The bills (passed and / or pending) in the
parliament are important part of the topic of ‘governance’, which is an
important subject for the UPSC CSE (Civil Services/ IAS Exam). Therefore,
we bring to you study notes that cover some of the most important bills (passed) in the parliament in the recent times.These UPSC study
notes are brought to you by Oliveboard, an exam preparation platform for banking and
government jobs.
1. The HIV And AIDS (Prevention & Control) Bill,
2014 [Passed]
·
Introduced in the
Rajya Sabha on February 11, 2014 by the Minister for Health and
Family Welfare, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad.
·
It seeks to prevent
and control the spread of HIV and AIDS, prohibits discrimination against
persons with HIV and AIDS, provides for informed consent and confidentiality about
their treatment, places obligations on establishments to safeguard their
rights, and creates mechanisms for redressing their complaints.
·
It lists the
various grounds on which discrimination against HIV positive persons and those
living with them is prohibited. These include the denial, termination,
discontinuation or unfair treatment about: (i) employment, (ii) educational
establishments, (iii) health care services, (iv) residing or renting property,
(v) standing for public or private office, and (vi) provision of insurance
(unless based on actuarial studies). The requirement for HIV testing as a
pre-requisite for obtaining employment or accessing health care or education is
also prohibited.
·
Every HIV infected
or affected person below the age of 18 years has the right to reside in a
shared household and enjoy the facilities of the household. The Bill also
prohibits any individual from publishing information or advocating feelings of
hatred against HIV positive persons and those living with them.
·
The Bill requires
that no HIV test, medical treatment, or research will be conducted on a person
without his informed consent. Establishments keeping records of
information of HIV positive persons shall adopt data
protection measures.
2. The Integrated Goods & Services Tax Bill, 2017
[Passed]
·
The
Integrated Goods and Services Tax Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha
on March 27, 2017. The Bill provides for the levy of the Integrated
Goods and Services Tax (IGST) by the centre on inter-state supply of goods and
services.
·
Levy
of IGST: The centre will levy IGST in the case of (i) inter-state supply
of goods and services, (ii) imports and exports, and (iii) supplies to and from
special economic zones. Supply includes sale, transfer, exchange and
lease made for a consideration to further a business. In addition, IGST
will be levied on any supply which will not fall under the purview of the
Central and State GST Acts.
·
Tax
rates: IGST will be levied at a rate recommended by the GST Council.
The tax rate will be capped at 40%.
·
Exemptions
from IGST: The centre may exempt certain goods and services from the purview
of IGST through a notification. This will be based on the recommendations
of the GST Council.
·
The
GST is expected to add 2% to the country’s GDP, besides making the
movement of goods easier across states. Because so far taxes have varied across
states, often commercial trucks have had to go through multiple checkpoints to
obtain the necessary permits and pay several taxes to the states they pass on
their routes, which causes delays and encourages bribery. A uniform tax will
make that movement of commercial products smoother.
3. The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill,
2013 [Passed]
·
The
Bill provides for mandatory registration of all projects with the Real Estate
Regulatory Authority in each State.
·
It
makes mandatory the disclosure of all information for registered projects like
details of promoters, layout plan, land status, schedule of execution and
status of various approvals.
·
It
seeks to enforce the contract between the developer and buyer and act as a fast
track mechanism to settle disputes.
·
50%
of the buyers’ investment has to be deposited into an escrow account that would
be used only for the construction of that project.
·
The Bill
prohibits a developer from changing the plan in a project unless two-thirds of
the allottees have agreed for such a change.
·
Builders
would be responsible for fixing structural defects for five years after
transferring the property to a buyer.
·
In
case builders still cause delays in transferring properties to buyers, the
appellate tribunals would intervene and slap fines on them within 60 days.
4. The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016
[Passed]
·
The
Act provides maternity leave up to 12 weeks for all women. The Bill extends
this period to 26 weeks. However, a woman with two or more children will be
entitled to 12 weeks of maternity leave.
·
The
Bill introduces maternity leave up to 12 weeks for a woman who adopts a child
below the age of three months, and for commissioning mothers. The period of
maternity leave will be calculated from the date the child is handed over to
the adoptive or commissioning mother.
·
The Bill
requires every establishment with 50 or more employees to provide for crèche
facilities within a prescribed distance. The woman will be allowed four visits
to the crèche in a day.
·
An
employer may permit a woman to work from home, if the nature of work assigned
permits her to do so. This may be mutually agreed upon by the employer and the
woman.
·
The
Bill requires an establishment to inform a woman of all benefits that would be
available under the Bill, at the time of her appointment. Such information must
be given in writing and electronically.
5. The Finance Bill, 2017 [Passed]
·
As
per Finance Bill, 2017, it will now be compulsory to have an
Aadhaar (from July 1, 2017) in order to file income tax returns
and to obtain and retain PAN, or permanent account number. The aim is
to put curbs on instances of issuing multiple PAN to a single individual.
Further, quoting of Aadhaar number would restrict granting of subsidies to only
those individuals who are eligible to claim it.
·
The
amendments to the bill propose to remove: (i) the limit of 7.5% of net profit
of the last three financial years, for contributions that a company may make to
political parties, (ii) the requirement of a company to disclose the name of
the political parties to which a contribution has been made. In addition,
contributions to political parties will have to be made only through a cheque,
bank draft, electronic means, or any other scheme notified by the government to
make contributions to political parties.
·
The threshold
limit of cash payments has been decreased from Rs. 3 lakhs to 2 lakhs.
·
Certain
Tribunals are proposed to be replaced, and their functions are proposed to be
taken over by existing Tribunals under other Acts
Hope this helps!
