Deadlock in Parliament ends, bills passed by govt-August 11, 2011

Deadlock in Parliament ends, bills passed by govt

HT Correspondents, Hindustan Times

New Delhi, August 11, 2011


As the BJP ended the disruption of the two Houses, Parliament resumed work on Thursday, approving among other things, an additional expenditure of Rs 34,724.50 crore for the current fiscal, involving net extra outgo of Rs 9,016 crore. The Rajya Sabha returned the first batch of
supplementary demand for grants for this purpose.

Parliament also permitted the government to mint coins of Rs 1,000 denomination even as nostalgia over withdrawal of 25 paise coins (chawani) was witnessed among Upper House members.

The coinage bill, 2009 passed by the Upper House, limits payment by an individual through coins up to Rs 1,000, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said.

In the Lok Sabha, a bill to tighten the law to check illegal human organ transplantation by providing for a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine of up to Rs 1 crore for those indulging in such malpractices was moved. The transplantation of human organs (amendment) bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2009, was moved by health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

The Lok Sabha approved a bill that will empower the Central government to deal with the issues concerning subsidiary banks of the State Bank of India.

It passed the State Bank of India (subsidiary banks) amendment bill with a voice vote after minister of state for finance Namo Narain Meena assured the MPs that the government does not intend to privatise the state-owned banks.

The Left, however, staged a walk out as the minister moved the bill for passage. Earlier, the opposition caught the government on the wrong foot when its members pointed out that no cabinet minister was present in the House during a debate on the bill.

STICK TO YOUR WORD, INDIA TELLS NSG

Asserting that it will neither accept any preconditions nor sign the nuclear proliferation treaty (NPT), external affairs minister SM Krishna told Parliament that India expected the nuclear suppliers group (NSG) countries to stand by their commitment to transfer sensitive technologies to India in consistence with their national laws.

He highlighted the supremacy of “clean waiver’ India had obtained from in 2008. “We are absolutely clear that as far as India is concerned, the basis of our international civil nuclear cooperation remains as contained in the special exemption from the NSG guidelines given to India on September 6, 2008.”