Monsoon Session of Parliament, 'Most Productive Since 2000', Ends: Highlights of Major Bills Passed in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha

New Delhi, Aug 10: The Monsoon Session of Parliament has concluded as the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned sine die. The Session, according to PRS Legislative Research, was the "most productive since 2000' as a total of 20 Bills were introduced and 12 passed. Here are the highlights of the major legislations which cleared the parliamentary deck this year:

Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill: The legislation approves a jail-term of three-to-seven years of those convicted for offering or accepting bribes. The Bill also makes it mandatory to seek a prior nod for prosecution of former public officials.

Economic Offenders Bill: The law, passed by Rajya Sabha, allows the government to declare a person to be proclaimed as an "fugitive economic offender (FEO)" if the allegation of fraud levelled against him crosses Rs 100 crore and he/she is refusing to return back to the nation for facing the prosecution. Once accorded with the FEO tag, the governmental agencies can not only confiscate his assets, but also sell them for recovery.

Bill to grant constitutional status to NCBC: The legislation to grant a constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) has been passed by the Rajya Sabha. The law, passed by the Lower House last year, was earlier opposed by a section of the Upper House due to the lack of representation in the backward class body of women and minorities. However, in this round of the Parliament, the Rajya Sabha decided to pass the Bill with 156 votes in support against nill in opposition.

4 GST Amendment Bills: A clutch of four legislations were rushed through the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The Bills are passed with the intention of easing the process of filing returns for the MSMEs  and raise the turnover threshold for availing composition scheme to Rs 1.5 crore.

DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2018: The legislation was enacted with the intent of setting up DNA data banks across India. The proposed DNA banks will store profiles, DNA samples and records. The information will be used "only for identification purpose", the law states. Provisions of the Bill also propose rigorous jail-term for those convicted of leaking data from the DNA banks.

National Sports University Bill: The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the National Sports University Bill. The legislation was earlier cleared by the Rajya Sabha through a voice vote. The law was passed with the intent of setting up a specialised varsity in Manipur which would provide courses in sports sciences, sports technology, management and coaching. The first-of-its-kind initiative is also expected to create more opportunities for the population based in the North East states.

Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill: The legislation seeks to make provisions for the non-resident Indians (NRIs) to cast their votes online in the general and assembly elections. The Bill will allow the NRIs to cast "proxy votes" -- the service extended to service personnel who are stationed on duty at the time of the elections.

SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill: The law, passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday and the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, reverses the changes made to the SC/ST Act by the Supreme Court through its March 20 ruling. The Bill restores the law in its original form, which includes the registration of FIR without a preliminary inquiry and denial of anticipatory bail for the accused.

Apart from the passage of legislations, the data compiled by PRS shows both Houses of the Parliament had a productive Question Hour. The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha functioned for 84 per cent and 68 per cent of their respective scheduled periods of the Question Hour, the think-tank said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 10, 2018 09:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).