Monsoon session begins with presidential poll, new members take oath, tributes to Shinzo Abe: Key points

NEW DELHI: The monsoon session of the Parliament commenced on Monday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging lawmakers to hold discussions on various issues with an open mind in order to make it fruitful and productive.
The monsoon session is likely to continue till August 13. The Centre has listed 24 new bills, including the Cantonment Bill, the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, for introduction in the session.

PM Modi urges lawmakers to hold 'discussions with open mind'
Speaking at the start of the session, PM Modi said that Parliament functions around decisions with everyone's prayaas (efforts) and urged parliamentarians to make full use of it.
"This period is very important. It is the period of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. There is a special significance of 15th August and coming 25 years- when the nation would celebrate 100 years of independence. It would be the time to make a resolution to decide our journey, and the new heights we scale," PM Modi said at the start of the monsoon session.
"There should be dialogue in the Parliament with an open mind, if necessary, there should be a debate. I urge all MPs to contemplate deeply and discuss matters to make this session as fruitful and productive as possible," he said.

Voting begins to elect new president of India
Voting for electing the new president of India began with PM Modi among the early voters at the polling booth inside the Parliament premises.
NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu is contesting against Yashwant Sinha, supported by the Opposition parties.
A total of 776 Members of Parliament and 4,033 MLAs will vote in the Presidential elections. The President is elected by members of the Electoral College consisting of elected MPs and that of all the state assemblies. The nominated MPs, state assemblies and Members of Legislative Council are not eligible to vote.
The total value of votes is 10,86,431, of which votes of MLAs are 5,43,231 and MPs are 5,43,200.
The Presidential Election is being held on Monday while the Vice Presidential election will be held on August 6.

New members take oath
As the House met for the first time in the Monsoon session of Parliament, three MPs, including veteran Bollywood actor and Trinamool Congress' Shatrughan Sinha, took oath as member of the Lok Sabha.
Simranjit Singh Mann (Sangrur Parliamentary Constituency, Punjab) Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi (Rampur Parliamentary Constituency, Uttar Pradesh); Dinesh Lal Yadav "Nirahua" (Azamgarh Parliamentary Constituency, Uttar Pradesh) also took oath.

Tribute to former Japan PM Shinzo Abe
The House paid obituary to former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, who was shot recently while on a campaign.
Others remembered during the silence observed at the start of monsoon session were former UAE president and ruler Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the third president of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki.
Chairman Venkaiah Naidu also made obituary reference to legendary Hindustani classical musician Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and others.

Issues expected to be discussed in Parliament
There will be 18 sittings during the session that is expected to see discussions on price rise, Agneepath scheme and unemployment, among other issues which are likely to be raised by the opposition.
Various bills including Family Courts (Amendment) Bill, Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill are also likely to be taken up in the session. Some of the other bills listed for introduction are the Coffee (Promotion and Development) Bill, the Development of Enterprises and Services Hubs Bill, which proposes to revise the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005 and frame rules, the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) (Amendment) Bill, the Warehousing (Development and Regulation) (Amendment) Bill and the Competition (Amendment) Bill.
The government has also listed the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment) Bill, which proposes to rationalise the prohibited areas and bring other amendments. The Kalakshetra Foundation (Amendment) Bill, the Old Grant (Regulation) Bill, the Forest (Conservation) (Amendment) Bill, the National Dental Commission Bill, the National Nursing and Midwifery Commission Bill, the Indian Institute of Management (Amendment) Bill and the Central Universities (Amendment) Bill have also been listed.
The Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill, the Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) (Amendment) Bill, the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, the Trafficking of Persons (Protection, Care and Rehabilitation) Bill and the Family Courts (Amendment) Bill.
Two separate bills for Constitution amendment to revise the list of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) for Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu are also listed for introduction.