Winter Session Of Parliament Begins: Citizenship Bill, Economic Slowdown On Legislative Agenda; 10 Points

Besides the issues including the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, economic slowdown, unemployment which are likely to emerge as flashpoints between the opposition and treasury benches, many key bills like the Citizenship Bill, are scheduled to be tabled in the session which has begun from today.

Winter Session of the Parliament will begin from today.

New Delhi: Winter Session of the Parliament has started from today. Besides the issues, including the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, economic slowdown, unemployment which are likely to emerge as flashpoints between the opposition and treasury benches, many key bills like the Citizenship Bill, will be tabled in the session which has begun from today. The Winter session will conclude on December 13. The previous session of Parliament had created the record for maximum Bills passed in the last 67 years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his customary remarks at an all-party meeting held on Sunday, asserted that the government is ready to discuss every issue. Here are 10-point on this big story: 1) In the session, the government is set to push for the passage of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, a key BJP plank that is aimed at granting nationality to non-Muslim immigrants from neighbouring countries. 2) The government has listed the bill in its items of business for the session, official sources said. 3) Other key bills that are likely to be taken up during the course of the Houses include the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, Anti Maritime Piracy Bill 2019 and Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019 among the 47 items. 4) The winter session of Parliament will also see government replacing two ordinances -- one on taxation and another on the prohibition of e-cigarettes. Also Watch | Know about bills which would be presented during Winter Session 5) The Winter Session is scheduled to go on for an over a period of 26 days, i.e., till December 13 and will provide a total of 20 sittings. These 26 days will include four Private Members' days as well. 6) During the session, a special joint sitting of both the Houses has been planned to mark Constitution Day on November 26. 7) This is the second Parliament session of the BJP-led NDA government which returned to power with a greater mandate in the Lok Sabha elections. The first session of the government was very productive which saw both houses passing key legislations such as the one to penalise the practice of instant triple talaq and the other giving more powers to the National Investigation Agency. 8) The two Houses also passed a resolution scrapping special status accorded to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcating the state into two union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. 9) Meanwhile, the Opposition has increased its strength in Parliament as the 17th Lok Sabha readies to convene for the winter session, with the Shiv Sena walking out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Also Watch | Shiv Sena to attend the Parliament session as Opposition party 10) Finance Minister Sitharaman will have to face some tough times in the House from the opposition on the continuing slowdown in the economy. Earlier on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended an all-party leaders meeting, where he said that the government will seek to work together will all parties in a constructive manner to take up all pending legislative work. Union Ministers Amit Shah, Thawarchand Gehlot, V Muraleedharan and Arjun Ram Meghwal attended the meeting, convened by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi for the leaders of all parties in the House. Opposition leaders such as TDP's Jaydev Galla, Congress' Ghulam Nabi Azad, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Satish Mishra of BSP participated in the meeting. TMC lawmakers Derek O'Brien and Sudip Bandyopadhyay, LJP lawmaker Chirag Paswan, RPI leader Ramdas Athawale, AIADMK's Navneet Krishnan and Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal (S) were also present in the meeting. After the all-party leaders meeting, Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu had also met the floor leaders yesterday. This will be the second session of the Parliament since Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned to office with a bigger majority for the second successive term. (with inputs from PTI)