Opposition prepares to recommend amendments to Aadhaar Bill

BJP asks MPs to ensure their presence in Lok Sabha until midnight

The Opposition and the government are likely to wage a battle of wits on the Aadhaar Bill on Wednesday, the last day of the first half of the Budget session.

The Opposition, upset that the government pushed the Aadhaar Bill as a money Bill to bypass the scrutiny of the Rajya Sabha, hopes to put the government on the mat by recommending amendments to the Bill when the Upper House takes it up for “consideration and return (to Lok Sabha)” on Wednesday.

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The Aadhaar Bill is a money bill and the Rajya Sabha cannot vote on the Bill. The Bill will be considered passed if the Rajya Sabha doesn’t return the Bill within 14 days of it being transmitted to the House. It was transmitted to the Upper House on Monday. However, the Rajya Sabha can still discuss the Bill and recommend amendments to it by a majority vote. In such a scenario, the Lok Sabha will need to have a sitting to reject the amendments.

The Opposition, which wants to put its amendments to the Bill on record, suspects that the treasury benches will try disrupting the proceedings on account of the sting operation that has allegedly caught several Trinamool leaders accepting cash. “It will be a fixed match between the government and Trinamool,” said a Left MP. Adjournments will ensure that the Bill is not taken up for discussion and sent for Presidential assent after the lapse of 14 days.

But the government is prepared to make the Lok Sabha work until midnight if the Rajya Sabha indeed recommends amendments. Anticipating such a scenario, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has asked all its Lok Sabha members to be prepared to sit in the House until midnight. The government is also mulling extending the first half of the session by a couple of days. According to the current plan, the Budget session goes into a 40-day recess on Wednesday. The second half of the session is scheduled from April 25 to May 13.

Independent MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar is one of those to have moved amendments to the Bill. The amendments seek to strengthen clauses that relate to privacy and confidentiality of the data.
 
His amendments — the Unique Identification Authority of India shouldn’t have the discretion to collect more data than necessary; the authority should be made responsible for the veracity of data it is collecting; only citizens should be enrolled; the Aadhaar number should be used as proof of identity only for receiving subsidies and for no other purpose; the authority should be made responsible for the data integrity and privacy of the identity information and also held responsible for negligent handling of data.

MMDR Act amendments in LS on Wednesday

For Wednesday, the government has listed the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2016, in the Lok Sabha. The amendments to the Act were approved by the union cabinet last week. It was earlier amended in 2015.

The chairman of the joint committee of parliament SS Ahluwalia will also seek time until the last day of the first week of the Monsoon session of Parliament for it to submit its report. Today, Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu appealed to all parties to develop consensus on the Land Bill to facilitate 'Housing for All'.

The Rajya Sabha today sent the Enemy Property Bill to a select committee.