Parliament Passed 28 Bills This Season, Here Are 8 Major Bills That Grabbed The Headlines

The first session of Parliament after general election witnessed 38 bills introduced in both the houses of Parliament and 28 out of 35 bills have been passed. In Lok Sabha, 35 bills were passed over 37 sittings.

PTI

Whether it¡¯s repealing of Article 370 through the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill and the bill to make law against instant triple talaq by passing the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, the session witnessed passing of some of the key bills in Parliament.

Here is a list of 10 key bills that have been passed in Parliament this session:

1. The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill

This is landmark bill passed by Parliament to repeal the Article 370 which provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir. The Bill does reorganise the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories-the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir with legislature and the Union Territory of Ladakh without a legislature.

AP

The two Union Territories will be administered by the President through the Lieutenant Governor, an administrator appointed by him. The bill was introduced by Home Minister Amit Shah in Rajya Sabha is August 5 and was passed in Rajya Sabha on the same day. In Lok Sabha, the Bill was passed on August 6.

2. The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Second Amendment) Bill

The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Second Amendment) Bill amends the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act 2004. The act provides certain reserved categories reservation in appointment in the state government jobs, admission in professional institutions including government medical colleges, dental colleges and polytechnics.

The Bill was amended to add reservation of upto 10 percent for the economically weaker sections in the appointment in the state government job and admission to professional institutions to the existing reservation.

3. The Motor Vehicle Amendment Bill

The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill sought to amend the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 to increase road safety for the people. The Bill amended several provisions in the previous Bill in order to make roads more secure for people including more compensation for road accident victims, compulsory insurance and more penalties on the road offences such as driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

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The Bill has increases compensation for victims in the hit and run cases. In case of death, the compensation has been increased from 25,000 to Rs 2 lakh and in case of grievous injury, the compensation has been increased by Rs 12,500 to Rs 50,000.

4. The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill

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The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill makes all declaration of talaq including oral, written and electronic form to be void. The Bill makes instant triple talaq a cognizable offence attracting three years of imprisonment and fine.

5. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill was passed by Parliament with an aim to protect children from crime against children such as sexual harassment, sexual assault and pornography.

Several provisions have been amended to protect children from the sexual crimes.

6. The Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Bill

The amendment in the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 allows a Supreme Court judge besides the Chief Justice of India to be appointed as the National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRC) chairperson. The amendment in the bill also increased the number of members from two to three.

7. The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill

The bill defines a transgender person as one whose gender doesn¡¯t match the gender assigned at birth and it includes trans-man and trans-women, gender-queers, and persons with intersex variations. The persons with socio-cultural identities such as hijra and kinner were also included in it.

The bill makes several provisions such as prohibition against discrimination, right of residence, employment, education, healthcare and other including the offences and penalties for those who discriminate against transgender persons.

8. The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill

The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill was passed in the Parliament and the Bill sough amendment in key features of the original Act such as term of Information Commissioners, determination of salary, deductions in salary.

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The Right To Information (RTI) Act was enacted by the Parliament in 2005.

(With inputs from PRS Legislative Research and for details about all Bills passed, refer to prsindia.org)