Week two of the Monsoon session is done and dusted! Last week, the SEZ (Amendment) Bill was passed and there is certainly some shadiness happening there, a discussion on Climate change happened in the Rajya Sabha, a fiery new star was born in the Lok Sabha, and the Lok Sabha ensured Jammu & Kashmir still doesn’t have a democratically elected government. So … yay?

Let’s get right into it.

SEZ Bill passed (first as Ordinance and later as bill)

The Special Economic Zones (Amendment) Bill was passed by both houses of Parliament last week. It is one of the bills which existed as an Ordinance till this session began and it was reintroduced in the Lok Sabha.

First a little bit about the bill, The original act—the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005—provides for the establishment, development and management of Special Economic Zones (SEZ) for the promotion of exports. Now an amendment has been brought in to change the definition of “person(s)” who can set up a unit in an SEZ. The earlier act only included an individual, a Hindu undivided family, a company, a co-operative society, a firm, or an association of persons. Now this bill adds two more categories, namely trusts and any other entities as notified by the government.

Simple enough. But what’s strange is the fact that this was promulgated as an Ordinance on March 2, 2019. Ordinances are supposed to be tools in the government belt which allows them to pass laws when Parliament is not in session, specifically during public emergencies. In what universe does allowing “trusts” to set up units in SEZs count as an emergency?

The whole duration when this bill was active as an Ordinance, the government could technically allow trusts to apply for SEZ permissions and get it as well. That too when Parliament had not cleared the bill. March 2 was when we were entering peak election mode. So I ask again, what “emergency” required the government to promulgate this Ordinance?

Even members in the Rajya Sabha wondered aloud about the same thing:

Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Trade, responded to this question by, well, blaming the Opposition. He said that the Opposition was not letting any bills pass and kept disrupting the house, so the government decided that they shouldn’t lose any investment opportunities as a result and promulgated the Ordinance. Specifics were not given regarding these trusts which wanted SEZ access on a “public emergency” basis but the minister did admit that eight proposals have come to the government from reputed trusts worth some ₹8,000 crore during this period.

A casual search for news in the past few months reveals that one particular trust which applied for SEZ permission was a property trust called Ascendas India Trust. Their principal objective is to “own income-producing real estate used primarily as business space in India”.

via GIPHY

In any cast, this trend of promulgating bills as Ordinances is extremely dangerous. It’s a total farce on our democracy. Derek O’Brien of the Trinamool Congress summed up how worrying the situation is becoming:

There was a tradition here in Parliament that if ten Bills were passed, one was Ordinance. That was the score in the first thirty years of our country. In the next thirty years of our country, the new score was that out of every ten Bills passed, about two were Ordinances. But, Sir, in the last three or four years, out of every ten Bills passed, four are Ordinances. This quick fix ordinance is not good. It is not a good solution.

Discussion on climate change

On Thursday in the Rajya Sabha, an interesting discussion happened on the burning issue of climate change. Pun intended. I thought it was important to include this here in today’s column for two reasons. One, we are now definitely seeing effects of climate change happening all around us. Two, India is one of the few countries which is taking this issue seriously and doing something about it. Whether what India’s doing is working or not is another matter though.

So the Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar gave a whole list of things our government is doing to combat the problem (deets here from Page 67 onward). Here are some quick highlights:

– The government is implementing a National Action Plan on Climate Change with eight missions, namely: National Solar Mission, National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency, National Mission on Sustainable Habitat, National Water Mission, National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Eco-system, National Mission for a “Green India”, National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture and National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change. Loads of missions under loads of ministries, basically.

– India aims for a reduction in the emissions intensity of GDP by 33 to 35 per cent by 2030 from the 2005 level and achieving about 40 per cent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources by 2030. 

– India will also work towards creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.

After this was done, members started piling up on all the stuff that the Minister did not mention. Specifically, environmental clearances being given out left, right and centre. Jairam Ramesh summed it up in like 20 seconds:

The speech that stole the show

A speech from Lok Sabha went quite viral last week and people heaped praises on Mahua Moitra of the TMC for delivering it. Some even went so far as to call it the “speech of the year” and some such.

Moitra pointed out seven signs of growing fascism in India during her speech. Basically, in short, she said:

1. There is the powerful and continuing nationalism that is searing into our national fabric. It is superficial; it is xenophobic; and it is narrow.

2. There is a resounding disdain for human rights that is permeating every level of the Government. There is a 10-fold increase in hate crimes being reported.

3. There is an unimaginable subjugation and controlling of mass media today. Five of the largest news media organisations in India are today either indirectly controlled or indirectly indebted to one man in this country.

4. There is an obsession with national security and the identification of enemies. 

5. Religion and government are now intertwined in this country. 

6. There is a complete disdain for intellectuals and the arts. There is a suppression of all dissent.

7. There is an erosion of independence in our electoral system. 

The speech went so crazy that it was picked up even by the BBC. There was praise for her and then there was this.

This Mahua Moitra, ladies and gentlemen, is the same savage lady who flipped off Arnab on live TV.

No elections in J&K

Two other important pieces of legislation were cleared by Lok Sabha on Friday, both related to Jammu & Kashmir. One was to extend President’s rule in the state by six more months and the other was a reservation bill. J&K has been under Governor’s rule since the BJP-PDP alliance broke in June last year. That lasted for six months. Then, from December 2018, it came under President’s rule, allowing the Union Cabinet to take all major decisions in the state. Now, six more months will be added, effectively keeping J&K without an elected government for 1.5 years.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said it’s likely that the Assembly elections would be held within six months in the state. This is keeping in mind Ramzan and the Amarnath Yatra, because separate preparations will need to be made for both.

While ratifying this extension in Parliament, the home minister managed to get another bill cleared, titled the Jammu and Kashmir (Reservation) Bill. This bill is aimed to provide reservation in educational institutions within 10 km of international borders in the Jammu area. That is what happened, but the reply of Amit Shah to the debate was another level.

I leave you with a #SansadWatch thread on what went down. It was quite bizarre, to put it mildly.

Amit Shah’s complete speech can be read here. Trigger warning: it’s in Hindi.

That’s all I have for you this week from the great round building. Next week is going to be way more interesting since the Modi 2.0 government is all set to unveil its first budget on Friday, July 5! Meanwhile, the contentious Aadhaar Amendment Bill is also expected to come up for discussion next week.

Keep up the Sansad Watch!