15th February, 2014

In the disruptions, the second part of the 2013 Winter Session (5 Feb-21 Feb, 2014), the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on 7th February.
                     The Bill is to replace the The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995. The Act defined persons with disabilities as those having not less than forty per cent disability, and identified seven categories of disabilities, blindness, low vision, hearing impairment, locomotor disability, mental retardation, mental illness and leprosy-cured.
                     The new Bill has been brought because of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which India signed, and ratified on 1st October, 2007. The Convention came into effect on 3rd May, 2008. 
                    The new legislation that the Convention required to be enacted is taking a long journey. The Expert Committee for the new Bill was constituted in 2010, and its report came the next year. Since 2011, the Bill has been in public domain, and under discussion.
                    In spite of the extensive debate, there are protests the new Bill is not satisfactory. A point made is that the new Bill, like the old Act, is based on the "medical model of disability." It is still not recognised that disability is not just impairment, but the manner in which the social environment disables individuals. Persons with disabilities are still at the mercy of the state, and have to get disability certificates that they are 40 per cent disabled.
                   So, the Bill which has come four years after the UN Convention, is still not satisfactory. Some groups have suggested that the existing Act should continue. The new Bill may be passed but still give a law without a capacity to deal with the problem effectively.
                  The story is familiar and reminds one of many other laws!
 

6th February, 2014

Look at the journey the laws (or the proposed laws) undertake. The Communal Violence Bill (officially The Prevention of Communal Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2014) was listed for Introduction in the Rajya Sabha yesterday but was deferred. There were strong objections that it encroached on the States' jurisdiction detailed in List II of the Constitution. For how long the Bill would remain deferred, can be anybody's guess. Today, the CPI (M) Group in Parliament explained that the Government had several years to prepare an acceptable Bill. This Bill was part of the Common Minimum Programme on the basis of which the CPI (M) had given crucial outside support to the UPA for its Government formation in 2004!
       What is the truth? There is no law at present on the compensation to be given to victims of communal violence. The victims are at the mercy of the Government to give whatever compensation it wants to give. The Bill was intended to fill this gap. India is one of the highest legislated nations in the world. Still, several crucial areas are left out!
             Or they are governed by outdated laws -- like the Aircraft Act of 1934 for the civil aviation sector. The Parliamentary Standing Committee which studied The Civil Aviation Authority of India Bill, 2013, submitted report on 6th February, 2014 (today) to say the Bill was hurriedly drafted, and the Government must have a re look at it, and should not go for piecemeal approach on such a vital subject. The Standing Committee heard hundreds of stakeholders before reaching its conclusion. Unfortunately, the Standing Committee reports are only recommendatory, and it is not mandatory for the Government to accept them. Mini-Parliament, the Committees are called!

4th February, 2014

On the eve of the 15th Lok Sabha's last sitting (for the second part of the Winter Session) beginning 5th February, 2014, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, said this Lok Sabha might not have been very productive of new legislation, but there were certainly several historic laws enacted by it, e.g. the Lokpal Act, the Food Security Act and the Land Acquisition Act.
The Speaker, Mrs Meira Kumar, said Parliamentary democracy had succeeded in India, despite many odds. The 15th Lok Sabha did not pass as many laws as it should have, she said. "There are ups and downs. We have to pay tribute to the people of India for their faith in the Parliamentary system," she said.

Here is a sample of the Bills proposed by the Government for passage in the last sitting of the 15th Lok Sabha :

The Whistle Blowers Protection Bill, 2011, as passed by Lok Sabha

The Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, 2010, as passed by Lok Sabha;

he Right of Citizens for Time Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of

 Their Grievances Bill, 2011;

The Prevention of Bribery of Foreign Public Official and Officials of Public International Organisations Bill, 2011;

The Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013;

The Public Procurement Bill, 2012.

What happens in Parliament, will be known to all of us,

Shri Maha Sarasvatyaya Namah!
Basant Panchami
4th February, 2014

"Man is like an infinite spring, coiled up in a small box, and that spring is trying to unfold itself; and all the social phenomena that we see are the result of this trying to unfold" -- Swami Vivekananda

With this tribute to the Swami, I am re-launching my blog today, making another bid to unfold myself. My focus will be on the laws that I see being made in Indian Parliament, and on the journey of amendments they undergo over time.
Hope to add more,