NEW DELHI: The National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information (NCPRI), Disabled Rights Group (DRG), National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), and the National Coalition for Strengthening of Prevention of Atrocities Act (NCSPA), who have formed a coalition called the Lok Sansad, continued their agitation at Jantar Mantar to press for the passing of five pending "consensus bills" in Parliament.
The coalition stated that now that the Lok Sabha had passed the Telangana Bill, it must take up these bills. It is demanding the passage of the Grievance Redress Bill, the Whistleblowers Protection Bill, the Disability Rights Bill, the Street Vendors Bill and the SCs and STs [PoA] amendment bill – all of which have the support of all major political parties.
Three of these five bills stalled in Parliament affect the lives of over 70 million persons with disability and their families, over 166 million people who belong to scheduled castes (SCs), over 84 million who belong to scheduled tribes (STs) and over 10 million street vendors.
The two other bills, the Whistle Blowers Protection Bill and the Grievances Bill, affect every single citizen of this country suffering the blight of corruption and the lack of a grievance redressal mechanism, they pointed out. In contrast, the Telengana Bill, which was pushed through on Tuesday, affects the population of Telengana, 35 million, and that of entire Andhra Pradesh, over 84 million.
The coalition held its dharna at Jantar Mantar, where street vendors are on a hunger strike for the street vendors bill. More than 30 people are on the hunger strike, which has entered its third day. The coalition sent letters to the Lok Sabha speaker and Rajya Sabha chairperson demanding that the consensus bills be immediately taken up. It met Kamal Nath and V Narayanasamy to appeal that the bills be tabled. Both of them promised that the bills were a priority and will be taken up, coalition leaders said.
On Monday, the coalition met Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Arun Jaitley, who extended support for the bills. Rahul Gandhi, assured them that the Congress was firmly pushing for these bills. He made an appeal to all parties in Parliament and said that even if one day was set aside, the consensus bills could be passed.