Winter Session begins today: From CBI, ED to EC to Ladakh, Oppn lines up issues to corner govt; Centre eyes 16 new Bills

The Winter Session of the Parliament begins today with the central government eyeing to bring as many as 16 new Bills. The session will have 17 sittings over 23 days before it concludes on December 29. The Session a day ahead of the much-awaited results of the Assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. 

The opposition will seek to corner the government over a host of issues including the alleged border “intrusion” by China, the misuse of the central agencies such the CBI and Enforcement Directorate, price rise and unemployment.  

Rahul Gandhi and several senior Congress leaders who are undertaking the Bharat Jodo Yatra are unlikely to attend the session.

On the legislative agenda of the government would be 25 Bills – 16 of them new, seven pending ones and two finance Bills. 

Some of the bills slated for introduction in the Winter Session of Parliament are the Trade Marks (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and The Repealing and Amending Bill, 2022. 

The Trade Marks (Amendment) Bill seeks to incorporate certain aspects of the Madrid Registration System. The Madrid system of International Registration for Marks provides a one-stop solution to enterprises for registering their trade-marks and protecting their brands in multiple countries. 

The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) (Amendment) Bill, 2022, seeks to amend the parent Act to make some of the procedures simplified in order to be more accessible to maximum stakeholders. 

The North East Water Management Authority Bill, 2022, will seek creation of a new entity North East Water Management Authority (NEWMA) by winding up the existing Statutory Body, namely, the Brahmaputra Board, which was created under the provisions contained in the Brahmaputra Board Act, 1980, eventually repealing aforesaid Act of 1980. 

The Repealing and Amending Bill, 2022 will seek to repeal redundant and obsolete laws. Some of the other bills include the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and the National Dental Commission Bill, 2022.

The government's agenda also includes Anti-Maritime Piracy Bill, 2019, which was introduced in Lok Sabha on December 9, 2019, and was referred to the Standing Committee on External Affairs. The report was presented on February 11 this year. 

The Anti-Maritime Piracy Bill seeks to enact domestic anti-maritime piracy legislation in line with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to provide the necessary legal framework within the country for the prosecution of persons for piracy-related crimes committed on high seas beyond the territorial jurisdiction of India.

Senior ministers led by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met floor leaders of various political parties Tuesday and sought their cooperation for smooth functioning of the House. Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not attend the all-party meeting.

During the meeting, the Congress and the Trinamool Congress raised the issue of alleged misuse of investigating agencies, which was backed by the Aam Aadmi Party, Nationalist Congress Party and several other parties.

"There are so many issues before the country such as unemployment and price rise, and the government owes an answer to people," Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury told reporters after the meeting.

He alleged the government did not "properly" inform the opposition about the stand-off at the Sino-India border. "In the House, we will demand a discussion on it and also on the killings of Kashmiri Pandits," he added.

Congress leader Naseer Hussain, who attended the meeting in the absence of chief whip of the party in Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh, demanded discussions on the appointment of Election Commissioner in just one day and also on the quota for the economically weaker section (EWS).

TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay said he and his party colleague and Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien sought discussions on price rise, unemployment, alleged misuse of agencies and alleged economic blockade of states.

While the BJD demanded passage of the women's reservation bill, the Shiv Sena's Shinde faction sought a population control bill.

BJD leader Sasmit Patra raised the demand in the all-party meeting chaired by Rajnath Singh. Several other political parties, including the TMC, Congress, NCP and the TRS, supported the demand.

The demand for building a consensus on the women's reservation bill was also raised by JDU, DMK, SAD during the business advisory committee meeting of Lok Sabha. They demanded that an all-party meeting be convened for the purpose.

The demand was also raised in the BAC meeting by TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

Speaker Om Birla chaired the BAC for Lok Sabha while Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar chaired the BAC for the upper house which was attended by floor leaders.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh demanded a discussion on the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) and a law ensuring the Minimum Support Price (MSP) on farm produce.
The session will have 17 sittings over 23 days before it concludes on December 29.

In total, members of opposition parties have detailed around 16 issues for raising during the session.

These include national security and China border "incursions", recent cyber attack on AIIMS, "uncontrolled" inflation and price rise of essential commodities, persisting high level of unemployment, failure to provide legal sanctity to minimum support price (MSP), and a rethink on the EWS reservation after the Supreme Court verdict.

The recent conflict between the judiciary and the government, the falling rupee and declining GDP growth, alleged voter "theft" in Karnataka, continuing attacks on Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu and Kashmir are also likely to be sticking points between the opposition and the government.