Winter session to begin with Parliament marking first-ever Constitution Day
The BJP-led NDA has listed 38 bills that it hopes to pass, even as a debate on intolerance looms large.
The NDA government has lined up 38 bills, including seven new ones, which are expected to be discussed in Parliament during the winter session that starts from Thursday. The Parliament will hold a special sitting on Thursday and Friday to commemorate the adoption of the draft Constitution by the Constituent Assembly in 1949. All the parties agreed to the two-day sitting and discussing constitutional values. The government has appealed to the opposition to help pass the long-pending Goods and Services Tax Bill, which is expected to be a key issue. Discussions were washed out last monsoon session with the opposition's demands for various ministers to resign. The government is hopeful of a successful session however, with
The Congress, Trinamool Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist) have served notices to the House secretariats for a debate on intolerance, to which the Central government has agreed with some reservations. ““The incidents [of intolerance] are related to the law and order situation of the respective states. The government has nothing to do with them,” Parliamentary affairs minister Venkaiah Naidu said on Wednesday. Prime Minster Narendra Modi might take the lead in discussing the intolerance issue, the Hindustan Times reported. The winter session will run till December 23.
Earlier on Thursday, Modi tweeted about Constitution Day: