2016 Winter Session of Indian Parliament

2016 Winter Session of Indian Parliament started on 16 November 2016 and ended on 16 December 2016. This was the 10th Session of 16th Lok Sabha and 241th Session of Rajya Sabha. The Winter session of Indian Parliament 2016, was a near washout session, with legislative business and Question Hour productivity least in last fifteen years, of Parliamentary sessions, with disruptions in Parliamentary proceedings, chaos and protests. On the last day of winter session, Rajya Sabha Chairperson Hamid Ansari and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan expressed concerns for the loss in legislative business, and work hours, due to chaos during the sittings of sessions. The Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha were adjourned sine die on 16 December 2016.
Sessions of Indian Parliament
The Parliament of India, holds three sessions each year, for legislative business.
* Budget session: February to May.
* Monsoon session: July to September.
* Winter session: November to December
2016 Winter session
The session started on 16 November 2016 and continued until 16 December 2016. Normally the winter session would start in third or fourth week of November, but the 2016 session saw an advanced date of session.
Obituaries
The Lok Sabha paid their respects to recently deceased members of House and world leaders such as Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, former President of Israel Shimon Peres and King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand.
On 6 December 2016, both the Houses of Parliament, paid tribute to Jayalalithaa and both Houses, were adjourned as a mark of respect to the late politician.
Rajya Sabha observed a moment of silence as mark of respect for Cho Ramaswamy, and former Rajya Sabha member V Ramanathan.
Resolution
A unanimous resolution was taken by Lok Sabha on security issues of Indian Parliament during the winter session, as result of Bhagwant Mann creating a video of inside Parliament.
Accusations
The winter session of 2016 witnessed accusations by political leaders including the President of India Pranab Mukherjee over disruption of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Oppostion for not allowing him to speak in House. Lal Krishna Advani alleged that the session was not been able to proceed even for a day. The ruling Government criticised the opposition's focus on the AgustaWestland scam and for not allowing discussion in Parliament. Ananth Kumar criticised the opposition for demeaning Government efforts to combat black money by being association with black money transactions, referencing a sting operation on ministers, of political parties, Indian National Congress, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party.
Proceedings
There was almost a complete lack of consensus between the opposition political parties, during the first five days of the winter session, resulting in an adjournment of both the Houses several times, on the issue of having a debate on the demonetisation as an unplanned move by the Narendra Modi Government, and Nagrota army base attacks .
The Opposition protested against the Government, with sloganeering and uproars on 28 November 2016, demanding presence of Prime Minister in Parliament. The Opposition also demanded Prime Minister, Narendra Modi should apologise to Opposition, for accusing the Opposition for favouring black money.
The first day of Rajya Sabha had started with an initiation of discussion on currency ban by Narendra Modi Government, by Anand Sharma.
All India Trinamool Congress gave a notice in the Rajya Sabha to discuss the issue urgently, suspending legislative business under Rule 267 on November 16
Mallikarjun Kharge informed that Indian National Congress was willing to debate the issue under Rule 56/ Rule 184 while the ruling party proposed to discuss it under Rule 193, which does not entail voting. The opposition rejected it.
Former Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh labeled the note ban initiative as "a monumental management failure" and a case of "organised loot and legalised plunder of common man" due to deaths and distress among the poor, farmers and small traders.
The Opposition leader Ghulam Nabi Azad of Rajya Sabha raised an issue on 3 December 2016, on Indian army monitoring toll centres, in West Bengal. Ghulam Nabi Azad also raised an issue in Rajya Sabha for an obituary and homage (i.e. a demonstration of respect) to be observed in the Indian Parliament for Indian army officers who were, killed in terrorist attack at Nagrota.
On the 16 day, 8 December 2016, of winter session, Lok Sabha managed to have legislative business, with debate, amid chaos in House.
The Opposition raised concerns with sloganeering, on alleged corruption issues of Union Minister Kiren Rijiju in Arunachal Pradesh hydal project.
Tabled Bills
The bills tabled in the Lok Sabha in the winter session were.
*
* The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014
Bills passed in Lok Sabha in winter session
On 29 November 2016, , was passed, as a money bill in Lok Sabha. Amendments are likely to be made to The Income-tax Act, 1961. After a customary passage through Rajya Sabha , the bill will form the new Income Tax Law for Taxations and penalties on black money holders. On 14 December 2016, Rajya Sabha passed the The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014 with a discussion in the House, and passed by Lok Sabha.

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