The Bills introduced and cleared in Parliament for year 2022

According to the data collated by non-profit organisation PRS Legislative Research shows that the overall Parliament recorded 56 sittings in 2022, across the Budget, Monsoon, and winter sessions, the number of Parliament sittings has been declining over the last 50 years and has halved since the 1950s and 1960s.

So, let us assess the bill that passed this year in Parliament.

About the Bills:

• The Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill, 2022:
  • The Bill amends the 2005 version of the Act, which prohibits the unlawful manufacture, transport, or transfer of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), including chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and their means of delivery.
  • It includes the prohibition of financing any activity related to WMD and their delivery systems and gives the central government the power to crack down on financial sources suspected of catering to the same.

• The Indian Antarctic Bill, 2022:
  • The Bill aims to regulate visits and activities to Antarctica as well as potential disputes that may arise among those present on the continent.
  • It prohibits private tours and expeditions to Antarctica without a permit or written authorisation from a member country and includes provisions for penalising defaulters.
  • The Bill also includes a structure for government officials to inspect a vessel and conduct checks of research facilities and calls for creating a fund to protect the continent’s environment.

• The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022:
  • This Bill replaces the Identification of Prisoners Act, of 1920.
  • It allows the police and prison authorities to collect store and analyse physical and biological samples including the retina and iris scans of convicted, arrested and detained persons.

• The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022:
  • This amendment Bill was introduced when Delhi was gearing up for Municipal Corporation elections, which were then halted.
  • This Bill amended the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act of 1957, which was in turn amended by the Delhi Legislative Assembly in 2011, to divide the Municipal Corporation of Delhi into three bodies— North, South, and East.
  • The new amendment merged all three bodies into one.
• The Constitution (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Orders (Amendment) Bills, 2022: This bill includes;
  • The Bill amends the ST order to include the Deshwari, Ganjhu, Dautalbandi (Dwalbandi), Patbandi, Raut, Maajhia, Khairi (Kheri), Tamaria (Tamadia), and Puran communities of Jharkhand in the ST list and recategorises the Bhogta community in the State as ST from SC.
  • It also excludes the Gond community from the SC list in four districts of Uttar Pradesh – Sant Kabir Nagar, Sant Ravidas Nagar, Kushinagar, and Chandauli, and adds it to the ST list in these four districts.
  • The Bill amends the ST order to make the Darlong community of Tripura a sub-tribe of the Kuki tribe.
  • It includes the Narikoravan and Kurivikkaran communities in the Tamil Nadu ST list.
  • It includes Betta-Kuruba as a synonym for the Kadu Kuruba community in the Karnataka ST list.
• The Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2022:
  • This Bill seeks to convert the National Rail and Transportation Institute (NRTU) into the ‘Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya’, an autonomous central university.
  • It also expands the scope of the university from just the railways to cover the entire transport sector and supports growth and modernisation in the field.
• The Family Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2022:
  • This Bill pertained only to Himachal Pradesh and Nagaland.
  • It amends the Family Courts Act, 1984, and extends the application of the Act to the mentioned States.
  • Governments in both Nagaland and Himachal Pradesh had already set up family courts under the 1984 Act before it was applicable there.
• The New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (Amendment) Bill, 2022:
  • This Bill renames the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre as the India International Arbitration Centre.
• The Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2022:
  • This Bill facilitates the promotion of green Hydrogen as an alternative to fossil fuels used by industries and incentivises efforts to use clean energy.