Parliament Diary

The Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill, 2017 was withdrawn from Lok Sabha today. The Bill established a Resolution Corporation to monitor financial firms, anticipate risk of failure, take corrective action, and resolve them in case of such failure. The Corporation also provided deposit insurance up to a certain limit, in case of bank failure.

The deadline for the Joint Committee on Land Acquisition Amendment Bill to submit its report was extended till the last day of this Lok Sabha. As the Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha, it will lapse on the dissolution of the current Lok Sabha, if it is not passed by Parliament by the last day. This Bill was introduced in May, 2015 and amends the Land Acquisition Act of 2013. The Bill enables the government to exempt five categories of projects from the requirements of: (i) social impact assessment, (ii) restrictions on acquisition of multi-cropped land, and (iii) consent for private projects and public private partnerships (PPPs) projects. These five categories of projects are: (i) defence, (ii) rural infrastructure, (iii) affordable housing, (iv) industrial corridors, and (v) infrastructure including PPPs where government owns the land.

Lok Sabha discussed the Demand for Excess Grants 2015-16. The Lower House also discussed the Supplementary Demand for Grants 2018-19. Supplementary Demand for Grants outlines the additional expenditure that the government seeks to incur, than what was proposed in the Union Budget 2018-19. The proposed total expenditure is around Rs 12,000 crore. Of this expenditure, the net incremental expenditure is around Rs 6,000 crore, and the remaining Rs 6,000 crore are savings.

Some major expenditure items that are new include: Rs 1,000 crore for sugar mills, Rs 1,000 crore for infusion of equity into Air India, Rs 1,500 crore for textile industry, and Rs 1,200 crore for agricultural subsidies.

4 Bills related to GST were introduced in Lok Sabha. These are the Central Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2018, Integrated Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2018, Union Territory Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2018, and the Good and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Amendment Bill, 2018.

The Requisitioning and Acquisition of Immovable Property (Amendment) Bill, 2017 was discussed and passed in the Lok Sabha. This Bill amends the 1952 Act.

Rajya Sabha initiated a short duration discussion on the increase in Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for Kharif crops and the challenges that are faced in the agricultural sector. However, due to repeated disruptions, the House adjourned early.