Parliament Annual Round-Up 2021

BUDGET SESSION

The Budget Session for this year was divided into two phases with a recess from February 16, 2021 to March 7, 2021. The Lok Sabha passed 18 bills and the Rajya Sabha passed 19 bills. A total of 13 new bills had been introduced, of which none was referred to a Parliamentary Committee. Some of the important bills passed by both the houses during the Budget Session are:

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2021

The Lok Sabha passed the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill in 2020 and the Rajya Sabha passed it during this year's budget session. The bill sought to enhance the reproductive rights of women and increase the upper gestation limit by permitting abortion in cases exceeding 20 weeks as well. Section 3 of the MTP Act is amended to extend the upper limit of medical termination of pregnancy.

The National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Bill, 2021

This Bill aims at strengthening the research and development standards in medical education, regulate the systematic standard and promote the adoption of technology in the medical sector on a large scale. It was earlier referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee for review, which made certain recommendations. A new bill incorporating the recommendations made by the panel was introduced and passed by the parliament during the Budget Session. The amendment clubs 56 categories of allied healthcare professions such as Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Ophthalmic Sciences, Nutrition Sciences, Trauma, Burn Care Surgical/ Anaesthesia-related Technology, etc., into 10 categories.

The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2021

The Bill was passed during this year's budget session to replace an ordinance issued on November 4, 2020. It aims at providing all stakeholders of an opportunity to seek unconditional stay on enforcement of arbitral awards in cases of the agreement or contract being induced by fraud or corruption. It also seeks to specify by regulations, the qualifications, experience and norms for accreditation of arbitrators.

The Mines and Minerals (Developments and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2021

The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2021 was passed by both houses during the Budget Session. The Amendment focuses on the furtherance of increasing employment and investment opportunities in the mining sector including coal. It would also increase the state revenue and eliminate differential treatment between capital and merchant mines. Removal of restriction on end-use of mineral is permitted by virtue of this amendment, in addition to allowing private companies to enter mining exploration and enabling captive mines to sell up to 50% of their annual mineral production in open markets.

The Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2021

The Bill seeks to increase the cap for foreign direct investment in the insurance sector from 49% to 74%. It was also pointed out that the earlier increase from 26% to 49% saw inflows of more than ₹26,000 crore in this sector as close to 28 insurance companies could access foreign investment with this increase.

The National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development Bill, 2021

The National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development Bill, 2021 aims at establishing the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development as the principal development financial institution for infrastructure financing. The opposition expressed the need for sending it to a select committee as it lacked external surveillance however the finance minister claimed that the bill provides for all the required safeguards and the audited report would be brought before the parliament every year.

The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2021
The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 which seeks to enable the Government to depute IAS, IPS officers, etc. from other Union Territories to the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir was also passed by the Parliament during this year's Budget Session.

MONSOON SESSION

The Monsoon session of the Parliament for this year was scheduled to concluded on August 13, 2021 however it ended two days earlier, on August 11, 2021. Despite productivity being low at 28% for Rajya Sabha and 22% for the Lok Sabha, the Parliament passed the following important bills:

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill, 2021

This bill extends the power of issuing adoption orders to district and additional district magistrates. In addition to these certain undefined crimes which earlier had no minimum sentence have been categorised by redefining "serios offences" under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

The Tribunal Reforms Bill, 2021

This bill sought to dissolve nine existing appellate bodies and transfer their functions to other judicial bodies. The Bill essentially aimed at replacing an Ordinance, which was already struck down by the Supreme Court. On July 14 this year, the Supreme Court struck down the provisions in the Ordinance which had fixed the term of members as 4 years and which had held fixed the minimum age of appointment of members as 50 years. As per the proviso to Section 3 the minimum age requirement of 50 years still finds a place in the Bill. Similarly, the tenure for the Chairperson and the members of the tribunal remains four years.

The General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021

This Bill nationalizes all private companies undertaking general insurance business in India and provides for increased participation from the private sector in the public sector insurance companies by removing the condition that the Central Government should hold 51% shareholding in state-owned general insurance companies. The amendment omits the proviso to Section 10B which entailed this requisite. The opposition argued that the amended bill be referred to a standing committee as the same would be detrimental to larger public interest.

The Factoring Amendment Bill, 2021.

The Factoring Amendment Bill, 2021 was passed by the Parliament with an aim to aid the growth of the MSME Sector by liberalizing the Factoring Regulation Act, 2011. The bill has incorporated certain suggestions from the U.K. Sinha Committee to contemplate long-term measures for economic and financial sustainability of the sector. It was passed with a discussion of 15 minutes in the Rajya Sabha.

The Essential Defence Services Bill, 2021

The Essential Defence Services Bill, 2021 aimed at replacing an ordinance which prohibited employees of units that produce goods and services for the military from going on strike. The bill affects 80,000 workers in 41 Ordnance factories. It was passed during the Monsoon Session this year and faced significant criticism along the lines of denying the right to peaceful protest. In the words of the Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh, 'it does not in any way deny the right to peaceful protest.'

The Inland Vessels Bill, 2021

The Inland Vessels Bill, 2021 aims at providing a uniform regulatory framework for inland vessel navigation throughout the country. It is also different in terms of promoting economical, safe transportation and trade through inland waters and providing prevention of pollution that may be caused by the use or navigation of inland vessels. The amendment repeals the Inland Vessels Act, 1917 and was passed by the Lok Sabha on July 29, 2021 and by the Rajya Sabha on August 2, 2021 with certain members of the opposition protesting against the same.

WINTER SESSION

The Parliament passed certain important bills in this Winter Session which was concluded on December 22, 2021. It had 18 sittings and 12 new bills were introduced. This Winter Session saw the suspension of 13 Rajya Sabha MPs and sine die adjournment a day in advance. Both the Houses passed the following bills in this session:

The Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021.

The Prime Minister had earlier announced that the three farm bills, namely the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 which were passed in September 2020 shall be repealed. It must be noted that the Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021 was taken on priority basis for this session and the same was passed without any debate.

The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2021.

The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill was earlier passed by the Lok Sabha however the Rajya Sabha had referred it to a Select Committee. During this Winter Session, the Rajya Sabha finally gave its nod the surrogacy bill following the Health Minister's statement that most of the recommendations of the Select Committee have been incorporated in it. The amendment seeks to establish a National Surrogacy Board at central level, and surrogacy boards and appropriate authorities in states and Union Territories to regulate surrogacy in India.

The Dam Safety Bill, 2019.

This bill had been passed by the Lok Sabha in August 2019 and the Rajya Sabha passed it on December 2, 2021 after a four-hour discussion. It seeks to prevent dam failure, related disasters and provide for an institutional mechanism to ensure their safe functioning. The Opposition argued that the Bill is unconstitutional as it encroaches upon states' rights. A motion to send the bill to a parliamentary standing committee was however defeated.

The Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2021.

The Bill provides for the establishment of a National Registry of Banks and Clinics in India and states that every ART clinic and bank must be registered under that. It also lays down certain conditions for gamete donation and supply and clarifies that the child so born would be considered to be the biological child of the commissioning couple and the donor shall have no parental rights.

The High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Bill, 2021.

The High Court and Supreme Court Judged (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Bill, 2021 was passed during this Winter Session. It seeks to clarify when the retired Supreme Court and High Court Judges will receive additional pension. Discussion over the Bill saw intense debate in both houses of the Parliament over the problems faced by the judiciary and the Collegium system. 

The Central Vigilance Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2021 & Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Bill, 2021

The Bills provides for the extension of tenure of the Director of Enforcement Directorate and CBI by up to five years. The Central Vigilance Commission Bill, 2021 seeks to amend Section 25 of the Central Vigilance Commission Act which prescribes the term of Enforcement Directorate's Director. The Bill provides that the tenure of the Director of Enforcement can be extended for one year at a time on the recommendation of the Committee subject to a maximum period of 5 years. The DSPE (Amendment) Bill, 2021 seeks to amend Sectio 4B of the DSPE Act to provide that the tenure of the Director of CBI can be extended for a period of one year at a time, subject to a maximum term of 5 years. 

It may be noted that in a recent decision, the Supreme Court dismissed the PIL of Common Cause, and upheld the power of the Central Government to extend the term of ED Director. However, the bench led by Justice L Nageswara Rao made it clear that extension of tenure granted to officers who have attained the age of superannuation should be done only in rare and exceptional cases. Though the Court did not interfere with the extension granted with to Director of Enforcement, it observed that no further extension shall be granted to him. 

The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

The Bill seeks to amend provisions of the Representation of People's Act, 1950 and Representation of People's Act, 1951 to introduce additional qualifying dates for voting, making voting for service voters gender-neutral and linking of Aadhaar with electoral rolls. Despite members voicing their dissent to the proposal to link Aadharr with voter ID, the Bill was introduced and passed in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha under 30 minutes.

Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2021

The Bill sought to correct an inadvertent drafting error that had crept in the Act by way of a 2014 Amendment. In 2014, the Act was amended and the clause number of the definition for such illicit activities was changed. However, the section on penalty for financing these illicit activities was not amended and continued to refer to the earlier clause number of the definition. The Bill amends the section on penalty to change the reference to the new clause number. This amendment will be deemed to have been in effect from May 1, 2014 (i.e., when the 2014 amendments came into effect). The drafting error was highlighted when an accused moved a special court in Tripura contending that he could not be charged for the offence as Section 27 A is referred to a blank list. The Tripura High Court subsequently asked the Centre to amend the law.

The following bills were sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committees:

1. The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill,2021 that seeks to raise the age of marriage for women to 21 years. 
2. The Mediation Bill, 2021.
3. The Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2021.
4. The National Anti-Doping Bill, 2021.
5. The Charted Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

Additionally, the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was sent to the Joint Committee of the Parliament.

The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, which was listed on the agenda for this session but was not introduced. It must be noted that the same happened during the Budget Session of the Parliament as well. In addition to this, many other important bills were not discussed during this Session.

Another key highlight of this year is the Joint Parliamentary Committee report on the Personal Data Protection Bill which was finally tabled at the Parliament during the Winter Session. As per the Amended Bill, the Data Protection Authority must consult with the Central Government before approving cross-border transfers. It provides for independent members like domain experts and Directors from the Indian Institute of Technology and the Indian Institute of Management to the Selection Committee of the Data Protection Authority. The Report has changed the name of the draft law from the 'Personal Data Protection Bill' to the 'Data Protection Bill, 2021' as it includes non-personal data as well. It also recommended that the clause 25(3) of the Bill must include a 72-hour reporting period for data breaches. Many prominent Parliamentarians expressed their dissent to the report.