Government to call meeting of parties on China debate

NEW DELHI: Amid a concerted push by opposition parties for a discussion on border tensions with China, parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said on Sunday that a meeting of members from various parties will be held on Tuesday to decide whether such a debate should be held in the House.
Joshi, however, added that the government was ready to discuss all issues decided by the business advisory committee (BAC) and appealed to parties for their cooperation. In the absence of the traditional all-party meeting ahead of the Parliament sessions, the meeting of the BAC became the ground for opposition parties to press for discussions on various issues, including the LAC situation, economy and coronavirus.
On Sunday, the Lok Sabha BAC decided that on the opening day, Parliament will take up for consideration and passage the Homoeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Bill, 2020, and the Indian Medicine Central Council (Amendment) Bill, 2020, to replace the ordinances in force. Additional business of the House will be decided during the second meeting of the BAC, scheduled on September 15. It was also decided that both Houses will adjourn for an hour after paying obituary references to former President Pranab Mukherjee.
The BAC also decided, unanimously, to pass without discussion two bills pertaining to salary cuts for ministers and MPs. The Salaries and Allowances of Ministers (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020, and the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020, legislation pertaining to a 30% reduction in sumptuary allowances of ministers and MPs is scheduled to be taken up for passage on Wednesday. The decision to reduce the allowances has been taken for a period of one year and is in light of the prevailing coronavirus pandemic.
The Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Bill, 2020, which amends the Act to include protection for healthcare personnel combating epidemic diseases and expands the powers of the central government to prevent the spread of such diseases, has been allocated three hours for discussion and passage on Wednesday.
After the adjournment, while Lok Sabha will take up legislative business, the Rajya Sabha is scheduled to hold elections for the post of deputy chair man.