17 Dec'08: Within a month of #Mumbai Terror Attacks, then UPA govt amended #UAPA. We went through records of debate in #LokSabha in detail & found:

- Kapil Sibal, now representing #UmarKhalid, defended stringent provisions being added to #UAPA, including related to #bail, on grounds that (ahead of 2009 Lok Sabha elections) they didn't want to give BJP a chance to tell people that UPA Govt is soft on terror! (and he believed a fair balance with human rights was being maintained)

- LK Advani, as Leader of Opposition, asked for Bills to be referred to Standing Committee🤯 [but because he believed it wasn't draconian enough!]

- Several MPs, including from BJP, cautioned against its misuse and asked for safeguards

- Many MPs said that 'communalism' is equally dangerous for country & some even demanded ban on RSS, Bajrang Dal, VHP etc.

- Only @asadowaisi had the remarkable foresight to predict how intellectuals will be branded as terrorists using vague terms in the definition of 'terrorist act' [exactly how SC interpreted it while denying bail to #UmarKhalid]

A #Thread on what went down in #LokSabha that day & how it is directly linked to misuse of #UAPA today! P. Chidambaram, as the Home Minister presented two Bills - NIA + #UAPA amendment. Speaking on #UAPA he said that even his own party was divided on how stringent the law can be.

Whether - jail is rule, bail is exception OR bail is rule, jail is exception - is a dilemma. He argued that the Bill he presented achieved a balance between prosecuting terror offences & basic human rights.

Then he speaks at length on period of remand while investigation is ongoing and says that if investigation is not completed within 90 days, another 90 days may be given, but 'automatic bail will arise' after that.

Read highlighted portions in screenshots👇

Parliament doesn't control its own time! Govt does.
Why? Because, #Time is #political and #productivity is manufactured! Here is how.
#Thread 1. Who decides 'whether' a #Parliament session will happen, 'when' it will happen and 'how long' it will be?
- The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, comprising ONLY Ministers.

Does this Cabinet Committee consult opposition parties before deciding? - NO

So, opposition parties can demand that a session be called, like they did in 2020 when #Parliament remained shut for most of the year due to #Covid, even as world over many parliaments convened online, but Indian Government chose not to!

We wrote about this here - epw.in/journal/2020/2…

Contd..

Two important Private Member Bills introduced in #RajyaSabha 2 weeks ago to strengthen the institution of #Parliament, deserve much more attention!

1. Constitution (Amendment) Bill by @derekobrienmp
2. Parliament (Productivity Enhancement) Bill by @manojkjhadu

Short #Thread
In his Bill MP Derek O'Brien seeks to amend Article 85 of #Constitution to provide for:
- Fixed time to call #Parliament sessions
- Min. 100 days of Parliament sittings in a year

As per PRS Legislative Research, Parliament sittings are going down & down
() prsindia.org/files/parliame…

Some opposition parties submit a notice to move a resolution to remove the Vice President & #RajyaSabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar.

We dig through our archives & present his report card. #Thread👇 1. Taking offence at the slightest of criticism & taking up crucial time of the House in unnecessary discussions:

https://x.com/_maadhyam_/status/1821856138599829702

Report card of #OmBirla as #Speaker (2019-24):

1. During his tenure, some people breached #Parliament security & entered #LokSabha raising slogans. When Opposition MPs demanded debate on it, he didn't permit, instead 99 Opposition MPs got suspended for protesting against it! 2. Speaker is Chairman of the Rules Committee of #LokSabha. Between 2019-22, Committee held '0' meetings. Between 2022-24, Committee held '1' meeting.
Why is this important?
Remember when Indian #Parliament remained shut during #Covid even as many #Parliaments world over adapted?

No, this is not a satirical post. This is as real as it can get!

1. The current term of #LokSabha hasn't had a Deputy Speaker yet. This is unprecedented. It violates Article 93 of the #ConstitutionOfIndia & Govt is about to get away with it without any consequences.

2. The current 17th Lok Sabha likely to be the full term LS with least number of #Parliament sittings, only 278 (approx, including the scheduled dates of upcoming last session). This is an average of only 56 days in a year. In 2020, #COVID19 became an excuse to bring down number of Parliament sittings to a historic low of only 33 days in a year. We plan to export #Aadhaar and #UPI to the world, but we couldn't convene virtual Parliament sessions, which many democracies did.

3. With less number of Parliament sittings, Govt relied more on Ordinances - 76 Ordinances between 2014-2021. · The three controversial #farmlaws were first brought as Ordinances as people were busy surviving the first wave of Covid in 2020.

Contd.. in #Thread 4. How do less number of #Parliament sittings helps Govt:
- Govt publishes a long list of Bills to be cleared
- Opposition demands debate on various issues like #Pegasus, #FarmersProtest, #AdaniScam, #ManipurCrisis, #ParliamentSecurityBreach etc.
- Govt says No, debate not needed
- Opposition protests, there are disruptions
- Govt says - many Bills pending, don't care that Opposition is protesting, or suspended or they walk out, Bills will be pushed

Some Examples:

- Winter Session 2023 - after unprecedented suspension of 146 MPs from Opposition, 14 Bills cleared by either or both Houses within just 3 days with minimal to no Opposition participation

- Monsoon Session 2023 - in just one week Lok Sabha passed 7 Bills with an average time of 21 mins each only. The controversial #ForestConservation Amendment Bill passed in LS within 33 mins, only 4 MPs spoke. The Digital Personal #DataProtection Bill debated in LS for only 40 mins, only 8 MPs spoke. In RS the DPDP Bill was debated for only 50 mins, during which no Opposition MP participated.

- Monsoon Session 2021 - Opposition demanding debate on #Pegasus, LS cleared 18 Bills amid protests, spending an average of only 15 mins on each. Some Bills cleared within 5-6 mins.

- Monsoon Session 2020 - Opposition boycotted over Farm Bills fiasco, RS cleared 15 Bills in just 2 days, spending little less than 8 hours in total.

A #thread on Govt denying or ignoring questions on #dataleaks raised in #RajyaSabha today.

1. Q asking if data from UIDAI servers was leaked on dark web recently?

Govt's response - No breach of Aadhaar card holders’ data has occurred from the Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR) maintained by the Unique Identification Authority of India.

Earlier this year, there were reports of #Aadhaar data of 81.5 crore Indians leaking on dark web -

This was Q No. 148 asked today by MP Vivek Tankhalivemint.com/news/india/aad… 2. Another Q asks whether Government is aware of the alleged Aadhaar and other data leaks on the dark web.

Govt ignores this Q. But it lists steps being taken to protect #data including #Aadhaar data of citizens.

This was Q No. 1526 asked today by MP Phulo Devi Netam.

In a rare instance, #LokSabha takes up for discussion a report of the Committee of Ethics on a complaint against MP Mahua Moitra.
As Minister moves the motion for the same, some MPs say that they haven't even a received a copy of the report yet (it was tabled only this morning)! After Speaker speaks for a few minutes on the kind of conduct expected of MPs etc., he says that he will permit 30 minute debate. Some MPs ask for more time.

Adhir ranjan Choudhary argues that MPs being given only 2 hours to go through 604 page report, how humanly possible?

Discussion on #pricerise starts in #LokSabha with Manish Tewari, INC speaking:
- In last 8 yrs, 5 economic values (savings, investment, production, consumption, employment) have degraded
- 23 crore have slid back into poverty
- 77% of country's wealth concentrated in 1% people Tewari on #PriceRise:
- 100-166 billionaires in country, but poor people suffering
- started due to BJP's #demonetization
- then #GST imposition made MSMEs suffer, still not recovered
- 10.6 lakh crore money outstanding in this sector
- 8& #unemployment in 2022
#MonsoonSession

In #LokSabha, the Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2022 is introduced amid protests.

After that House adjourns till 2pm with Presiding Officer announcing that discussion on price rise is decided & listed for today.

#MonsoonSession #Parliament #SansadWatch In #RajyaSabha, Q hour is proceeding amid protests.
Leader of House, Piyush Goyal, speaks to protesting MPs, says that discussion on #pricerise will happen in RS tomorrow.
Also says that law enforcement agencies take their own course, Govt doesn't interfere! #SanjayRaut

This #Thread has generated some interesting responses. Addressing some below:
1. "There may be no Rule, but this is done as a matter of convention." Well, exactly we are also saying that there is no rule, and if this is a convention then it needs to be challenged.
Contd...

https://twitter.com/_maadhyam_/status/1553630931709493248

2. "Asking Q in #Parliament is a privilege & a suspended MP has her privileges withdrawn." Yes, asking a Q is a privilege, but suspension is not of membership of MP from the House but simply of their presence in House. An MP need not be present in House to get their Qs answered.

In the last week, not only 27 Opposition MPs have been suspended (4 in #LokSabha, 23 in #RajyaSabha), but as many as 97 Questions asked by these MPs have been DELETED & Govt has avoided answering these Qs!
There is NO provision in RULES to permit such deletion of Qs!
#Thread This dubious practice, which isn't permitted by Rules & has no logic, was first noticed in #MonsoonSession 2020, repeated in Monsoon Session 2021, Winter Session 2021 and now happening again in current #MonsoonSession2022.
See our earlier #Thread-

https://twitter.com/_maadhyam_/status/1465554162121265152?s=20&t=QNSKkNg-5bi3Rh6y6FClGw

Day 7 of #MonsoonSession
Both Houses begin by paying tribute to soldiers who lost their lives during Kargil war. #KargilVijayDiwas2022
Then Q Hour starts in #LokSabha and Zero Hour in #RajyaSabha

#MonsoonSession
#SansadWatch In #RajyaSabha, after papers, reports were tabled, Chair announced that he has received some 267 notices (to suspend listed business & take up a matter for urgent debate)
Some MPs are heard raising their demands.
Chair swiftly adjourns House till 12pm.
#MonsoonSession

Private Member Bills are listed for introduction & discussion in #RajyaSabha today

A Bill on Uniform Civil Code by Kirodi Lal Meena is listed everytime, but he seems to be always absent & it doesn't get introduced. Same today.

Some other Bills get introduced today: - Waqf Amendment by Dr. Fauzia Khan
- Compulsory Voting by Deepak Prakash
- Bengal freedom fighters memorial by Shanta Chhetri
- Indian national army regiment 2022 by shanta chhetri
- Central Public Sector Enterprises (Protection of
Interests of States) by John Brittas

#LokSabha starts discussion on India Antarctica Bill
Dr. Jitendra Singh, MoS, Earth Sciences speaks on the Bill:
-India runs two centres in #Antarctica - Maitri & Bharti
-India signatory to a Treaty to demilitarise the Antarctica region, regulate activities there
#MonsoonSession MoS continues:
- many other countries which signed treaty brought law to penalise violation of treaty, we also need to do that

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, INC called to speak
He said that Govt is trying to shy away from debate on #pricerise, trying to pass Bill without discussion

Day 5 of #MonsoonSession
Both Houses get adjourned to 12pm within minutes
But in #LokSabha, an important question on 'Regional Benches of Supreme Court' gets discussed amid protests.
One MP asks if separate benches to deal with crimes against women will be considered.... Law Minister Kiren Rijiju says - agree with the sentiment, but not related to the main Q.
Another MP refers to Law Commission report which had recommended 4 regional benches of SC & division of SC into Constitutional division & legal division, says crores of cases pending.

Day 3 of #MonsoonSession starts
MPs in #LokSabha protest in a new way today!
Some of them are carrying milk / curd packets in the House (see video below)!
Speaker asks everyone to let Q Hour run, during Zero Hour, he will let MPs raise their issues
Protests continue
#SansadWatch Amid protests, Q hour proceeds.
A Q on godowns in Chhattisgarh is discussed
MoS Food, Public Distribution, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, claims that storage facilities work, no grain wasted or destroyed after 2014.
An MP asks that grain destroyed during transportation, look into this...

#MonsoonSession
Day 2 also starts with protests
#LokSabha runs for 12 mins & #RajyaSabha for 5 mins before getting adjourned till 2pm!
MPs protesting #pricerise & demanding discussion.
Meanwhile placards raised in LS amid Q Hour, Speaker says its against rules 👇
#SansadWatch In #LokSabha, before adjournment, questions on tenant #farmers, legal guarantee for #MSP were discussed amid protests.
An MP says - 17.3% tenant farmers in country, vulnerable position. Minister - covered under fasal bima yojana, given fertilizer subsidy, loans
#SansadWatch

#MonsoonSession starts
MPs are taking oath in both Houses.
Many MPs in attendance on first day.
#SansadWatch After obituaries in #LokSabha, the Speaker announced that with some new MPs taking oath, LS is now at its full membership with no seat vacant!
As some MPs raise that they have moved notices, Speaker quickly mentions that today is President's election & adjourns House till 2pm!

Law Minister moves motion to introduce Election Laws Amendment Bill 2021 in #LokSabha amid protests.

Then Manish Tewari is called to speak on his motion to oppose introduction, he says that it is beyond Parliament's legislative competence, will be detrimental to democracy. Adhir Ranjan choudhary opposes introduction of Bill
- demands its been sent to Standing Committee
- will lead to mass disenfranchisement
- is legally not sound
- refers to Puttaswamy judgment
- data security concerns, we still dont have #dataprotection law

#WinterSession

#RajyaSabha starts with Chairperson making a statement condemning y'day incident of some MPs climbing on table.
While making the statement, the Chairperson also got emotional and cried.

However, protests resume and he quickly adjourned the House till 12pm!

#SansadWatch #LokSabha started at 11am & adjourned sine die within 7 mins.

In valedictory speech, Speaker said that House couldn't function as expected due to disruptions.
And yet, he claimed that 20 Bills were cleared in LS!

PM finally shows up on last day!

#MonsoonSession
#SansadWatch