Modi govt to give in to Cong on Insurance bill, likely to send it to select committee for review

After the cajoling and threats of a joint session of Parliament failed to move the opposition, the Modi government is reportedly set to bend to the demand for referring the stalled Insurance Bill to a select committee, primarily consisting of MPs from opposing parties, to clear the legislation.

After being stonewalled in the Rajya Sabha, the ruling National Democratic Alliance has reportedly reached out to the opposition and asked for names to be included in the select committee, reported the Economic Times.

The formal announcement about the creation of a select committee is expected to come with the government expressing hope that the legislation is cleared soon so that it can be passed in the next session of Parliament, the report said.

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While the sending of the bill to the committee will delay it being passed by Parliament it could also mean any changes suggested by the committee would have to be implemented by the government.

The government isn’t overtly worried about the delay and an unnamed Union minister was quoted as saying in a Mint report that they didn’t expect it to dent their push for economic reforms and believed the stalling of the legislation would only expose the Congress.

The BJP-led NDA government had announced the clearing of foreign direct investment in the insurance sector soon after it came to power. Ironically, it was of the legislations it had opposed while it was in the opposition.

Now the Congress has stonewalled the legislation in the upper house of Parliament on the grounds that changes may have been made to the original legislation which need to be cleared by a select committee of MPs.

As Firstbiz said earlier, “the reason why the Congress wanted to send the insurance bill to a select committee was to prevent the calling of a joint session of parliament over the next six months - and where the BJP may have an edge. Voting against the bill would have immediately allowed the government to call a joint session.It is probably this strategy of the opposition that the government has now wised up to. It has realised that all laws may now be delayed by up to six months in the Rajya Sabha, where the government (including its NDA allies) is in a hopeless minority. The decision to rush many laws through the Lok Sabha is probably an indication that it will try and pass them quickly and transmit to the Rajya Sabha, which can then delay them for a maximum of six months. After that, it will be time for a joint session."

So while the BJP had hoped a joint session of Parliament will clear the legislation, it isn’t clear if the government will go ahead with the plan in the event that more laws are stalled by the opposition in the upper house of Parliament where they enjoy a majority.