Government hopes smooth Parliament session on GST

Dated 20th November, 2014

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government anticipates a frenetic but non-confrontational winter session of Parliament. It hopes to table as many as a dozen bills in the first week of the session that starts on Monday, and views the coming session as an opportunity to push through its reformist agenda.

"The government will push its reforms agenda in the winter session. We will attempt to reach consensus on most issues, and expect the Opposition to adopt a non-confrontational approach on issues of national interest," a highly placed source in the Narendra Modi-led government.

The government is likely to achieve this "non-confrontational consensus" by not tabling any contentious legislation like the bill to amend the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, or the Real Estate Regulation and Development Bill. Even the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill will be tabled only by mid-session after discussions with other political parties. The GST Bill will require the NDA to build a consensus, given that it needs to be passed with a two-thirds majority. The NDA is woefully short of the majority mark in the Rajya Sabha.

The three Bills were discussed along with the entire pending legislative agenda during a meeting of secretaries of all government departments on Tuesday. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley chaired the meeting as Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu is on an official overseas tour. The land bill is currently with the cabinet. Earlier this week, Jaitley said the GST Bill would indeed be tabled during the winter session. The meeting on Tuesday discussed 86 bills at various stages of legislative process, including drafting, with the cabinet, or with any of the parliamentary committees.

Of the bills likely to be tabled, the government is hopeful of getting parliamentary assent for the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill to replace the ordinance on the subject on the first day of the session, on November 24. This will be followed by the Rajya Sabha approving a resolution to fill the vacancies in the House select committee currently studying the Insurance (Amendment) Bill.

The Modi government is likely to push its reformist agenda with more determination during the Budget session, given that no Assembly elections are slated until the end of 2015.

The BJP is emboldened by its electoral victories in Maharashtra and Haryana, but is alert to the five-phase assembly elections in Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir that will be in progress during the the winter session of Parliament, while Delhi assembly elections are to be concluded before mid-February.

(This article is published in Business Standard on 20th Nov, 2014)