New Delhi, Jul 17, 2022, By Special Correspondent
New Delhi, Jul 17: Issues like the Agnipath recruitment scheme, fuel price rise and unemployment are expected to dominate the proceedings of Parliament whose monsoon session commences Monday.
The controversial decision to dub certain new words as "unparliamentary" and the row over the depiction of the national emblem that was unveiled over the new parliament building could make the session stormy.
Joshi said during the all-party meeting chaired by Union minister Rajnath Singh some parties demanded some of the words that have been declared as 'unparliamentary' be discussed.
Sources said the leaders were unanimous in their demand for the immediate withdrawal of the Agnipath scheme for recruitment in the armed forces and called for a discussion on important issues like price rise and the status of the economy during the session.
IUML leader E T Mohammed Basheer said every opposition party raised the issue of Agnipath, price rise and the row over the words listed in a new booklet by the Lok Sabha Secretariat that will be considered "unparliamentary".
BJD leader Pinaki Misra came out in support of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla over the issue, saying he was "unfairly targeted" as listing out such words has been a routine practice in Parliament.
The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader also pressed for the passage of the women's reservation bill besides demanding a legislative council for Odisha, where the party is in power for many years now.
"It is high time we insisted that government should bring the women's reservation bill," said AIADMK leader M Thambidurai.
DMK's TR Baalu and AIADMK's Thambidurai also raised the Sri Lankan crisis and said India should intervene to settle the issue.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, however, hit out at the opposition and accused them of belittling Parliament by making issues out of non-issues.
He said the opposition is doing so as it had nothing against the government and the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was being recognised within the country as well as abroad.
Condemning the Opposition for creating a row over unparliamentary words and circulars issued in routine for the past several years, he said such a practice is being carried on since 1954, when the first such list was brought out, and the opposition was doing so as it was devoid of any issues against the government.
The government said 32 bills will be introduced in Parliament during the Monsoon session.
Asserting that the government wants discussions on all of the bills during Monsoon session in a democratic way, Joshi said that some of them have already been discussed by standing committees of Parliament.
The bills listed by the government for the upcoming Parliament session include the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) bill, Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill, Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment) Bill, and Kalakshetra Foundation (Amendment) Bill.
Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill seeks to rationalise the government's role in cooperatives and increase participation in the working of multi-state cooperative societies, to increase public faith in them and create a conducive environment for their growth and development.
The hallmark of the session will be voting to elect a new president and a vice-president.