No Question Hour, pvt members' bills, curtailed Zero Hour during Parliament's monsoon session
New Delhi: There will be no Question Hour and private members' bills will not be taken up in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament, while the Zero Hour will be restricted, notifications issued by Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats said.
There will also be no breaks during the session, which will be held from September 14 to October 1, and both Houses will function on Saturdays and Sundays as well, they said.
In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the session will be held in two shifts -- 9 AM to 1 PM and 3 PM to 7 PM. Except for the first day, the Rajya Sabha will sit in the morning shift and the Lok Sabha will sit in the evening, according to the notifications.
"There will be no Question Hour during the Session. In view of the request of the Government owing to prevailing extraordinary situation due to COVID-19, the Speaker has directed that no day be fixed for transaction of Private Members' Business during the Session," the Lok Sabha Secretariat said in a notification.
A similar notification has also been issued by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat.
On the move to dispense with the Question Hour, Trinamool Congress MP and Floor Leader in Rajya Sabha Derek O' Brien said opposition MPs will lose the right to question the government.
"Pandemic an excuse to murder democracy," he said in a tweet.
In the past, he said, the Question Hour was dispensed with during sessions of Parliament called for special purposes but the upcoming monsoon session is a "regular session".
Last week, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury wrote to Speaker Om Birla urging him not to curtail the Question Hour and the Zero Hour. Chowdhury had said it will prevent lawmakers from raising issues of national importance.
Meanwhile, according to sources, the government has reached out to the Opposition, sharing its compulsions to not hold the Question Hour in wake of the pandemic.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has called up several opposition leaders, including Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Chowdhury, Biju Janata Dal's Pinaki Misra and O'Brien.
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SC asks Centre to consider amending law on terminating pregnancy of rape survivors
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Thursday took strong exception to a plea by AIIMS seeking to set aside its order allowing a 15-year-old girl to medically terminate her 30-week pregnancy, and asked the Centre to consider amending the law to permit rape survivors to terminate unwanted pregnancies even beyond 20 weeks.
The top court said when there is pregnancy due to rape, there should not be a time limit.
Law needs to be organic and in sync with evolving time, it stressed.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said this is a case of child rape and the survivor will have a lifelong scar and trauma if termination is not allowed.
The top court said if the mother does not have permanent disability then it should be carried out.
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It asked AIIMS to counsel parents of the survivor over the issue and said the decision has to be of the person concerned.
"There are children for adoption. In this country we have lot of sympathies...There are deserted, abandoned children on the streets and even mafias on it. We have to look at them. This is an unwanted pregnancy of a 15-year-old child.
"This is a curative petition. Unwanted pregnancy cannot be thrusted on a person. Imagine she is a child. She should be studying now. But we want to make her a mother. Imagine the pain, the humiliation the child has suffered in this," the bench said.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for AIIMS, mentioned the curative plea, and said the termination of pregnancy is not possible.
"It will be a live baby with severe deformities. Minor mother will have lifelong health issues and cannot reproduce. Minor mother will have lifelong health issues. This child can be given for adoption. It has been 30 weeks now. It is a viable life now," she said.
The top court said the decision on termination has to choice of the survivor and her parents and AIIMS may help them take an informed decision.
On April 24, a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan had allowed the girl to medically terminate her pregnancy of 30 weeks.
