Parliament Monsoon Session: All-Party Meeting Called By Centre Concludes, PM Modi Skips Meet

This year's Monsoon Session is particularly important as polls for electing the new President and Vice-President are slated to take place in this session.

The meeting in Parliament Annexe building was chaired by union defence minister Rajnath Singh, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, and Union minister Piyush Goyal.

Source : ANI

New Delhi: The Union government on Sunday held an all-party meeting ahead of the Monsoon session of the Parliament to formulate a strategy to maximise the productivity of the House along with addressing the concerns of the Opposition during the course of the session.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi called the meeting to discuss the issues that the Opposition would like to have for discussion during the Monsoon session set to commence tomorrow.

The meeting in Parliament Annexe building was chaired by Union defence minister Rajnath Singh, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, and Union minister Piyush Goyal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also expected to be in attendance, but he was not present. 

Delhi | All-party meeting called by the government ahead of the Monsoon session of Parliament, begins in Parliament Annexe building pic.twitter.com/alZr7VaFRv

— ANI (@ANI) July 17, 2022

This year's Monsoon Session is particularly important as polls for electing the new President and Vice-President are slated to take place in this session.

The Presidential polls will be held on July 18 while the Vice Presidential polls will take place on August 6.

President Ram Nath Kovind's term is coming to an end on July 24 while the term of Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu is ending on August 10.

The prominent leaders who attended the all-party meeting include Congress MPs Mallikarjun Kharge and Jairam Ramesh, Rashtriya Lok Dal MP Jayant Chaudhary, DMK MP Tiruchi Siva, AIADMK MP Dr M Thambi Durai, YSRCP MP Vijayasai Reddy, TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Apna Dal MP Anupriya Patel.

Opposition Meet To Decide Vice-Presidential Candidate

The Opposition is also slated to hold its meeting later in the day to decide on the candidate for the Vice-Presidential elections.

The BJP on Saturday declared West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar as NDA's vice presidential candidate.

During the Monsoon Session, the Opposition is expected to raise issues regarding the new Agnipath recruitment scheme for the armed forces, unemployment, and inflation among others while the Union government will seek to push several legislations.

Legislation On Agenda

As per news agency ANI, some of the bills that are on the pending list include The Indian Antarctica Bill, 2022. The bill is pending in the Lok Sabha.

• The Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2019, passed by Lok Sabha is likely to be taken up in the Rajya Sabha in the upcoming session.
• The Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill, 2022 passed by Lok Sabha is yet to be passed by Rajya Sabha.
• The Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2021 is pending in Lok Sabha.
• The Anti-Maritime Piracy Bill, 2019, and The National Anti-Doping Bill, 2021 are also pending in Lok Sabha.
• The Constitution (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Orders (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022 (Regarding State of UP - amendment regarding change of district name to be approved by Cabinet) was introduced in Lok Sabha in March 2022.

The new bills to be newly introduced in the Parliament during the Monsoon session include:

• The Central Universities Amendment Bill, 2022
• The Family Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2022 - It sent for printing on Thursday.
• Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2019, (in respect of State of Assam),

The Mediation Bill, 2021 (with Standing Committee chaired by Shri Sushil Kumar Modi), the Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (report of Standing Committee under examination) and the Registration of Marriage of Non-Resident Indian Bill, 2019 (report of Standing Committee under examination) are some of the other pending important bills, ANI reported.

(With Agency Inputs)