Six Crucial Bills Passed By The Parliament In 2020

The pandemic experienced a slowdown in almost every aspect of our lives, except for the Parliament sessions. Otherwise known for their leisurely working, both the Summer and Monsoon sessions observed multiple Bills hurriedly passed. The public was locked in their homes and couldn’t afford to protest against the Bills (there have been a few delightful exceptions though), save for occasional Twitter storms. Here’s a look at six most crucial Bills that were passed during the financial year beset by the pandemic and how they will impact us in future.

1) The Mineral Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020

The Mineral Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020, was passed by the Rajya Sabha in September 2020 to propose changes to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act 1957. Aimed at promoting ease of doing business in the coal and mining sector, the amendment allows companies with no prior experience in coal/mineral mining to bid for mines in India. This is expected to increase investment of more domestic and global companies in the second largest coal producing sector. Not only this, the amendment also allows successful bidders to begin operation without having to update their clearances and licences. Earlier, every successful bidder was required to renew over 20 statutory approvals before starting their mining operation.

The amendment has provided even more leniency to practice coal and mineral mining in India. This is going to be counterproductive to India’s target of cleaning up coal and reducing its consumption by 2030.

2) The Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Bill, 2020

The current financial year started amid the coronavirus lockdown, and one of the first ordinances, which was later brought to the floor of the Parliament in September, was related to taxation. The taxation ordinance announced in March 2020 aimed to provide relief to taxpayers by deferring deadlines as per the GST and IT Act. The last date to file income tax returns for FY 2019-20 was extended from July 31, 2020, to November 30, 2020. Furthermore, the Bill provided a 100% tax deduction for any contribution made to PM CARES Fund.

Although the extension aided taxpayers amid the lockdown, the PM CARES exemption raised many eyebrows. PM CARES is not a public authority, and hence, not obliged to reveal to the citizens the total amount donated or how the donation is being utilised. The law is thus a convenient scheme of transferring public money to the ginormous kitty of the politicians.

3) Three Labour Codes

The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha passed three labour code Bills —  Industrial Relations Code, 2020,  Code on Social Security, 2020, and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 — on September 19, 2020, when the Opposition was absent from the two Houses to protest against the three farm Bills. Twenty nine central laws were codified into these four Bills, with the argument that it will ensure compliance and uniformity.

1. The Industrial Relations Code, 2020: The code proposes that companies with up to 300 workers will not be required to take prior approval by the government to fire employees or shut down its plant or factory. Prior to the amendment, government’s approval wasn’t required for companies up to 100 workers. This gives more companies to function on a ‘hire-and-fire’ policy, with no obligation to provide employment security. The Centre lends support to this amendment by adding another clause, i.e. employees working in an establishment are required to provide a 60 days’ notice to the company before going on strike. No flash strikes will be allowed.
2. Code on Social Security, 2020: For the first time, the government has extended social security benefits, such as health insurance, maternity leave, gratuity, disability insurance and old age protection to workers in the unorganised sector. Under this Code, companies will have to make a contribution of 5% of the worker’s wage or 1-2% of the turnover towards the social security fund.
3. Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020: The Code aims to extend regulation of safety, health and working conditions of inter-state workers, sales promotion employees and audio-visual workers. Under this, inter-state migrant workers will be able to avail benefits of the Public Distribution System in either of the states. However, the code specifies no further norms for health and safety standards or conditions.

4) Three Farm Bills

The three ‘anti-farmer’ farm Bills first got popular due to the manner in which they were passed in the Rajya Sabha. The Bills were passed when some Opposition leaders had left the session in protest against the Bills while others were raising their voice during the voice vote. Since the Bills were passed almost three months ago, farmers from across the country have been protesting against them, demanding the government to withdraw them.

1. The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020: The Bill gives farmers the freedom to sell their produce outside the APMC (Agricultural Produce Market Committee) market to private companies. Such a transaction will require no tax and give a higher price to the farmers.
2. The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020: Earlier, the government used to put a stock limit for traders on essential commodities. With the implementation of this Bill, traders will be free to store commodities such as onions, potato and pulses. This will allow traders to hoard the produce to manipulate the market price.
3. Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020: The Bill has created a framework for farmers to come into an agreement with a company for their farm produce  before sowing. This will again allow farmers to negotiate a price with the companies and receive high quality inputs from them.

The three black laws, as the agitating farmers are calling them, essentially propose to decentralise and de-regularise the agriculture sector, which was protected by the government so far, leaving farmers at the mercy of corporate interest.

5) The National Commission for Indian System of Medicine Bill, 2019

Passed in 2019 in the Lok Sabha, the Bill got passed in the Rajya Sabha only in March 2020. The Bill proposes to replace the Indian Medicine Central Council Act, 1970, with a new commission that will frame policies in the Indian System of Medicine and assess requirements of healthcare professionals and infrastructure.

The Bill has been criticised for not including yoga and naturopathy. Many analysts have also claimed that the Bill lacks vision.

6) Major Port Authorities Bill, 2020

In yet another step towards privatisation, the Centre passed the Major Port Authorities Bill in September 2020. The infrastructure of all 12 major ports of India will be leased to private operators to bring professionalism in port operation and take them to the competitive market.

The Centre took advantage of the crisis and passed Bills that would not have passed as easily in an ordinary, no-lockdown year. Now, with the government announcing a cancellation of this year’s Winter session at the Parliament, is there more left for the Indian democracy to be seen?