In the past week, 7 #Parliament Standing Committees were scheduled to meet
- #JPC on Personal #DataProtection Bill
- Estimates
- #Finance
- #Labour
- Public Undertakings
- Govt Assurance
- #Commerce

#Thread summarizing what happened in these meetings

#SansadWatch

The Joint #Parliament Committee on Personal #DataProtection Bill, chaired by Meenakshi Lekhi (BJP), met with 19 MPs attending

Agenda- oral evidence from reps of Electronics & IT Ministry, UIDAI, Home Affairs Ministry, NCRB, NIA, Narcotics Control Bureau & L&L Partners Law Office

‘Before’ meeting, it was reported that Committee will discuss wide powers given to Govt to exempt govt agencies under PDP Bill & impact on #citizens #privacy

‘After’ meeting, it was reported that security agencies not just supported these exemptions, asked for further tweaking

Several reports mentioned that S.35 & S.36 of Personal #DataProtection Bill were the focus of discussion and that Registrar General & Census Commissioner, though not listed in schedule, also made a presentation

Most agencies which presented before Committee supported exemptions

One report mentions that on being asked by an MP if agencies would accept legislative / judicial oversight, Home Secretary favoured only executive oversight over their powers.

Another report mentions that exemptions were justified for collection of data for #NPR & #NRC also.

Standing Committee on #Finance, chaired by Jayant Sinha (BJP) met, 19 MPs attend
Agenda was-oral evidence of reps of Ministry of Finance & Commerce on ‘Financing innovation ecosystem & India’s growth companies’
It is reported, MPs asked why current state of #economy not discussed

Several reports also mention that MPs were told by #Finance Secretary that Centre doesn’t have enough funds to pay #GST Compensation due to states and that GST Act allows for compensation to be reworked if collection fall short (as they have now due to #CovidPandemic)

Standing Committee on #Labour, chaired by Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJD) met, 15 MPs attended

Agenda- Consideration & Adoption of report on Code of Social Security, 2019 (Link- http://164.100.47.193/lsscommittee/Labour/17_Labour_9.pdf) & action taken reports on Demand fr Grants

Several news reports summarized #Labour Committee report on Code of Social Security:
-Code replaces 9 laws related to Provident Fund, Gratuity, Maternity Benefits, social security for unorganized workers
-4 MPs dissented
http://164.100.47.193/lsscommittee/Labour/17_Labour_9.pdf

Some reports also mentioned that Committee recommended following on Code of Social Security:

- #unemployment insurance for unorganized sector workers
-financial memo to Bill to provide details on estimated expenditure, sources of revenue
-Gratuity to be extended to all workers

Some other reports mentioned that Committee in its report on Code of Social Security also recommended that inter state #migrantworker to be included as a separate category and a welfare fund be created for them

Dissent notes focused on highlighting loopholes and exclusions

Committee on Govt Assurance, chaired by Rajendra Agarwal (BJP) met with 6 MPs

Agenda- considering requests from different Ministries to drop pending assurances & taking oral evidence from officials of Home Affairs Ministry on pending assurances

Committee on Estimates, chaired by Girish Bhalchandra Bapat (BJP) and Committee on Public Undertakings, chaired by Meenakshi Lekhi (BJP) met separately to discuss subjects to be studied in 2020-21

Subjects selected can be found here - http://loksabhadocs.nic.in/bull2mk/2020/31.7.2020.pdf

Committee on #Commerce, chaired by V.Vijaysai Reddy (YSRCP) met
Info on past meetings not made available on #RajyaSabha website
But as per news reports, 13 MPs attended
Agenda was- evidence from officials of MSME, Industry Ministry on Attracting investment in post #Covid19 India

News reports also mention that MPs brought up job losses due to #Covid19 and urged govt to devise ways to generate jobs

All this info was compiled from #LokSabha, #RajyaSabha websites and several nes reports

#Thread ends