Source : SelfThe NDA government is in disarray. It doesn’t know if its Bills are going or coming. At this rate, it may even hesitate to introduce a Bill.
The government has met failure with four Bills it sought to introduce recently.
Long used to having its (read ‘his’) way, since 2014, it screeches to a halt these days every time the Opposition calls it out.
Today, August 20, the government asked the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to cancel its advertisement for lateral entry into bureaucracy, pulling a 180 amid massive opposition criticism of the move. Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes that the “move should be aligned with social justice”, Union Minister Jitender Singh wrote in a letter to the UPSC chief.
The move triggered a debate on lateral entry into bureaucracy, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi denouncing the process as an “attack on Dalits”. The ruling BJP countered by pointing out that the concept emerged under a Congress-led government. But when powerful NDA partners joined the protect, the government quickly backed out.
The ministry of information and broadcasting (I&B) will not come out with any fresh draft of the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill as there’s no need for such a law, official sources said.
A draft Bill was withdrawn last week following public criticism that it proposed to bring online content creators under the purview of licensing or registration. Sources, however, said the draft was withdrawn after it was felt that regulations were already in place and a new law was not required. Earlier, the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 was introduced by Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju in Lok Sabha on 8 August. The Opposition fiercely opposed the Bill and a few hours later, it was decided that the Bill will be sent to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC).
The Opposition leaders claimed that the Bill unfairly targets Muslim places of worship while also being unconstitutional in nature.
The first Bill of the new government after the 2024 general elections to go for a toss was the controversial rule for property tax. Facing a backlash over changes to the long-term capital gains tax regime announced in the Budget, including critiques from MPs within the NDA coalition, the government has relented to grant some relief for property transactions.
It was embarrassing because it was a Budget proposal which the government had to water down under Opposition pressure.
The Waqf Bill is the first Bill in almost 5 years that has been sent to a JPC. The last Bill that was sent to the JPC was the Personal Data Protection Bill in December 2019.
Until now, the Narendra Modi government had been criticised for pushing through Bills and Amendments without any discussion.
While the practice of referring Bills to various parliamentary committees was a common practice in the days of the Congress-led UPA government, the first two Modi-led governments referred far fewer Bills to House committees.
As per a press release by the government, 49 Bills were passed by both the Parliament Houses between January-December 2023.
In fact, 45 Bills were cleared on the same day they were introduced in the 17th Lok Sabha, an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) pointed out.
Another research, this time by PRS Legislative Research, tells us that only 16% of the Bills in the 17th Lok Sabha and 25% of the Bills in the 16th Lok Sabha were referred to committees for detailed scrutiny.
In the 14th Lok Sabha, which was during the Manmohan Singh government’s first term, 60% Bills were referred to committees. In the 15th Lok Sabha, the term of UPA 2, 71% Bills were referred to committees for scrutiny.
The embarrassment and ego-bruise apart, the BJP and its allies have also to face elections in J&K, Haryana and later, in Maharashtra. They are facing people’s mistrust in all these states. Retreat, therefore, was a matter of prudence as well as Hobson’s choice.