Economic reforms have not been put on the backburner, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, said here today. This remark comes at a time when the Government faces criticism that it has not been able to pass some key Bills in the financial sector.
The Government is committed to taking financial sector reforms forward, despite the hurdles faced by the ruling coalition to push through legislative changes, Mr Bansal told a press conference at the conclusion of Budget session of Parliament.
Three out of the seven financial sector legislative initiatives outlined in last year's (2011-12) Budget speech of the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, are yet to be enacted into law.
Pending Bills
These three key pending financial sector Bills — Banking Laws Amendment Bill, PFRDA Bill and the Insurance Laws Amendment Bill — will be taken up for passage in the monsoon session, Mr Bansal said.
“It must not be assumed that the Government's agenda of economic reforms has been put on the backburner,” he said adding that law making was not an easy task and that one had to go through a specified process.
Mr Bansal asserted that the UPA Government's performance in Budget session was both “qualitatively” and “quantitatively” better than the previous session.
In the just concluded Budget session, 26 Bills were introduced (21 in Lok Sabha and five in Rajya Sabha). The total number of Bills passed by both Houses of Parliament during the session is 21. The Budget session yielded a total of 34 sittings of both Houses of Parliament — 14 sittings during the first part and 20 during the second part.
While there were 34 sittings in the tenth session (Budget session), the previous ninth session had only 24 sittings. In the tenth session, the sitting hours in Lok Sabha was 181.38 hours, and the time lost due to disruptions and forced adjournments was 48.24 hours.
However, in the ninth session, the sitting hours in Lok Sabha were 82.45 hours and the time lost due to disruptions/forced adjournments was 76.21 hours.
Meanwhile, on Lokpal Bill, Mr Bansal said political parties were consulted before going ahead with the move to refer it to the select committee of Rajya Sabha.