It also passed the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill 2019, an anti-terror legislation that seeks to designate an individual as a “terrorist”. Addressing the Rajya Sabha on Friday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the UAPA Bill is aimed at fighting terror and has no other purpose. Shah also justified the amendment seeking to declare individuals as terrorists, saying that they (individuals) create new organisations once banned. He added that there will be a four-stage scrutiny and that human rights wouldn't be violated.
Explained | What are the amendments to UAPA Act?
On Thursday, the much-debated National Medical Commission Bill was passed in Rajya Sabha amid uproar from Opposition benches, while the Lok Sabha saw the passage of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and POCSO (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
Also read | Rajya Sabha nod to Motor Vehicles amendment Bill
The NMC Bill seeks to replace the Medical Council of India with a 25-member commission headed by the Cabinet Secretary. It also provides for a common medical entrance test across the country, single exit exam (the final MBBS exam, which will work as a licentiate examination), a screening test for foreign medical graduates, and an entrance test for admission in postgraduate programmes.
Calling the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill as one of the biggest reforms under the Modi government, Health Minister Dr Harshavardhan said it would go down in the history as the Bill that transformed medical education in India.
Lok Sabha adjourned till 11 am on Monday.
Congress members walked out of Lok Sabha on Friday, saying they were not allowed to raise the issue of a CAG report that criticised the Central government on the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax.
"The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has pointed out lacuna in the Goods and Services Tax regime. …(Interruptions). The CAG is saying that even after two years of rollout of GST, system validated Input Tax Credit through invoice matching is not in place and non-intrusive e-tax system still remains elusive. (PTI)
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Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tables Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2019, in Lok Sabha. Discussions underway.
The Lok Sabha passes the Dam Safety Bill. The bill aims to institute uniform safety procedures for dams in India. The Bill applies to over 5,000 dams across the country, many of which are currently in poor conditions. If the bill is made into a law, then dam owners will have to provide a dam safety unit in each dam. The dam safety unit will be required to inspect the dam before and after the monsoon session, and also during and after natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods.
Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu accepted the resignation of Samajwadi Party MP Surendra Nagar from Rajya Sabha.
Lok Sabha passed the Wages Code Bill seeking to pave the way for the introduction of minimum wage for workers besides addressing issues like delay in payments.
As per the Bill, minimum wages will be linked only to factors such as skills and geographical regions. Before passing of the bill, minimum wages were fixed on the basis of categories such as skilled, unskilled, semi-skilled, high skilled, geographical regions, and nature of work such as mining and were applicable for 45 scheduled employments in the central sphere and 1709 scheduled employments in states.
Acrimonious scenes were witnessed in Lok Sabha on Friday during the debate on a bill which seeks to remove the Congress president as a permanent member of a trust that runs the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial. Seeking the passage of the bill, Culture Minister Prahlad Patel said the government wants to end politics involved with regard to the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Trust.
"It is our belief and principle that politics should be removed from the national memorial hence the amendments were brought to the 1951 Act," he said. (PTI)
The Unlawful Activities Prevention Amendment (UAPA) Bill is an anti-terror legislation that seeks to designate an individual as a “terrorist”. On July 24, Lok Sabha cleared the changes to the existing law, but Opposition parties and civil liberties lawyers have criticised the Bill, arguing it could be used to target dissent against the government, and infringe on citizens’ civil rights. READ MORE HERE
The House has been adjourned till 2:45 pm.
The Rajya Sabha Friday passed the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill 2019 Bill with 147 votes in favour and 42 against it.
Replying to a debate on the amendment, Home Minister Amit Shah said a four-level scrutiny has been provided in the amendment and no human rights will be violated. He also said declaring individuals as terrorists is require as they float different organisations once an institution is banned.
Rajya Sabha rejects opposition-sponsored motion to send amendment to terror law to select committee with 104 votes against it as compared to 85 in favour.
Voting begins in Rajya Sabha on Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act(UAPA) Amendments. Voting to happen through slips.
"When we were in opposition, we supported previous UAPA amendments, be it in 2004,'08 or '13 as we believe all should support tough measures against terror. We also believe that terror has no religion, it is against humanity, not against a particular Govt or individual," Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in the Rajya Sabha.
"Digvijaya Singh seems angry, it is natural, he just lost elections...he said 'in 3 cases of NIA no one was punished.' I will tell you why, because earlier in these cases political vendetta was done&attempt was made to link a particular religion to terror," the Union Home Minister said.
"What happened during emergency? All media was banned, all opposition leaders were jailed. There was no democracy for 19 months, and you are accusing us of misusing laws? Kindly look at your past," Amit Shah said.
Home Minister Amit Shah in Rajya Sabha: P. Chidambaram asked why to name an individual as a terrorist when the organization they are affiliated to is already banned. It is because we ban one org, another one comes up by same individuals. Till when will we keep banning organisations?
Addressing the Rajya Sabha, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the act (UAPA Bill) is to fight terror and has no other purpose.
"Out of 278 terror cases registered by NIA, charge sheet filed in 204 cases; conviction in 48 out of 54 cases so far," Shah told the Upper House.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah is currently addressing the Rajya Sabha on the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019.
Supporting the UAPA Bill, MP Ramdas Athawale, in his known-style said that there is a need to teach a lesson to people who shout 'Pakistan zindabad' in Kashmir.
Digvijaya Singh in Rajya Sabha on the UAPA Bill: We doubt their(BJP) intent. Congress never compromised on terrorism that is why we had brought this law. It is you who compromised on terror, once during release of Rubaiya Saeed and second by letting off Masood Azhar.
P Chidambaram in Rajya Sabha: In 2008 when I took over as Home Minister, I said anti-terrorism will stand on three legs- one is NIA, one is NATGRID and one is NCTC. We have only one leg today, what have you done about NATGRID and NCTC? Why are they in limbo?
Digvijaya Singh in Rajya Sabha: "Support the suggestion to send the UAPA Bill to a select committee. Congress party never compromised with the security of the country".
"If you see reasons for amendment, it says 'to empower NIA'.In passing you say 'empowers Centre to add or remove an individual's name as a terrorist', this mischief is why we are opposing this amendment, we are not opposing Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act," Congress leader P Chidambaram said in Rajya Sabha.
"No one can point at the Congress party and say that you were soft on terrorism. We bought the laws to fight terrorism," Congress leader P. Chidambaram said while addressing the Rajya Sabha.
"We are not opposing your (BJP) fight against terror, We are opposing the mischevious amendments to the Bill," the Congress leader added.
Extending his support to the UAPA Bill, YSRCP's Vijaysai Reddy in Rajya Sabha said that he supports the vision of the Home Minister to make the country free of terror.
KTS Tulsi in RS: "For several reason, I totally oppose this Bill. It runs a serious risk of being declared unconstitutional".
People Democratic Party MP Mir Mohammad Fayaz says that misuse of such bills (UAPA) affects the Kashmiri people the most. He also demands the UAPA Bill be sent to a select committee.
BJP MPs from West Bengal held a protest in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Parliament over law & order situation in the state.
MPs of Left parties protest in Parliament against amendments in labour laws and against 'corporate appeasement'.
The Unlawful Activities Prevention Amendment (UAPA) Bill is an anti-terror legislation that seeks to designate an individual as a “terrorist”. On July 24, Lok Sabha cleared the changes to the existing law, but Opposition parties and civil liberties lawyers have criticised the Bill, arguing it could be used to target dissent against the government, and infringe on citizens’ civil rights. Read more here
"I have risen to express some of my serious reservations with this proposed amendment in UAPA Bill," Manoj Kumar Jha, RJD said.
Bills for consideration and passing in Lok Sabha
-The Dam Safety Bill, 2019
-The Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial (Amendment) Bill, 2019
-The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2019
Bills for consideration and passing in Rajya Sabha
-The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019.
-The Repealing and Amending Bill, 2019.
-The Code on Wages, 2019.