Current Affairs August 2019 - Bills & Acts
1 - Parliament passed Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code Bill
Parliament has passed the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2019. The Bill amends the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. The Bill seeks to bring in clarity regarding the preference of secured financial creditors over operational creditors in the matter of distribution of assets of the corporate debtor.
The IBC Bill provides a time-bound process for resolving insolvency in companies and among individuals. Insolvency is a situation where individuals or companies are unable to repay their outstanding debt.
2 - Parliament passed Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India, (Amendment) Bill - 2019
Parliament has passed the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India, AERA (Amendment) Bill-2019. The bill increases the threshold of annual passenger traffic for major airports from 15 lakh to over 35 lakh passengers.
The Bill seeks to amend the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India Act, 2008. The threshold has been increased as the number of air traffic passenger has been increased 117 million from 2008 to 345 million now.
3 - Parliament passed Code on Wages Bill, 2019
Parliament has passed the Code on Wages Bill, 2019 after it was passed in the Rajya Sabha. The Code universalizes the provisions of minimum wages and timely payment of wages to all employees irrespective of the sector and wage ceiling.
Under the Code, the tripartite committee comprising representatives of trade unions, employers and state governments would fix a floor wage for workers throughout the country and no state government can fix the minimum wage below it.
4 - President approved Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Bill 2019
President Ram Nath Kovind has signed the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Bill 2019. Parliament adopted resolutions to scrap Article 370 and Article 35A in Jammu and Kashmir. The Bill seeks to scrap Article 370 and to make Jammu and Kashmir a Union Territory with the legislature and Ladakh Union Territory without legislature.
The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Second Amendment) Bill 2019 having provisions of 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections of upper caste in the state was also passed by the parliament.
5 - Lok Sabha passed bill to ban commercial surrogacy
Lok Sabha has passed the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019 that prohibits commercial surrogacy, but allows only close relatives of infertile couples to volunteer for “ethical altruistic" reasons. The purpose of the Bill is to ensure effective regulation of surrogacy.
It defines surrogacy as a practice where a woman gives birth to a child for an intending couple with the intention to hand over the child after the birth to the intending couple. The offences under the Bill include undertaking or advertising commercial surrogacy, exploiting the surrogate mother and abandoning, exploiting or disowning a surrogate child.
6 - President issued Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order 2019 superseding 1954 order
The President has issued Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 2019. The Order comes into force at once and supersedes Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order 1954 as amended from time to time.
The Order adds several clauses to Article 367. These include, the Constituent Assembly of the State shall become Legislative Assembly of the state as mentioned in Clause 2 of the Article. The Governor of the state shall act on the advice of his Council of Ministers. The order reads that the President, acting on the advice of the Legislative Assembly of the State shall henceforth be construed as references to Governor of Jammu and Kashmir.
7 - Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill passed in Lok Sabha
Lok Sabha passed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019. The Bill provides a mechanism for social, economic and educational empowerment of transgenders. A transgender person will have to make an application to the District Magistrate, who will issue a certificate of identity to the transgender person.
The Bill states that a transgender person shall have the right to self-perceived gender identity. It also states that every establishment will have to appoint a complaints officer to deal with complaints relating to the violation of any provisions.
8 - President accords approval to increase number of Supreme Court judges
President Ram Nath Kovind passed a bill which seeks to increase the number of Supreme Court judges from the present 30 to 33 besides the Chief Justice of India. The Parliament had earlier passed the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill.
There are almost 60000 cases pending in the apex court. Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi had also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to increase the number of judges in the top court.
9 - Rajasthan Assembly passed bills to curb honour killings and Mob Lynching
Rajasthan legislative assembly passed two important bills to curb honour killings and Mob Lynching. 'The Rajasthan Protection from Lynching Bill, 2019' and ‘The Rajasthan Prohibition of Interference with the Freedom of Matrimonial Alliances in the Name of Honour and Tradition Bill, 2019’ was passed by the assembly.
Rajasthan has become the second state after Manipur which passed a law to curb lynching cases. The Bill has provision of Life term imprisonment and a fine up to Rupees 5 lakh to convicts in cases of mob lynching.
10 - Rajya Sabha passed National Medical Commission Bill
The Rajya Sabha has passed the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill. The NMC Bill seeks to replace the Medical Council of India (MCI) and set up a National Medical Commission. It will repeal the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, which led to the formation of the MCI.
The NMC Bill proposes a common final year MBBS exam, to be known as the National Exit Test (NEXT), for admission to postgraduate medical courses. Section 32 of the NMC Bill provides for the licensing of 350,000 unqualified non-medical persons to practise modern medicine.
11 - Parliament approved landmark Consumer Protection Bill, 2019
The Parliament approved the landmark Consumer Protection Bill, 2019 which aims to protect the rights of consumers. The Bill will replace the more than three decades old Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
The Bill proposes
setting up of a Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers as a class.
for Mediation and e-filing of cases.
an exclusive law dealing with Product Liability for the first time. A manufacturer or product service provider or product seller will now be responsible to compensate for injury or damage caused by defective product or deficiency in services.
to check misleading advertisements and adulteration of products.
12 - President approved Motor Vehicles Amendment Act
President Ram Nath Kovind approved the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019. The bill amends the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 that aims to make Indian roads safer, reduce corruption and use technology to overhaul the country's transportation system.
Provisions related to increasing penalties on traffic violations, addressing issues on third-party insurance, regulation of cab aggregators and road safety are proposed in the amendment. The Bill proposes a scheme to allow cashless treatment of victims in a road accident during the golden hour.
13 - Rajya Sabha passed the National Institute of Design (Amendment) Bill
The Rajya Sabha has passed the National Institute of Design (Amendment) Bill, 2019 which seeks to declare four National Institutes of Design in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, and Haryana as institutions of national importance. The Bill seeks to amend the National Institute of Design Act, 2014.
Currently, these institutes are registered as Societies under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and do not have the power to grant degrees or diplomas. The four institutes will be granted the power to grant degrees and diplomas.
14 - Parliament passed Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Amendment Bill, 2019
The Parliament has passed the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Amendment Bill, 2019. The bill seeks for speedy eviction of unauthorised occupants from government residential accommodations.
The bill defines ‘residential accommodation occupation’ as the occupation of public premises by a person on the grant of a license for such occupation. The Bill adds a provision laying down the procedure for eviction from residential accommodation. The notice will require the person to show cause of why an eviction order should not be made against him, within three working days.
15 - Two new UTs, J&K and Ladakh will come into existence on Oct 31
Two newly created Union Territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh will come into existence on Oct 31. As per Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, Central Government appointed the 31st day of October, 2019 for the purposes of the said Act.
UT of Jammu and Kashmir will have a Lieutenant Governor and will work of legislature like Puducherry whereas Ladakh will be a UT like Chandigarh, without legislature. The tenure of J&K assembly will be of 5 years with maximum strength of its assembly of 107.
