Insurance bill gets Rajya Sabha nod, with Congress's help - Times of India

NEW DELHI: Seven years after it was first introduced by the UPA, a bill seeking to raise FDI cap in insurance sector from 26% to 49% was finally approved by Parliament with the consideration of the Upper House. The NDA government had issued an ordinance last year to implement the bill which had been lying in cold storage after it was referred to a Rajya Sabha select committee in the face of stiff opposition then by ironically the BJP-led opposition.

The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015 will replace the ordinance promulgated by the government last year. The passage of the bill in the Rajya Sabha, with help from Congress, comes as a major relief to the Modi government which had come under fire for the high-handedness with which it had taken the ordinance route to carry out major policy decisions.

The bill was passed through a voice vote after a three-hour debate which saw Left members repeatedly clashing with treasury benches. The Left parties, which had consistently opposed the bill since it was introduced in 2008, insisted that amendments they had moved be put to electronic voting. They said they did not want the bill to go through without registering a protest but the amendments were overwhelmingly negated in the voting.

READ ALSO: Lok Sabha passes insurance bill

Despite their opposition to the bill, regional heavyweights — SP, BSP and JD(U) — staged a walkout making it more convenient for the government. Apart from Congress, the Modi government received the backing of AIADMK, the Nationalist Congress Party, Biju Janata Dal besides allies Shiv Sena and Akali Dal.

DMK and Trinamool Congress, whose leader Derek O'Brien accused the Congress of acting hand-in-glove with the BJP, also walked out before the voting. Participating in the heated debate, O'Brien tore into the government as he recalled how BJP was initially opposed to the idea behind the bill with its senior leader Yashwant Sinha, father of MoS finance Jayant Sinha who moved the bill in the Upper House, then saying that one of the reasons why India had averted the 2008 financial crisis was the fact that it had not raised FDI cap.

"Papa kehte hain bada naam karega, beta hamara aisa kaam karega," said the TMC leader as he ended his scathing attack on the government.

READ ALSO: Reforms back on track

The House had to be adjourned twice earlier as SP, Left and BSP members insisted that the bill could not be introduced in the Rajya Sabha as a similar bill introduced in 2008 was still pending with the House select committee. Deputy chairman PJ Kurien said that the bill passed by Lok Sabha could be tabled in the Upper House as there was no constitutional provision to prevent this even as he acknowledged that the situation was unprecedented. After a second adjournment lasting for 30 minutes, Sinha finally moved the bill as passed by Lok Sabha. But this was only after the previous bill was withdrawn with the consent of the House.

Trinamool MPs also tried to stall the bill saying that the government had bypassed the Business Advisory Committee in introducing it directly to the Upper House. As the deputy chairman saw merit in the point raised, parliamentary affairs minister Venkaiah Naidu assured the House that ignoring BAC was not going to become a practice as he requested MPs to allow the bill to be introduced.

While the debate saw heated exchanges, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav provided some comic relief when he spoke about the Indian obsession for white skin as he expressed reservations over the move to increase FDI cap in insurance. He had the House in splits when he said that this obsession even overrode the fact that most of the Indian gods were wheatish or black and pointed to BJP leader Ravishankar Prasad saying even he was "sawla".

He also brought the House down as he went on to say that women from southern part of the country were more beautiful and referred to their bodies. DMK MP Kanimozhi interrupted Yadav when he referred to south Indian women asking him to focus on the issue.

READ ALSO: Digvijaya against blanket opposition to key bills

Select committee studying coal and mines bill may get more time

The Rajya Sabha select committee formed to review the coal and mines bills could be given more time to prepare its report than the initial deadline of March 18. Sources said the deadline could be deferred because Congress and Trinamool MPs had demanded more time to study these bills. It is important for the Modi government that these bills replace ordinances it had earlier promulgated as these would lapse after April 5 when the session ends.

The BJP government had earlier tried to block the attempt by the opposition to send the bills to a select committee but relented on the condition that the committee give its report within seven days.

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