From Finance Bill to Termination of Pregnancy, Bills passed by Parliament

Parliament passed 12 bills during the curtailed budget session with Lok Sabha passing 15 bills and Rajya Sabha 13. During the session, 19 bills were introduced in the two Houses (18 in Lok Sabha and 1 in Rajya Sabha).
The two Houses were adjourned sine die on Monday after completion of the budgetary process including passage of the Finance Bill. The second part of the session was curtailed in view of the threat of the spread of coronavirus.
The budget session began on January 31 and the first part of the session ended on February 11 while the second part of the session commenced on March 2. The recess was used by department-related standing committees to examine the demands for grants.
Here are the details of the Bills passed by either Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha or both.
The Appropriation (No.2) Bill, 2020: Initiated by the finance ministry to authorise payment and appropriation of certain sums from and out of the Consolidated Fund of India for the services of the financial year 2019-20. Details here
The Jammu and Kashmir Appropriation (No.2) Bill: Initiated by the finance ministry to Issue of Rs 55317,81,00,000 from and out of the Consolidated Fund of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir for financial year 2019-20. Details here
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The Jammu and Kashmir Appropriation (No.4) Bill: Initiated by the finance ministry to Issue of Rs. 123127,98,40,000 from and out of the Consolidated Fund of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir for financial year 2020-21. Details here
The Jammu and Kashmir Appropriation (No.3) Bill, 2020: Initiated by the finance ministry to Issue of Rs. 208,70,40,000 from and out of the Consolidated Fund of State of Jammu and Kashmir for financial year 2019-20. Details here
The Appropriation Bill, 2020: To authorise the government to draw funds from the Consolidated Fund of India for its working.
Indian Institutes of Information Technology Laws (Amendment) Bill: Initiated by Human Resource and Development Ministry to declare five IIITs as institutes of national importance. Details here
The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020: The amended bill has provision to increase the upper limit of legal abortions to 24 weeks for special categories of women. Details here
The Minerals Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020: This bill will enable the companies to participate in the coal auction even if they don't have prior experience in the field.

The Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda Bill, 2020: To provide for the establishment of an Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda and to declare it as an Institution of national importance for the promotion of quality and excellence in education, research and training in Ayurveda. Details here

Collapse us if you can, British government dares Brexit opponents

Current Affairs

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government on Thursday challenged opponents of Brexit to collapse the government or change the law if they wanted to thwart Britain's exit from the European Union.
More than three years since the Brexit referendum, the UK is heading towards its gravest constitutional crisis and a showdown with the EU over Brexit due in just 63 days.
In his boldest step since becoming PM, Johnson enraged opponents of a no-deal Brexit by ordering the suspension of Parliament for almost a month.
The speaker of the lower house of Parliament, John Bercow, said that was a constitutional outrage as it limited the time the 800-year-old heart of English democracy has to debate and shape the course of British history.
But Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Brexit supporter in charge of managing government business in Parliament, dared opponents to do their worst. “All these people who are wailing and gnashing of teeth know that there are two ways of doing what they want to do,” he said.
“One, is to change the government and the other is to change the law. If they do either of those that will then have an effect. If they don't have either the courage or the gumption to do either of those, then we will leave on October 31 in accordance with the referendum result.”
Johnson’s move to suspend Parliament for longer than usual was cheered by US President Donald Trump but provoked criticism from some lawmakers and media. “Boris is obviously preparing for an election,” said Conservative lawmaker Ken Clarke.
Ruth Davidson quit as leader of the Conservative Party in Scotland on Thursday, saying she could no longer juggle the demands of being a mother with the balancing act of Brexit...Read More

Parliament passes bill to increase number of SC judges from 30 to 33

International News

Parliament on Wednesday passed a Bill which seeks to increase the number of Supreme Court judges from the present 30 to 33 with a view to reducing pendency of cases.
Moving "The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2019" for consideration and return, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "I would urge the House to consider the Bill"
Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "We have no objection to it...but members of Parliament want to discuss it as we normally do not discuss judiciary...We get chance once in a decade or six months...We would also want to know about the judiciary."
Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said it is a Money Bill, to which the Law Minister said that he was willing to have a discussion on the judiciary in November.
Satish Chandra of the BSP urged the government to ensure representation of Schedule Castes in the Supreme Court.
Leader of the House Thaawarchand Gehlot urged the House to pass both the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2019 and The Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial (Amendment) Bill, 2019.

 However, the Chair took up the Supreme Court Bill alone, which was passed without discussion...Read More

BUDGET SESSION 2019 LIVE: PREZ KOVIND LISTS OUT ACHIEVEMENTS OF NDA GOVT

Interim Budget 2019:

The Budget session of Parliament has begun, a day before the Interim Budget 2019 will be presented by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal.
With the Lok Sabha elections around the corner, this year's Budget session is expected to be a stormy one. While the Opposition will seek to corner the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on a range of issues, including Rafale, the problem of farmers and unemployment, the government is expected to push its legislative agenda that includes the Triple Talaq Bill and the citizenship (amendment) Bill.
The session will begin with President Ram Nath Kovind's address to the joint sitting of the two Houses. Apart from a vote of thanks to the President's address, the government's legislative agenda for the day includes replacing three ordinances with Bills. These include the triple talaq Bill, companies (Amendment) Bill and Medical Council (Amendment) Bill.

 Ahead of the Budget session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged all the political parties to ensure Parliament runs smoothly.