Parliament Diary

Rajya Sabha skipped the Question Hour and took up the discussion on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019. The Home Minister was responding to the Bill at the time of sending this email. 

Four bills were introduced in Lok Sabha. These were: (i) The Central Sanskrit Universities Bill, 2019 (ii) Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 (iii) Code on Social Security, 2019 and (iv) The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens (Amendment) Bill, 2019. 

The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 provides protection of privacy related to personal data and establishes a Data Protection Authority. The Bill also gives certain rights to the individual over their personal data. Any data intermediary may process their data only after obtaining consent.

The Code on Social Security, which consolidates laws related to the social security of employees, is the latest labour code to be introduced after the Code on Wages, 2019, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2019 and the Industrial Relations Code, 2019 (also introduced this Session). 

The Central Sanskrit Universities Bill, 2019 converts three deemed to be Universities (two in New Delhi, one in Tirupati) into Central Sanskrit Universities. The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens (Amendment) Bill, 2019 updates the 2007 Act to make it current as per the changing socio-economic needs. 

The House then discussed and passed the International Financial Services Centres Authority Bill, 2019. The Bill applies to all International Financial Services Centres (IFSCs) set up under the SEZ  Act, 2005. The Bill provides for the establishment of an Authority to develop and regulate the financial services market in the International Financial Services Centres in India. The Authority will regulate financial products (such as securities, deposits or contracts of insurance), financial services, and financial institutions which have been previously approved by any appropriate regulator (such as RBI or SEBI), in an IFSC.