The Monsoon session 2020 of Parliament was held from 14th September 2020 to 23rd September, 2020. Both Houses made arrangements for MPs to ensure physical distancing protocols due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. During the session, Parliament functioned in two parts with one House sitting in the morning and the other sitting in the afternoon. However, the monsoon session 2020 was curtailed because of the public health emergency and several MPs getting infected with COVID-19 and Parliament was adjourned sine die on 23rd September 2020 having sat for a total of 10 days.
Article 85 of the Constitution states that the gap between the last sitting of a previous Parliament session and the first sitting of the next session should not be more than six months. This session witnessed a gap of 175 days between two sessions, which was the longest gap till now without intervening general elections. The highest such gap was 181 days, in 1999, between the last session of the 12th Lok Sabha and the first session of the 13th Lok Sabha.
Important Bills passed by Parliament during the Monsoon Session 2020
| Short Title | Key Objectives |
| The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 | Consolidates 13 laws related to health, safety, and working conditions of workers. Applies to establishments with more than 10 workers, and to all mines and docks. |
| The Code on Social Security, 2020 | Subsumes and rationalises the nine central labour laws relating to social security. |
| The Industrial Relations Code, 2020 | Subsumes and rationalises the Trade Unions Act, 1926, the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946, and the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. |
| The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 – Replaces an Ordinance | Empowers the central government to control the production, supply, distribution, trade, and commerce in certain commodities, increases competition, and enhances farmers’ income. |
| The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 – Replaces an Ordinance | Creates an ecosystem to facilitate remunerative prices through alternative trading channels, promotes inter-state and intra-state trade and commerce of farmers’ produce outside the physical premises of markets, and provides a framework for electronic trading. |
| The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Prices Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 – Replaces an Ordinance | Provides a national framework on farming agreements to protect and empower farmers to engage with agri-business firms, processors, aggregators, wholesalers, large retailers, and exporters for farm services and sale of future farming produce at a mutually agreed remunerative price framework. |
| The Appropriation (No.4) Bill, 2020 | Authorises expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of India for the financial year 2020-21. |
| The Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament (Amendment) Bill, 2020 – Replaces an Ordinance | Reduces the salary of Members of Parliament by 30% for a period of one year commencing from April 1, 2020 to meet the exigencies arising out of COVID-19. |
| The Salary and Allowances of Ministers (Amendment) Bill, 2020 – Replaces an Ordinance | Reduces the sumptuary allowance payable to each minister by 30% for a period of one year commencing from April 1, 2020 to meet the exigencies arising out of COVID-19. |
| The Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Second) Amendment Bill, 2020 – Replaces an Ordinance | Temporarily suspends initiation of corporate insolvency resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code for a specified period of six months or such further period, up to one year. |
| The Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2020 – Replaces an Ordinance | Expands RBI’s regulatory control over co-operative banks, and enables RBI to prepare a scheme for reconstruction or amalgamation of a banking company without imposing a moratorium. |
| The Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Bill, 2020 – Replaces an Ordinance | Provides certain relaxations related to tax compliance, such as extension of time limit and waiver of penalty for various taxation laws and provides for donations to PM-CARES fund to be eligible for 100% deduction. |
| The Homoeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Bill, 2020 – Replaces an Ordinance | Extends the tenure of Board of Governors, superseding the Central Council of Homoeopathy, for a period of one year. |
| The Indian Medicine Central Council (Amendment) Bill, 2020 – Replaces an Ordinance | Provides for supersession of the Central Council of Indian Medicine by the Board of Governors for a period of one year. |
| The Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Bill, 2020 – Replaces an Ordinance | Provides preventive measures for the violence against health care personnel and damage of property during the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| The Appropriation (No.3) Bill, 2020 | Authorises expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of India for the financial year 2020-21. |
| The National Commission for Indian System of Medicine Bill, 2019 | Repeals the Indian Medicine Central Council Act, 1970, and sets up a National Commission to regulate the education and practice of Indian systems of Medicine. |
| The National Commission for Homoeopathy Bill, 2019 | Repeals the Homoeopathy Central Council Act, 1973, and sets up the National Commission for Homoeopathy to regulate homoeopathic education and practice. |
| The Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda Bill, 2020 | Merges three Ayurveda institutes into one institution by the name of Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda and declares the institution to be an Institute of National Importance. |
| The Aircraft (Amendment) Bill, 2020 | Converts DGCA, BCAS, and AAIB into statutory bodies and increases the maximum amount of fine for certain penalties to one crore rupees. |
| The Indian Institutes of Information Technology Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 | Declares five Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) set up under Public Private Partnership mode in Surat, Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Agartala, and Raichur as institutions of national importance. |
| The Rashtriya Raksha University Bill, 2020 | Establishes Rashtriya Raksha University as an institute of national importance. |
| The National Forensic Science University Bill, 2020 | Establishes National Forensic Science University as an institute of national importance. |
| The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2020 | Removes penalty and imprisonment in certain offences and reduces the amount of fine payable in certain offences, among others. |
| The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2020 | Streamlines and strengthens the provisions of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. |
| The Bilateral Netting of Qualified Financial Contracts Bill, 2020 | Enables India to become a major market for the Over The Counter (OTC) Derivatives products and strengths the financial stability of the country. |
| The Jammu and Kashmir Official Language Bill, 2020 | Provides for the languages to be used for official purposes in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. |
References:
The above summary has been reproduced from PRS website, the content belongs to PRS Legislature only. Original Source.
