Monsoon Session of Parliament: Another stormy day expected as Opposition looks to use NRC, Aadhaar issues to target govt

It’s expected to be a stormy day in Parliament on Wednesday, with several contentious issues likely to be taken up for debate in the two Houses as the Monsoon Session resumes proceedings. Here are a few of the issues likely to come up for discussion on Wednesday: NRC On Tuesday, proceedings in both Houses were disrupted, with parliamentarians raising the issue of the National Registry of Citizens (NRC) draft in Assam to attack the Central government. MPs from the Trinamool Congress were the most vociferous on Tuesday, protesting outside the Parliament in the morning, while party chief Mamata Banerjee said,“Only to win polls people can’t be victimised. Don’t you think people whose name isn’t on the list will lose a part of their identity? Please understand India-Pakistan-Bangladesh were one before Partition. Whoever came from Bangladesh to India till March 1971 is an Indian citizen (sic).” [caption id=“attachment_4801741” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of the Parliament House in New Delhi. PTI[/caption] On Wednesday, Banerjee is likely to address the Lok Sabha at 12 pm, where she might continue her party’s attack on the NRC exercise and on the central government for conducting it. Congress party MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has also given an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha over the Assam NRC draft issue, the news agency ANI reported . Furthermore, Banerjee is also expected to meet leaders of various Opposition parties, including former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, in the capital on Wednesday. As per a report in The New Indian Express , Banerjee might invite the leaders for a mega anti-BJP rally to be held in Kolkata in January next year. On Tuesday, she met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and his daughter Supriya Sule, besides Ram Jethmalani, Yashwant Sinha and Satrugan Sinha, the report added. Aadhaar Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman RS Sharma putting up his Aadhaar number on social media and challenging hackers to try and break into the system was also discussed and debated by Parliament on Tuesday. Congress leader KC Venugopal termed Sharma’s challenge as “bizarre”. “Hackers are claiming to have accessed his (Sharma) private information. This has caused serious concerns and apprehensions among people about safety and security of their personal information and privacy,” he said. “I request the government to take immediate steps to stop such leakages, because this has become an era of data leakage. But the government is keeping silent. It should come forward and take strong against such misuse of personal data. That is the need of the hour,” he said. NDA ally Shiv Sena also turned on the government over the issue, with party mouthpiece Saamana saying in an editorial that the NDA “stands exposed”. The editorial, as reported by Times Now, pointed out how French hacker Elliot Alderson had exposed how the Aadhaar system’s security flaws could be exposed before the world. It said Alderson managed to “obtain secure data” that was furnished to the UIDAI alone, and asked for the latter to clarify on the issue. Unregulated deposit schemes A bill to ban unregulated deposit schemes was introduced in the Lok Sabha and will come up for discussion on Wednesday. The bill, introduced by BJP minister from Tamil Nadu, P Radhakrishnan, aims to prevent unregulated deposit schemes or arrangements at their inception and makes soliciting deposits related to an unregulated deposit scheme a punishable offence. It provides for deterrent punishment for prompting or operating an unregulated deposit taking scheme. National Sports University Bill Under this bill, the government has proposed the setting up of a specialised sports university in Manipur to promote various sporting disciplines, including aspects of sports such as management, technology and coaching. The bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha by Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore, seeks to “establish and incorporate a National Sports University”, the first of its kind, which would also function as the national training centre for select sporting disciplines. With inputs from agencies