Parliament Diary

Both Houses of Parliament adjourned amid demands for discussion on price rise. In Lok Sabha, the Question Hour was briefly taken up before the House adjourned.

Rajya Sabha, too, adjourned in the morning to meet after lunch. After reconvening, the External Affairs Minister moved the Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill, 2022 for consideration and passing. However, the discussion did not conclude. The Bill bars people from financing unlawful activities related to weapons of mass destruction. For this, it empowers the government to freeze, seize or attach funds, financial assets, or economic resources of those people who are involved.

The Standing Committees on Housing Affairs, Consumer Affairs, and Education submitted their reports. In its report on the implementation of metro rail projects, the Housing Affairs Committee recommended that the three central Acts governing the metro rail networks should be consolidated into one. A Bill to merge the three Acts is in the drafting stage with the Urban Affairs Ministry. The Committee also made recommendations for taking concrete steps to increase riderships which are low in cities like Benguluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata, and for adopting less capital intensive MetroLite and MetroNeo networks.

In response to questions in Parliament, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs stated that the government is not considering a scheme of providing guaranteed employment in urban areas. Separately, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment stated that there is no proposal with the government to bring in a model law on job reservation to local youth in private sector jobs at the non-executive level.