Monsoon session of Parliament will be uproar

The monsoon session of Parliament will begin on July 20. There is every possibility that this session of Parliament will be stormy. In fact, the opposition has many issues to corner the government. On which there is bound to be an uproar. This session of Parliament will continue till 11th. Issues including Uniform Civil Code, Manipur violence, Adani’s JPC probe, inflation, unemployment will be raised in the opposition parliament, on which there is sure to be an uproar. The biggest uproar will be on the Uniform Civil Code. The last session of Parliament was also full of ruckus. Then the opposition stalled the work on the Adani issue. Overall, the proceedings of the Parliament could go on for only a few hours. Now since the new Parliament House has been completed. In such a situation, the important question is whether the same mentality will remain in the new Parliament House that the opposition will make noise on the issues, raise slogans and the ruling party will want to run the proceedings of the House in its own way. The government’s thinking may differ on some issues, so adjournment of proceedings may happen again and again.
Uniform Civil Code is being discussed all over the country. Although there is no official confirmation, but it is believed that the Uniform Civil Code bill can be introduced in the Parliament in the monsoon session itself. Before that, the Law Commission has sought the opinion of the people of the country and religious-social organizations till July 13. The most controversial and sensational aspect would be that the Muslim Personal Law Board has also decided to present its draft before the Law Commission. Before handing over the compiled report of the Law Commission to the Central Government, there is also a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee, which will be chaired by BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi. The opposition seems to be divided on the Uniform Civil Code, but there will not be deep cracks in it, nor are there any chances of a split. While opposition parties like Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Shiv Sena (Uddhav faction), Janata Dal-U and JD-S are in principle in favor of Uniform Civil Code, some parties are currently considering it.
JD-S is not yet under the umbrella of opposition unity and AAP’s mind is wavering. Sharad Pawar’s NCP’s stand is still half-hearted. However, the next meeting of the opposition unity will be held in Bengaluru. The BJP is trying to expand the alliance by bringing together the old constituents of the NDA. Telugu Desam Party President Chandrababu Naidu has met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP President JP Nadda. In UP, Omprakash Rajbhar has met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Talks are also going on with the leaders of the Akali Dal in Punjab, but the Akalis are currently against the Uniform Civil Code. However, after the public address of Prime Minister Modi on this issue, the movements have increased. Right now the entire winter session of the Parliament is left for the ruling party.
If they want, this bill can be passed in the Parliament. Then making a law is just a formality, but to pass this bill in the parliament, more or less two-thirds majority will be required. According to him, the government needs the support of 362 MPs in the Lok Sabha. BJP-NDA only has around 335-340 MPs. The government has been getting the support of YSR Congress and BJD. The BJP-NDA has 110 MPs in the Rajya Sabha. The support of 57 more MPs is needed to pass the Uniform Civil Code bill.
The government is confident that the way the bill related to Article 370 and triple talaq was passed in the Rajya Sabha, similarly the Uniform Civil Code will also be passed. However, some such controversial changes are expected to be made in this context, on which Muslims may be upset. For example, polygamy will be banned. That means Muslims will not be legally allowed to do four marriages. The age of marriage will be made 21 years, which will be applicable to all communities. A woman will also have the right to adopt a child. Especially a Muslim woman will also be able to divorce her husband. The daughter will also get an equal share in the inheritance. Halala and Iddat will be banned. It will be mandatory to inform the parents about the live-in relationship and it will also have to be registered. All cases will be settled in constitutional courts, not on the basis of Sharia. The same law will apply to the basic and official matters of life, just as the law of crime applies. At present no draft is in front. The debate is going on only on the basis of concept. But the big question is whether the monsoon session will be like the budget session, that is, there will be only noise instead of work. Last year, in the monsoon session, the Rajya Sabha was supposed to function for about 53 hours, but could function only for 11 hours. Last year, about 90 hours were wasted due to the uproar by the opposition parties. Be it the monsoon session or the winter session, due to the ruckus of the opposition, the general public has suffered a lot. In the last monsoon session, there was a loss of more than 133 crores.
According to Sansad TV, during the budget session this year, less work has been done in the Rajya Sabha than in the Lok Sabha. If we talk about the figures, the least work has been done in this session in the second term of the Modi government. Lok Sabha worked for 45.55 hours and Rajya Sabha for about 31 hours. Both the Houses were for about 25 days, according to this, if the day is seen, then the work of the Parliament could be done properly only for 4 days. Lok Sabha lost 96.13 hours and Rajya Sabha 103.30 hours in the budget session due to uproar. Earlier, the monsoon session of 2021 was the worst when 77.48 hours were lost in Lok Sabha and 76.25 hours in Rajya Sabha due to uproar. Talking about the bills, the government had to pass about 35 bills in this session, but only 6 bills could be passed. A bill has been referred to the committee. Around 2099 papers were tabled in the Lok Sabha. After the commencement of the session, the proceedings of the Parliament usually go on for 5 days in a week. It is a general practice for the proceedings of the Parliament to run for 7 hours each day.
In India, in 2018, a report was issued by the government regarding the expenditure of the proceedings of the Parliament. However, now it has been 5 years since this report and compared to 2018, inflation has also increased. According to reports, the cost of one hour in Parliament is Rs 1.5 crore. If added on a day-by-day basis, this expenditure increases to more than Rs 10 crore.
The cost of one minute of proceedings in Parliament is Rs 2.5 lakh. These include salaries of MPs, facilities and allowances provided to MPs during the session, salaries of secretariat staff and expenses incurred on the Parliament Secretariat. Due to the uproar, the proceedings of the Parliament did not last for 21 days. In such a situation, if it is seen from the point of view of mathematics, then there has been a loss of about 210 crore rupees. Discuss to strengthen the century democracy. Fix the accountability of the government in the Question Hour. The ruckus of the members is not appropriate as a public representative. There is not much time left for the Lok Sabha elections, in such a situation the opposition will not leave any chance to attack the government. Overall, there is bound to be an uproar in the Parliament. And the issue of Uniform Civil Code will echo loudly.
-The author is a freelance journalist

Rohit Maheshwari