“By all means, the fate of the `The Insurance Bill, 2023’ is now sealed and it depends upon the next government, which will be in place by June 2024, to take a call on this legislative document,’’ said government sources
New Delhi:
Any hope of `The Insurance Bill, 2023’ being introduced in the Parliament, during the existing tenure of the Modi government, has finally got dashed as the Bill finds no mention among the total of 21 Bills including two financial bills, that are likely to be taken up during the upcoming Winter Session of the Parliament.
The list of the 19 Bills was released on the day when an all-party meeting was held on Saturday, ahead of the commencement of the Winter Session on Monday.
“We are bringing in 19 Bills and two are financial items. There are a total of 21 items. The three bills are from the Home Ministry. There is a bill on Central University, constitutional order,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said.
Joshi said that the Winter session will commence on December 4 and will conclude on December 22.”
There will be 15 sittings in a period of 19 days,” he said.
According to the government sources, the Winter Session of the Parliament was probably the last chance for the government to introduce the `The Insurance Bill, 2023 in the Parliament as the next session starting from beginning of February will be a Budget session quickly to be followed by the general election in April- May.
February 1, 2024 budget, without any major announcements, that will be presented in the Lok Sabha will just be a vote on account because as the government will be in an election mode. So the budget that the government presents will just be to meet the expenditure of the government till a new government comes to play, said sources.
Earlier, it was expected that `The Insurance Bill, 2023’, for which Department of Financial services had done extensive works in terms of consultations with the industry, to be tabled during the Monsoon Session but didn’t happen.
“By all means, the fate of the `The Insurance Bill, 2023’ is now sealed and it depends upon the next government, which will be in place after June 2024, to take a call on this legislative document,’’ said government sources.
Earlier, disappointing the Indian insurance industry, prospective new players and the insurance regulator IRDAI, the government had dropped all its plans to effect any major changes, proposed by it earlier, in the various existing Insurance Acts, for pushing faster and higher penetration.
Orginally, back on 29th Nov, 2022, with a much broader objective of brining about much deeper and sharper reforms in the sector by enacting Insurance Laws(Amendment) Act, 2022, DFS had invited public comments on proposed amendments to the Insurance Act,1938′ and `Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999,’ which were later put on back burner by it.
After shelving the plans to bring in any kind of major amendments in the existing Insurance Acts, the DFS had drafted `The Insurance Bill, 2023’ with a narrower objective of changing `The Insurance Act 1938′ by updating and simplifying some of its provisions.
In the orginal plans,Insurance Laws(Amendment) Act, 2022, the government had put forward major proposals relating to much talked about new proposed systems like composite license’,`differential capital’, `reduction in solvency norms’,`captive license’, `change in investment regulations,`one-time registration for intermediaries’ and `allowing insurers to distribute other financial products’.
Bills during Monsson session
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bhartiya Sakshya Adhiniyam are among the key Bills that will be taken up by the Parliament during its Monsoon Session.
Other Bills that will be taken up include the Repealing and Amending Bill (as passed by the Lok Sabha), the Advocates (Amendment) Bill (as passed by the Rajya Sabha) and the Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill (as passed by the Rajya Sabha).
Speaking about the all-party meeting, Joshi said, “30 leaders from 23 parties were present in today’s all-party meeting under the chairmanship of Rajnath Singh. We have received several suggestions.”
The Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Castes Order (Amendment) Bill, Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Bill, Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill will also be taken up.
In addition to this, the Post Office Bill and The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill are also on the cards.
The Boilers Bill, Provisional Collection of Taxes Bill, Central Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill, Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Amendment) Bill, Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second (Amendment) Bill and Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2023 may also be taken up.
Among Financial Business, there will be a Presentation, Discussion and Voting on the First Batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for the year 2023-24 and the introduction, consideration and passing of the related Appropriation Bill.
The Presentation, Discussion and Voting on Demands for Excess Grants for the year 2020-21 and the introduction, consideration and passing of the related Appropriation Bill will also be taken up.