People's Democracy

  THE WEEK IN PARLIAMENT

Subhas Ray

BOTH the houses of parliament were adjourned sine die on May 13 after a nearly three months long budget session. It witnessed absence of the opposition BJP and its allies in the last three weeks. Because of their boycott, the much-awaited National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill could not be discussed and passed. The bill is under the scrutiny of Standing Committee on Rural Development, of which a BJP member, Kalyan Singh, is the chairman. He did not call any meeting of that committee and the parliament could not take up the bill for consideration. This is the way the BJP is playing with the employment of crores of rural youth. The opposition stayed away even from the daily meetings called by the speaker, which would have facilitated interaction among leaders on either side. However, both the Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee and Rajya Sabha chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat regretted the absence of the opposition from parliament for three weeks and hoped the opposition parties would attend the monsoon session.

IMPORTANT BILLS

This budget session (fourth session) of the fourteenth Lok Sabha, which commenced on February 25, 2005, passed as many as 26 government bills. The Patents (Amendment) Bill 2005 was passed after incorporating many amendments suggested by the Left parties. This bill was passed in fulfillment of India’s obligations under the trade-related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights under the aegis of the WTO. Similarly, the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and Their Delivery System (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Bill 2005, passed by the house provides an integrated legislative basis to the country’s commitment to prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The other important bills that were passed are the Central Aquaculture Authority Bill 2005, Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill 2005, and the Special Economic Zones Bill 2005. Two other important bills passed include the Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) Bill 2005, a step towards reform of the criminal law system of the country, and the Right to Information Bill 2004 passed, an initiative towards ushering into a new era in accessing information, which would in turn promote transparency in governance and eliminate corruption.

The parliament approved the WMD Bill on the last day of this session on May 13. The bill sought to check out the leakage of missile technology. The CPI(M)’s Rupchand Pal in Lok Sabha and A Vijayraghavan in Rajya Sabha participated in the discussion. Pal described the bill as an umbrella legislation incorporating the earlier acts. He said, “We are happy that this legislation has been done in a very balanced manner without compromising our security and autonomous right to pursue our goals for development by scientists and others.” Though a nuclear weapon state, we are committed to use nuclear energy for peaceful means. There is the dual attitude of the most powerful hegemonistic power in the world that they have been turning a blind eye to the proliferation in spite of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and sometimes making absurd cases, as against Iraq. Our nuclear programme is defensive in nature and it is for our own security. But there are a number of pilferages in black-market by the underworld of passing nuclear knowledge. So, India should be cautious about these proliferation challenges. While fulfilling our international commitment, we should be very careful that this is not misused as in the case of the Prevention of Terrorism Act in our domestic situation, Pal warned. 

A Vijayraghavan said India and Pakistan have some nuclear weapons, but as regards the western countries like America, they have thousands of nuclear weapons in their arsenal. There is scope for the use of these kinds of weapons such as chemical weapons, biological weapons or nuclear weapons, even trafficking in small arms and light weapons poses a danger to the safety of this country. Countries like the USA have been promoting terrorist activities in different countries. There were umpteen number of activities by terrorists backed by the US and millions of people died --- whether it be in East Timor, whether it be the activities of US against Che Guevara, numerous murderous and kidnapping attempts on Cuban president Fidel Castro, or the latest ones against Hugo Chavez. Who promoted terrorist organisations like Al Qaeda and who trained terrorists like Osama bin Laden, Vijayraghavan lashed out.

HISTORIC BILL

The parliament has passed Right to Information Bill 2004. CPI(M) members Varakala Radhakrishnan, Samik Lahiri and Sebastian Paul in Lok Sabha and Sarla Maheswari in Rajya Sabha described the bill as epoch making, one that would strengthen democracy in India. It is a very important bill in the sense that it is directly connected with article 19 of the constitution, Radhakrishnan said. This bill is entirely different from the Freedom of Information Act, he said. We are making a law that is applicable throughout India, including the states. Since it would concern the states also, and since legislative assemblies have passed statutes, it would have been prudent and proper to have obtained their opinion also. People should get information at the earliest and no person must be allowed to refuse any information when it is applied for. Furnishing of information need not be delayed. It should be the bounden duty of the person concerned to furnish the information at the appropriate time in an appropriate manner. The government as well as the parliament is accountable to people. This bill has been brought for that very purpose, he said.

Terming the bill as historic, Samik Lahiri said we want to make this government more accountable to the people and thus empower the people. 

Sebastian Paul termed the bill as a most progressive piece of legislation initiated by the UPA government and said this was a model legislation for other countries. An effective right to information should be seen as a pre-requisite of a matured and genuine democracy. The penalty provisions as well as an independent system of appeal make this legislation an effective one. Not only the people but the media also is getting empowered, he said.

In Rajya Sabha, Sarla Maheswari opined that the bill is an instrument to fight the basic weakness of democracy by becoming an integral part of our constitution.  Corruption is a major weakness of our society. Awareness among people is a democratic instrument to fight against corruption. This evil can be done away with by decentralising power. It is possible with the participation of public in governance.  This bill is confined only to governments working at various levels. Besides government offices and establishments, the provision of right to information should be made applicable to all the non-governmental organisations and private companies also, she demanded. 

SPL. ECONOMIC ZONES BILL

The parliament has passed the Special Economic Zones Bill 2005. In Lok Sabha, the CPI(M)’s members, Rupchand Pal and Basudeb Acharia, insisted on incorporating provision to protect the basic labour rights. The minister of commerce and industry, Kamal Nath, assured them that the basic rights of labour would be incorporated into the bill before it is introduced in the Rajya Sabha. Rupchand Pal in Lok Sabha and CPI(M) leader Nilotpal Basu in Rajya Sabha participated in the discussions on the bill. Supporting the bill while having a few reservations, Pal said the single window clearance has proved to be a very fruitful mechanism, particularly in areas where foreign investment and commitments to export are there. In the end, Pal insisted that the government should have in view the basic interests of workers, various ILO conventions, basic human rights and fundamental rights etc.

Nilotpal Basu said we are positioned in a situation where we have to grow in economic terms but at the same time we have to undertake a trajectory of development where that growth translates into benefits for the people at the grass roots level. Investment is very important but the quality of investment and the sectors in which that investment is deployed are also crucial factors. There is broad consensus in this country that we ought to have investment in two to three particular areas that are related to export, growth of infrastructure and employment generation. Now, the importance of this bill is that it combines all these three aspects.

On the question of labour rights, Basu said we are talking of growth because we want to provide employment so that the quality improves and so much as the quality of life of the people changes. We should not be creating a situation where the labour has no rights. The actual fact is that the contribution of labour has been quite commendable in the growth of economy. If labour rights are ensured, the labour will also behave and take upon themselves the responsibility of contributing more positively and creatively to the growth process. When the bill was presented in Lok Sabha, certain freedoms were accorded to the state governments to do away with the existing labour laws. Now we find that that provision has been removed from the bill. This is a welcome change. This is in spirit of the National Common Minimum Programme. Unless we are prepared to protect the rights of the labour, we may end up on a course which can be self-defeating, Basu concluded.

OTHER ISSUES

Rajya Sabha has passed the Prevention of Money-Laundering (Amendment) Bill 2005. Rising to support the bill, K Chandran Pillai of the CPI(M) said we have to identify which are the major sectors in the economy generating black money. First of all, they should be listed. Then the circumstances that go into the generation have to be studied. Without demoralising the genuine tax payers, we have to adopt mechanisms to tap the accumulated money for the benefit of the economy at large. Effective and speedy punishments are not occurring in this regard. That is the basic problem. That also has to be addressed. On the voluntary disclosure schemes, Pillai wanted to know the status of these schemes.

A Calling Attention Motion regarding the violation of Payment of Wages Act and Payment of Minimum Wages Act was moved by Gurudas Dasgupta (CPI) in Lok Sabha on the last day of this session. Participating in the debate, the CPI(M)’s Basudeb Acharia said the workers in the unorganised sector --- numbering 37.5 crores --- do not enjoy any rights. There are a large number of laws enacted by this house. But these laws are blatantly violated by the employers not only in the unorganised sector but also in the organised sector. To form an association is a fundamental right of the working class of our country. Today, that right is being denied at the instance of employers, including multinational corporations. Acharia, in this context, referred to the case of Punjab where the state’s labour department is not allowing or giving permission for registration of a union. We have passed a number of laws, but yet we have been feeling the need a comprehensive legislation for 37.5 crores of unorganised workers and asking the government for several years to bring it in. Out of these 37.5 crore workers, 22 crore are agricultural labourers. There is no law for them and they do not get minimum wages. There is no job security or a welfare scheme for them. In the National Common Minimum Programme, it was categorically stated that the UPA government would set up an umbrella organisation to cover the entire unorganised labour force. The UPA government was about to will complete one year of its tenure but nothing has been done in this regard. When it is the question of labour, the government dithers and vacillates. But when it is a question of multinational corporations, when it is a question of allowing foreign companies into our country, the government promptly brings forward legislations. The Payment of Wages Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha in the winter session. That bill was listed to be taken up in the Lok Sabha, but it did not come. One minister said that it had been de-listed. was it because this pertained to labour, he asked. Their minimum wages were fixed long back and they have to be enhanced. The CPI(M) member insisted that the government should bring a separate law for agricultural labourers. 

Two bills were introduced in Lok Sabha --- the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2005 and the Reserve Bank of India (Amendment) Bill 2005 --- on the last day of this session. CPI(M) members opposed the introduction of these bills.

May 15, 2005