New Delhi: There was huge uproar and deadlock in the first week of the winter session of Parliament. The proceedings are expected to proceed smoothly from Monday. An agreement has been reached between the government and the opposition regarding the dates and topics of discussion. According to sources, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will initiate the discussion on the 150th anniversary of the historic ‘Vande Mataram’ in the Lok Sabha on December 8. At the same time, Union Home Minister Amit Shah will initiate this discussion in the Rajya Sabha on 9 December. Apart from this, dates for debate on the much talked about electoral reforms and Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls have also been fixed. This decision has been taken after the all-party meeting and Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meetings.
PM Modi and Amit Shah will take command in Parliament
The discussion on ‘Vande Mataram’ in both the houses of Parliament will be very special. Prime Minister Modi will start the discussion in the Lok Sabha on December 8 at 12 noon. During this, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and many other Union Ministers will also present their views. Sources say that the debate in the Lok Sabha will be concluded by a senior leader of the ruling BJP. On the other hand, Amit Shah will start the discussion in Rajya Sabha on 9 December. Leader of the Upper House JP Nadda will also take part in this debate. The government has decided to celebrate nationwide the completion of 150 years of this national anthem composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee.
There will be close debate on SIR and electoral reforms
The opposition was continuously demanding discussion on SIR (Special Intensive Revision). It has now been decided that there will be a comprehensive debate on electoral reforms. The issue of SIR will also be included in this. This discussion is likely to take place in the Lok Sabha on 9 and 10 December. There can be a debate on this issue in Rajya Sabha on 10 and 11 December. Sources have clarified that the discussion will not be limited to SIR only. It will be on the broad topic of electoral reforms. The opposition alleges that specific communities can be targeted through SIR. Whereas the government is calling it a step to make the electoral process transparent.
What is SIR and why is there so much controversy?
The Election Commission has launched SIR campaign to clean the voter lists in many states and union territories of the country. This includes Andaman and Nicobar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The main objective of this campaign is to remove illegal immigrants and bogus voters from the voter list. The government argues that this is necessary to identify illegal infiltrators from Bangladesh and Myanmar. In this, the place of birth of the voters is being investigated. About 51 crore voters will come under the scope of this campaign.
