With Assembly elections coming to an end in Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir, the Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, today said that he hopes that the ability of the members in the Rajya Sabha to create obstruction will get “further diluted''.
This thinking has come at a time, when continuous disturbance in the Upper House has delayed the passage of key economic reform Bills such as Insurance and Coal.
However, he assured that such obstruction will not dilute the Government’s determination to push insurance reforms. “The Government is extremely determined to go ahead with this (insurance sector) reform and will not allow a Parliamentary disturbance to obstruct or delay a reform of this kind,” he said, while addressing the FICCI AGM here on Saturday.
A Bill, which seeks to raise the foreign direct investment in insurance sector to 49 per cent from 26 per cent, is pending in the Rajya Sabha. Though a Parliamentary Select Committee did give his report on the Bill on time, continuous logjam in the House has forced the House to adjourn for four days in succession without transacting key legislative business.
Now, the House has just two more working days left in the ongoing winter session, and with no change in Opposition stance, the passage of Insurance Bill seems to be unlikely, he said.
“Political obstructionism is being used to ensure it does not come on the agenda of Parliament,” he said, while observing that such an attitude cannot stop a reform which has the support of overwhelming majority. “There are enough safeguards, and constitutional system can deal with and effectively defeat this policy of political obstructions,” he said.
This indicates that the Government might take ordinance route for reforms in insurance sector.
Diversion tactics
Without naming Trinamool Congress, Jaitley said that the political party, whose members are allegedly involved in chit fund scam, is trying to divert the attention by creating obstruction in the functioning of Rajya Sabha where the ruling NDA does not have a majority of its own.
Coal Bill is another important legislation which is being held up due to political obstructionism in the Rajya Sabha, he said, adding “it is a Bill which has been unanimously passed by the Lok Sabha. All doubts have been cleared. It was not allowed to come on the agenda of Upper House for discussion.”
Goods and Services Tax
After prolonged delay, Jaitley had yesterday introduced the GST Bill in Lok Sabha, which will create a single tax for goods and services across the country from April 1, 2016. He said that he would speak to each and every state so that their concerns could be addressed. He asked India Inc to go to various states, persuade them and even pressurised them through public opinion.
Economic environment
Admitting that the current scenario is challenging, he assured the industry that the Government will create an enabling environment for doing business in India.
He said reform in mining sector is also in the cards besides land acquisition. “The Prime Minister has decided to take personal interest in the projects held up at initial stage or in the middle,” he said, while emphasising that the course, the Government has adopted, is unalterable.