Soon after Question Hour ended, Speaker Om Birla allowed the government to introduce the Bills that were listed for legislative business.
The Bills introduced are The DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2019; The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019; The National Investigation Agency (Amendment) Bill, 2019; The Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2019; The Consumer Protection Bill, 2019; The Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Amendment Bill, 2019; The Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial (Amendment) Bill, 2019; and The Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
The DNA Bill, introduced by Union Minister Harsh Vardhan, is aimed at providing the regulation of use and application of DNA technology for the purposes of establishing the identity of certain categories of persons including victims, offenders, suspects, undertrials, missing persons and unknown deceased persons and for matters connected to them.
The Bill was passed by Lok Sabha on January 8 but could not be passed in Rajya Sabha and lapsed.
The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019 was introduced by Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy, who also introduced The National Investigation Agency (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and The Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan introduced The Consumer Protection Bill, 2019 to provide for protection of the interests of consumers and for the said purpose, to establish authorities for timely and effective administration and settlement of consumers' disputes and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri introduced The Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Amendment Bill, 2019 to amend the 1971 act.
The Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was introduced by Union Minister Prahlad Singh Patel to amend the 1951 Act.
The Congress vehemently opposed the government's move to end the automatic nomination of the Congress President to the Jallianwala Bagh National Bagh Memorial Trust, calling it an "arbitrary act".
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor led the charge while opposing the Bill.
Introducing the Bill, Patel said it was passed by the 16th Lok Sabha but could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha where the government lacked majority.
Besides removing the Congress President as a trustee, it also says that when there is no Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, then the leader of the single largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha will be the trustee. The Bill also allows the Central government to terminate the term of a nominated trustee before the expiry of his term without assigning any reason.
The Centre's move comes during the centenary commemoration of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
The Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was also introduced by Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal 'Nishank' to amend the 2009 Act.
( With inputs from IANS )