Govt introduces five bills in Rajya Sabha on first day of Monsoon session

New Delhi, Sep 14: Government on Monday introduced as many as five bills, including on reduction in the remuneration of ministers and protection of healthcare professional in epidemic, in Rajya Sabha during its first sitting of the COVID-curtailed Monsoon Session.

As soon as the special mention got over, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu called Minister of State Nityanand Rai to introduce the The Salaries and Allowances of Ministers (Amendment) Bill, 2020. This bill was listed to be introduced by Home Minister Amit Shah in the revised list of the business of the Upper House. It was introduced with voice vote after Rai sought permission of the House.

Earlier this year, government had brought Salaries and Allowances of Ministers (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020, which provided a 30 per cent cut in sumptuary allowance payable to each Minister for a period of one year commencing from the 1st April, 2020, to meet the exigencies arising out COVID—19 pandemic.

Similarly, the other bill, The Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Bill, 2020, was introduced in the House by Heath Minister Harsh Vardhan to replace an ordinance with a permanent law.

Earlier this year, the government brought The Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020, to provide protection to healthcare personnel combating epidemic diseases and to expand the powers of the central government to prevent the spread of such diseases. Besides the health minister also introduced The Homoeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and The Indian Medicine Central Council (Amendment) Bill, 2020.

Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri introduced The Aircraft (Amendment) Bill, 2020 in the House. The bill provides for converting three existing bodies under the Ministry of Civil Aviation into statutory bodies under the Act.

These three authorities are Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), and Aircraft Accidents Investigation Bureau (AAIB). Each of these bodies will be headed by a Director General who will be appointed by the Centre. The bills were introduced at the fag end of the day's proceedings.