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Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Amendment Bill likely to be tabled
Under the Act, financing certain illicit activities such as cultivating cannabis, manufacturing narcotic drugs or harbouring persons engaged in them is an offence
Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will introduce the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2021 in the Lok Sabha on Monday to amend the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 to correct a drafting error.
The Act regulates certain operations - such as manufacture, transport and consumption - related to narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.
Under the Act, financing certain illicit activities such as cultivating cannabis, manufacturing narcotic drugs or harbouring persons engaged in them is an offence.
Persons found guilty of this offence will be punished with rigorous imprisonment of at least 10 years - extendable up to 20 years - and a fine of at least ₹1 lakh.
In 2014, the Act was amended and the clause number of the definition for such illicit activities was changed. However, the section on penalty for financing these illicit activities was not amended and continued to refer to the earlier clause number of the definition. The ordinance amends the section on penalty to change the reference to the new clause number.
The National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and the High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Bill, 2021 may also be tabled in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
The former, which will be introduced by Union health minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, provides for granting the status of national importance to the six institutes in Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Hajipur, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Raebareli.
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Two sessions after the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulations) Bill, 2020 was passed in the Lok Sabha by a voice vote, the Union health minister will be introducing the Bill for passage in the Rajya Sabha on Monday. The Bill aims to regulate assisted reproductive technology (ART) services such as in-vitro fertilization (IVF) centres, sperm or egg banks etc that have mushroomed across the country.
Dr Mandaviya will also be introducing the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2020 in the Rajya Sabha. It was passed by Lok Sabha in August 2019 before it was referred to a Select Committee, which recommended that the ART Bill is brought first, so that all the highly technical and medical aspects could subsequently be addressed in the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019.
The Surrogacy Bill provisions for a National Surrogacy Board that will be involved in policy making and also in supervision, and State Boards that will act as executive bodies.
