3 days left, govt in a rush to push pending bills

With just three days left before the ongoing winter session winds up, the UPA floor managers are in a hurry to clear its pending legislative agenda. Saubhadra Chatterji reports.

With just three days left before the ongoing winter session winds up, the UPA floor managers are in a hurry to clear its pending legislative agenda. For Tuesday, the government has listed as many as seven bills for discussion and passing. Top government sources indicated that it may list heavy agenda for the remaining two days as well.

With a large part of the session already disrupted over the FDI furore and the SC/ST promotion bill, the government managers are keen to make up for the loss of time.

A section of the Congress indicated that it may also keep the option open for passing a few important bills amidst din, if such a situation arises.

During the last monsoon session, the government had to finally pass a few bills amid disruptions to improve its performance in Parliament. After agreeing to the opposition's demand to discuss the FDI policy in multi-brand retail, the UPA floor managers seem to be averse to any further marathon debate on opposition-sponsored motion.

A discussion on the current economic situation, proposed by CPI's Gurudas Dasgupta and CPIM's Basudeb Acharia, was admitted for Monday. As it could not take place due to disruptions, the UPA managers didn't agree to allotment of any further slot for it.

Top sources claimed that the government is also keen to push pension bill and the insurance act (amendment) bill.

Money laundering bill passed
The Rajya Sabha on Monday passed the Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill to enlarge the definition of money laundering and curb terror funding. As Lok Sabha had passed the Bill last month, the Upper House's approval has set the ball rolling for the amended Bill to become a law.

It seeks to remove the existing upper limit of Rs. 5-lakh as fine for money laundering.