In the 100 days of the Modi govt, parliament passed some controversial bills including Triple talaq bill, UAPA Bill, RTI Amendment bill and a bill to abrogate article 370.
New Delhi| After winning a thumping majority in the Lok Sabha elections, it was on May 30th that the Modi Sarkar 2.0 took to power. Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India for the second consecutive time and his cabinet was also sworn in on the same day.
It has been 100 days since the Modi 2.0 former the government at the centre. In an interview to Economic Times, PM Modi had requested the experts to “see this government as a government in continuity” from the last five years, and not in isolation. However, as compared to his last stint, the first 100 days of Modi 2.0 remained full of action and controversial.
The budget session of the parliament under this new government also saw the highest productivity. Some very controversial bills and laws were also passed in the session.
Here is a list of controversial decisions and bills in the 100 days of Modi govt:
Triple Talaq Bill:
After failing to clear the Rajya Sabha hurdle in the last five year, the new Modi govt was finally successful in passing the Triple Talaq Bill. The bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha with 99 to 84 votes.
After the Supreme Court in its historic verdict declared the practice of Triple Talaq illegal, Modi govt introduced the bill to criminalise the practice in the Lok Sabha. Since then, it has been a bone of contention between the Narendra Modi government and the Opposition.
While the opposition alleged that the sole purpose of the bill is to punish the Muslim men, govt argued saying that the archaic practice has also been banned in 20 Islamic countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Jordan, Egypt and Tunisia
Article 370:
Unarguably the most controversial bill and the decision that was taken by the government within 100 days of coming to power. Article 370, that provided special status for the state of Jammu and Kashmir for almost 70 years was abrogated by the Modi government. Not only that, the state was divided into two parts- Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir. The state was stripped of its status and was turned into a Union Territory. Jammu and Kashmir were made a UT with legislative assembly while Ladakh was made a UT without an assembly.
Several mainstream political leaders and separatists were put under detention and communication blockade was enforced to prevent untoward incidents that continues even today-after one month of announcement. The government has also maintained that there have not been reports of major violent incidents reported.
RTI Amendment Act:
The Modi govt came under fire from several activists and opposition members for the proposed amendments into the RTI Act. They also alleged that the Modi govt was trying to make the RTI toothless.
The bill proposes to amend the Right to Information Act, 2005 so as to provide that the term of office of, and the salaries, allowances and other terms and conditions of service of, the Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners and the State Chief Information Commissioner and the State Information Commissioners, “shall be such as may be prescribed by the Central Government.”
The opposition and activists said that this will hamper the autonomy of the Information Commission.
UAPA Amendment Bill:
On August 2, the parliament passed the UAPA amendment bill. The Bill is an anti-terror legislation that sought to designate an individual as a “terrorist”. It was earlier passed by the Lok Sabha on July 24.
The Amendment to Schedule 4 of the UAPA will allow the NIA to designate an individual suspected to have terror links as a terrorist. As of now, only organisations are designated as ‘terrorist organisations’. The amendments will also allow the NIA probe cybercrimes and cases of human trafficking. However, the opposition parties have opposed the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019 claiming that in the name of tackling terror, fundamental rights of an individual cannot be foregone.
Recently, the govt termed several including Hafiz Saeed, Masood Azhar and Dawood Ibrahim as terrorist under the amended law.
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