Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Many bills passed – only 3 bills sent to parliamentary panels' that was published in Newsband

Many bills passed – only 3 bills sent to parliamentary panels

The government got a great deal of legislative work done during the just-concluded Budget session. The ruling dispensation succeeded in getting all of 23 Bills — including those related to the Union Budget and the Railway Budget — through, while Ministers made 50 statements. It ensured that time lost through disruptions caused by the Opposition was more than compensated for by the extra hours both Houses sat.

The pieces of legislation approved by Parliament included not just the one relating to the historic India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement, but also key reform measures: the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015; the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2015; the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2015 and the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2014. And then there was the Bill that fulfilled an election promise while sending out the message that the government wants to tackle corruption — the Black Money Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of Tax) Bill, 2015

The Opposition also succeeded in sending three Bills critical to the government’s reform agenda, to parliamentary panels: they are the Land Acquisition Bill, Bills relating to Goods and Services Tax and the regulation of the real estate sector.

It is doubtful whether black money can be curtailed in India despite passing the bill. Corruption in India is at grassroots level. Modi alone cannot root out corruption from the country. Onus is on all to ensure all transactions are in white and there is no black attached.

The black money bill is nonsensical as it's doomed to fail as black money transaction in property purchase/sale is considered to be normal and nothing untoward.

The opposition's only goal seems to be to block the reforms agenda of the government. The blocking of the GST bill was an act of heightened irresponsibility on the part of the opposition, especially the Congress. The GST has been discussed, debated for the last two years. What is the purpose of referring it to a committee which will probably reinvent the wheel? A rejuvenated Rahul Gandhi may be good news for the Congress, but it is definitely bad news for national interest going the way this gentleman is leading the obstructionist brigade in Lok Sabha.

First of all, Bills and Statutory arrangements seem to be decided more on the basis of political ideologies and certain whims and fancies of Top groups and leaders, on the basis of certain perceived importance and needs, than on real Ground level needs. For example, the country's biggest problem today is that of the Farmer, followed by security concerns both inside and outside. But nothing seems to be done on these, left aside as if they are no problems at all. Second, the Opposition, whoever they are, seem to think that their only agenda is to just oppose whatever the Government tries to do, even by creating pandemonium in the Parliament. The money spent in conducting Parliament runs in Crores of rupees, and inefficiency in operating the Parliament sessions seems to fritter away almost 50% of this money. Is there no way to end such impasse' in Parliament? The happenings inside Parliament do not speak well of our Parliamentarians

In the just concluded session of the parliament, Rahul Gandhi's new found belligerence has nothing to do with the future of the Country but everything to do with his and only with his political future. History is glaring at us. The history of his grandmother resorting to such empty rhetoric from early seventies that ultimately resulted in our having to physically move our gold reserves two decades later to avoid a crisis. That moment was bad.