The government had released an ambitious agenda at the beginning of the Parliamentary Session that concluded on Friday. It planned to introduce 29 bills and pass 13 bills (other than those related to the budget), but managed to introduce only 12 bills and pass three.
Some important bills that were listed for passing but were not taken up include the Women?s Reservation Bill, the Drugs and Cosmetics Amendment Bill and the Seeds Bill. Consensus eludes the Women?s Reservation Bill. The amendment to the Drugs Act seeks to regulate clinical trials of drugs on humans, and to set up a central regulator for manufacture and sale of drugs. The Seeds Bill regulates manufacture and sale of seeds, and has been opposed by farmer groups as it requires intra-farmer sale of seeds to adhere to certain quality norms.
The President?s Address indicated the resolve to reintroduce and pass the Land Acquisition Amendment and the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill during this session?neither was introduced. This was the Mamata Banerjee factor. The amendment to the Forward Contracts Act was also not reintroduced. This bill seeks to make the commodities market regulator (Forward Market Commission) an independent entity similar to Sebi, and permits derivatives in commodities.
The Pension Regulator Bill was not even listed on the agenda. This bill, introduced in 2005, lapsed with the dissolution of the last Lok Sabha. However, the pension sector has been permitted and a regulator PFRDA is functioning without any statutory powers. The absence of a powerful regulator in the financial sector could result in significant systemic risk, and one hopes the government soon rectifies this situation.
Tomorrow?How Parliament spends its time
