Winter Session of Lok Sabha Ends, 13 Bills Passed Amid Din

The winter session of Lok Sabha came to an end today after passing 13 bills despite persistent uproar created by the Congress over various issues. these included certain allegations against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in connections with DDCA affairs. The bills passed in this winter session were:

• The Sugar Cess (Amendment) Bill, 2015
  
• The Industries (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2015
  
• The Atomic Energy (Amendment) Bill, 2015
  
• The Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Bill, 2015
  
• The Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Bill, 2015
  
• The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2015
  
• The High Court and the Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Bill, 2015
  
• The Indian Trusts (Amendment) Bill, 2015
  
• The Carriage by Air (Amendment) Bill, 2015
  
• The Bureau of Indian Standards Bill, 2015
  
• The Repealing and Amending (Fourth) Bill, 2015
  
• The Whistle Blowers Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015
  
• The National Waterways Bill, 2015

The 20-day session, adjourned sine die, was considerably much productive as compared to the last Monsoon session which was a virtual washout due to the ruckus caused by the opposition which had been pressing for ouster of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan over various allegations.

In the session which concluded on Wednesday, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan preferred to carry on with the listed business even as protesting Congress members stormed the Well and shouted slogans, many times walking out of the House for the day. She twice threatened to take action against the Congress members who were disrupting the House by asking officials to note down their names.

In the last session, she had suspended as many as 25 of the 44 Congress members for their unrelenting disruptions. This session saw the rare action of the Speaker expunging her own controversial “vested interests” remarks made about Congress members yesterday.

In her valedictory remarks, Mahajan said,

I hope this coming year brings new hope and new energy in our lives and we reflect with resolve that in the New Year we will take conscious decision while using all Parliamentary instruments to forcefully register our dissent and disagreement, if any, and will attempt to ensure less disruptions.

Sumitra Mahajan, Speaker, Lok Sabha