On the first day of its 250th session, the Rajya Sabha was around noon adjourned till 2 pm on Monday. The winter session of the Parliament commenced today and both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha paid homage to its sitting and former lawmakers including Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, and Ram Jethmalani. The winter session will go on till December 13 and will provide a total of 20 sittings spread over a period of 26 days, including four Private Members’ days. Many key bills, including the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019, are scheduled to be tabled in this session of the Parliament. Other important bills that are expected to be taken up during the course of the Houses include the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, Anti Maritime Piracy Bill 2019 and Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019. Ahead of the winter session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the session is an important one as it is the last in this year and all lawmakers should contribute to enriching the discussions. Talking about the need to have a “frank discussion” in the Parliament, the Prime Minister said, “It is important that there should be quality debates, there should be dialogue and discussions and everyone should contribute to enriching discussions in the Parliament.” This is the second session of the Parliament since Modi returned to office with a bigger majority for a second successive term.
