Farmers Movement Archive

Govt to replace 12 ordinances with bills in monsoon session

Bhubaneswar: As many as 12 ordinances will be replaced with bills in the monsoon session of the state assembly that starts from September 29. The state government has already informed the assembly about the replacement of the 12 ordinances as bills, said official sources. Since the assembly was not in session, the state cabinet had promulgated a number of ordinances in the past six months to strengthen its fight against Covid-19 and boost economic activities. These ordinances centre on enforcing strict Covid regulations, helping farmers augment their income by providing a free market, revival of pandemic-hit industries and MSMEs, regulation of university administration and to expand corpus of Odisha Contingency Fund, among others. “Ordinances are temporary laws that are promulgated by the governor on the recommendation of the state cabinet, when the House is not in session. Since an ordinance has a life of six months, it has to be replaced by a bill in the assembly within six weeks of reassembly,” said an official of the assembly, requesting anonymity. Apart from replacing the 12 ordinances as bills, the government may also table other bills during the session. An all-party meeting has been convened by speaker SN Patro on September 25 to discuss the conduct of the session. Parliamentary affairs minister BK Arukh and senior leaders of all parties are scheduled to attend it. “If the state government wants to introduce any other bill, it will say so at the all-party meeting,” said the official. To strengthen its fight against the pandemic, the state health and family welfare department had promulgated two ordinances to amend the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897. The two ordinances, promulgated in April and August, have provision of imprisonment of up to two years and fine of up to Rs 1 lakh for non-compliance with Covid regulations. In the farm sector, the state government had promulgated two ordinances — The Odisha Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing (promotion and facilitation) Ordinance, 2020, and the Odisha Agricultural Produce and Livestock Contract Farming Services (promotion and facilitation) Ordinance, 2020, in May. These ordinances, which align with central laws, were promulgated to facilitate geographical restriction-free trade of agricultural produce and to ensure better market linkages for farmers to sell their produce. The Centre on Tuesday passed two farm bills in the Lok Sabha, and these will be tabled in the Rajya Sabha in the next few days. The Odisha University (amendment) Ordinance, 2020, involves reforms brought by the state government in the management of universities. To ensure hassle-free business environment, the state government amended the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, through an ordinance, and gave a number of relaxations to industries. The state government had also promulgated ordinances to amend municipal laws, give relaxations under GST law and amend advocates’ welfare fund.

The Times of India

2020-09-19

Bhubaneswar