Stormy Monsoon Session ends with student protests, mining Bill passed

The Story in Brief

The monsoon session of Parliament, beginning July 20, was dominated by student protests demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Delhi Police’s crackdown on protesters, filmed assaulting and attempting to sexually abuse students, drew sustained criticism for the BJP, though no accountability has been fixed yet. Pradhan resigned during the session, which also passed the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill amid Opposition protests that it undermines federalism and local rights. A Bill mandating the full Vande Mataram at state functions and a new law against exam malpractices were also passed.

Two major legislative attempts, a new architecture for delimitation and amendments to the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), were stalled but remain alive. The government will now send the FCRA Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee, while the Centre has been urged to hold broader consultations. The Opposition succeeded in blocking these moves, but the session showed the risks of treating Parliament as a gladiatorial arena. The Hindu notes that the BJP’s initial confidence from the West Bengal election win was upended by the police controversy.