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The winter session has come to an end, but parliamentary committees continue to meet to discuss important issues.  Some of them are:

  • Lok Sabha Committee on Ethics | 21 Dec 2010 | Agenda: Adding to procedure of Lok Sabha,  rules to incorporate a committee on ethics, specify its functions and procedures to be followed by the committee
  • Lok Sabha Committee on Empowerment of Women | 21 Dec 2010 | Agenda: Informal interaction with with NGO Shakti Vahini on the subject Honour Killings and other forms of violence against Women
  • Committee on Water Resources | 21 Dec 2010 | Agenda: Evidence of the representatives of the Ministry of Water Resources on The Dam Safety Bill, 2010
  • Committee on Information Technology | 20 Dec 2010 | Agenda: Briefing meeting with the officials of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on the subject, Issues related to Paid News
  • Committee on Finance | 21 Dec 2010 | Agenda: 1. Oral hearing of the representatives of (i) Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and (ii) US India Business Council (USIBC) on the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2008’. 2. Further oral evidence of representatives of Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue) and Enforcement Directorate on ‘Tax exemptions and related matters in respect of IPL/BCCI’

The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011 was passed by Lok Sabha yesterday. The Bill will be discussed next by Rajya Sabha. Unlike the Lok Sabha, where the UPA government holds a majority in the House, the composition is different in Rajya Sabha. As on 28th December 2011, the total strength of Rajya Sabha is 243 members . The UPA has a combined strength of 95 members in the House, well below the 50% mark.  (Of course, there will be some absent members which will change the arithmetic a bit.)  The passage of the Bill thus depends on the stand taken by other political parties and their numbers in the House. Here's how the figures stack up:

Party Numbers
Indian National Congress (INC) 71
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) 7
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) 7
All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) 6
Jammu and Kashmir National Conference 2
Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) 1
Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) 1
Total UPA 95
   
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 51
Janata Dal (United) 8
Shiv Sena (SS) 4
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) 3
Total NDA 66
   
Communist Party of India (Marxist) 13
Communist Party of India (CPI) 5
All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) 1
Total Left 19
   
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP ) 18
Biju Janata Dal (BJD ) 6
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (AIADMK ) 5
Samajwadi Party (SP ) 5
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD ) 4
   
Asom Gana Parishad (AGP ) 2
Bodoland People's Front (BPF ) 1
Indian National Lok Dal (INLD ) 1
Lok Janasakti Party (LJP ) 1
Mizo National Front (MNF ) 1
Nagaland People's Front (NPF ) 1
Telugu Desam Party (TDP ) 4
   
Nominated 8
Independent and others 6
   
Total 243