Here are the bills passed by the Upper House of the parliament before it was adjourned sine die on Wednesday,
The Rajya Sabha was adjourned sine die on Wednesday, leading to the closure of the Monsoon session, which was scheduled to go on till October 1, over COVID-19 pandemic concerns.
Minister of State (MoS) for Parliamentary Affairs, V Muraleedharan read out the recommendation for the adjournment of the house."We are concluding the 252nd session of the Rajya Sabha today, this session has been marked by several novel features induced by the outbreak of coronavirus at the beginning of this year. We have to conclude this session eight sittings ahead, eighteen sittings had been planned we have completed 10," Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said.
"This August House had to function from six different locations, including chambers of both the houses, four galleries of the house, the first of its kind in the history of Rajya Sabha. In another first, we functioned on Saturday and Sunday of the last week, without taking the usual break," he added.
The Chairman said he was grateful that the MPs had adjusted themselves to the unique demands needed owing to the COVID-19 pandemic."In these 10 sittings a total of 25 Bills have been passed and six Bills have been introduced. The productivity of the House during this session has been 104.7 per cent," Naidu said.
Here are the bills that were passed in the upper house of the parliament on Wednesday:
1. Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill, 2020: The Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill 2020 was passed by a voice vote in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. The Bill gives official language status to Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi, English, and Urdu in the Union Territory.
"The Bill fulfills the decades-long wishes of the people of the region. It is a big step which will give official language status to Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi, English, and Urdu," said Minister of State (MoS) Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy said speaking during the discussions."
2. Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2020: The Rajya Sabha passed the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2020 by a voice vote following discussions on Wednesday.The bill was moved for passing by Minister of State (MoS), Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai in the house."The FCRA is a law for national and internal security. Its main motive is to ensure that foreign funds do not dominate the political and social discourse of India," Rai said in the Rajya Sabha during the discussions over the bill.
He further said that it has been proposed to make Aadhar card for Indian, and passports or OCI paper for international citizens, to be made mandatory to verify their identity. He further said that the Ministry had consulted UIDAI and MEITY before proposing this move.
"Experience says that many organisations attempted to hide their identity and were successful in doing that. The reason behind this is that they had no fear because their identity was not established completely. So Aadhaar card has been brought in to establish their identity," he added.The Lok Sabha had earlier passed the bill on September 21.
3. Bilateral Netting of Qualified Financial Contracts Bill, 2020: The Rajya Sabha passed the Bilateral Netting of Qualified Financial Contracts Bill, 2020 by a voice vote following discussions on Wednesday.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman moved the motion for the consideration of the Bill in the House. In her introduction, she said the Bill has been brought in to ensure financial stability and promote competitiveness in Indian financial markets by providing enforceability of bilateral netting of qualified financial contracts and for matters connected therewith.
"This Bill, if passed, will have a very big bearing on the financial stability of India.... Businesses will have greater affordable resources and, therefore, I would strongly recommend that the House consider passing this bill," Sitharaman said during discussions on the bill in the Rajya Sabha.
"This is absolutely critical for financial stability in the country. This Bill brings in a firm legal basis for bilateral netting between two counter parties. Only bilateral nettings are covered under it as multilateral netting is already taken care of. There is the Clearing Corporation of India Limited (CCIL), which acts a mediator and therefore a regular," she had earlier said.
(With ANI inputs)
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