbed to her injuries.
The appropriation bill related to Jharkhand budget was passed by
parliament as the state is under the president's rule since
January.
Highlights
Eleven bills passed, including nine
appropriation bills related to the railways, the general budget
and the Jharkhand budget and two against gender crimes. The
government had listed 68 bills.
Government introduced only two bills
- the Agricultural Biosecurity (Amendment) Bill, 2013 and The
National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research
(Amendment) Bill, 2013.
The bills to curb crimes against
women are the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention,
Prohibition and Redressal) Bill, 2012 and the Criminal Law
(Amendment) Bill, 2013.
Three major bills on priority list
for the second half of the budget session are the national food
security bill, the land acquisition and rehabilitation bill and
the Lokpal bill.
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