2014 Winter Session: Rajya Sabha Adjourned over Mass Conversion Issue

The Central Government had to table the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2008, in Parliament on Tuesday but the proceedings of the Upper House have been disrupted amid protest over mass conversion issue.

The opposition parties gathered in the well of the Upper House and raised slogan against the mass conversion of 200 Muslims in Agra earlier this year. They demanded an explanation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the issue.

Amid the uproar, the Chairman of Rajya Sabha has adjourned the proceedings until noon.

"It's in the procedure but I don't want to comment on it now. We will bring the Insurance Bill tomorrow if the Upper House is in order," Daily Mail quoted Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu as saying. The current session of Parliament ends on 23 December.

The Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last week approved the changes to the Bill as suggested by the Parliamentary Select Panel.

The Bill seeks to raise the composite cap on foreign investment in insurance companies from the current 26% to 49%.

Naidu is hopeful that Parliament will pass the insurance legislation by the last day of the current session. The Bill is being seen as an example of the government's committment to economic reforms. 

Until now, the Lok Sabha has passed 13 Bills and the Rajya Sabha nine, amid continued uproar from opposition members over several issues including black money issue, BJP MP Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti's hate speech and mass conversion in Agra by so-called Hindu outfits. 

The Bills passed by the Lok Sabha are yet to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha.

The Bills to be introduced in the Rajya Sabha before the end of this session include the Appropriation Bill, 2014; Payments and Settlement Systems (Amendment) Bill, 2014; the Repealing and Amending (Second) Bill, 2014 and the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2014.

Apart from these, the Business Advisory Committee of the Rajya Sabha has also included the Anti-Hijacking (Amendment) Bill, 2010 and the Public Premises Bill, 2014 for discussion in the Upper House, PTI reported.

The government is yet to table other legislations in the Lok Sabha in the current session. These include – the Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Bill, 2014; the National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Amendment Bill, 2014; the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Bill, 2014; the Anti-Hijacking (Amendment) Bill, 2010 and the Warehousing Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2014.