Current Affairs September 2019 - Bills & Acts

1 - 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 lakhs 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 passengers have increased from 117 million in 2008 to 345 million now.

2 - 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 universalises 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.

3 - 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.

4 - 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.

5 - 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.

6 - 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.

7 - 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 60,000 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.

8 - Consumer Protection Rule to be implemented by Dec 30

Union Minister of Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, Ram Vilas Paswan, announced that Consumer Protection Rule will be implemented by 30 December 2019. Under this rule Consumer Protection Authority will be made powerful for consumer interests and consumer can complain to authority not only after buying any product but before and during buying also.

The Consumer Protection Bill, 2019, introduced in Lok Sabha in July 2019 replaces the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

9 - The Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Amendment Bill, 2019 comes into force

The Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Amendment Bill, 2019 which was passed by the Parliament has come into effect. It will facilitate smooth and speedy eviction of unauthorized occupants from Government residential accommodations and ensure retrieval of these residential accommodations from unauthorized occupants.

As per the Amendment Act, the Estate officer will issue short Show cause notice of three days before eviction of the unauthorized occupant from Government accommodation.

10 - Cabinet approved Promulgation of the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes Ordinance

The Union Cabinet has approved the Promulgation of the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes (production, manufacture, import, export, transport, sale, distribution, storage and advertisement) Ordinance, 2019. It will help protect population, especially the youth and children, from the risk of addiction through E-cigarettes.

Electronic-cigarettes are battery-operated devices that produce aerosol by heating a solution containing nicotine, which is the addictive substance in combustible cigarettes. These include all forms of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems, Heat Not Burn Products, e-Hookah and the like devices.

11 - Cabinet approved Productivity Linked Bonus to railway employees

The Union Cabinet has approved the payment of Productivity Linked Bonus (PLB) equivalent to 78 days wages to over 11.52 Lakh eligible non-gazetted railway employees (excluding RPF/RPSF personnel) for the Financial Year (FY) 2018-19 at an expenditure of Rs. 2024.40 crores to the exchequer.

This is the sixth consecutive year that the government has maintained a bonus of 78 days’ wages. PLB to all non-gazetted railway employees is an acknowledgement of their contribution to the efficient running of the Railways.