ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly passed as many as 31 government bills and six private members’ bills, and 14 ordinances were laid in the house during the year 2020.

Total working days of the National Assembly during the year were 123 including the joint sittings.

During the year, as many as 58 government bills were introduced, 14 ordinances were laid before the House, whereas, 31 government bills were passed during sessions of the National Assembly held with Speaker Asad Qaiser in the chair.

As many as 79 private member bills were introduced and six private members’ bills were passed that depicts the active involvement of private members in the legislative process.

During 2020 year, as many as 19 resolutions were adopted on different national and international issues out of which the most glaring were regarding combating Islamophobia, commemorating 73rd anniversary of the assembly, and on the Finality of the Prophethood.

During the year, as many as 6,130 questions were received, out of which 891 questions were answered during the sessions of the National Assembly.

The motions were tabled in the House on important issues such as the tragic incident of rape on motorway, Covid-19, agriculture policy, privatisation, and Kashmir issue.

The issues of escalation in Covid-19 pandemic, fatal crash of the PIA flight in Karachi, and issues of privatisation of airports and Steel Mills, and sugar-related issues also came under discussion.

The National Assembly also received 74 questions of privilege during the year, out of which two were disallowed, whereas, 13 were referred to the standing Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges, whereas, 49 were under submission. During the Budget Session, the time consumed by government and the opposition was 57 hours and eight minutes, which was 17 hours eight minutes in excess of 40 hours allotted for general discussion on budget.

However, the whole budget passage consumed 81 hours and 33 minutes including the time consumed on the passage of charged expenditure, presentation and discussion on cut motions, and finally the passage of Finance Bill, 2020-2021. The passage of supplementary grants took total 24 hours and 25 minutes.

The members of the assembly actively participated in the discussion on budget, whereas, total number of 208 including 107 members from the treasury, and 101 members from the Opposition benches spoke on the budget.

The National Assembly Secretariat received 342 calling attention notices, out of which 79 calling attention notices were brought in the House; however, discussion took place on 60 calling attention notices.

After thorough discussion, 15 calling attention notices were referred to the concerned Committees. The Lower House of the Parliament focused on socio-economic issues through its debates, adjournment motions, question hour, and Standing Committees. In spite of the challenges due to Covid-19, the National Assembly kept itself in a functional state to tackle the socio-economic challenges in the country. Taking stock of the Covid-19 situation, the speaker National Assembly carried out consultation with the parliamentary leaders in the National Assembly for forging a joint approach to tackle the pandemic. A Parliamentary Committee on Coronavirus was constituted as a result of consensus among the parliamentary leadership.

Another Special Committee comprising three former speakers and parliamentary leaders was constituted to discuss and suggest measures to hold virtual session of the National Assembly in wake of the pandemic.

This Parliamentary Committee on Covid-19 Disease supervised important policy initiatives such as maximum outreach to the people affected by Covid-19 through Ehsaas Programme, continuation of Extended Programme on Immunization, provision of adequate numbers of ventilators and provision of the Covid-19 testing kits besides rewarding the medical community who offered their services at the frontline.

Speaker Asad Qaiser also constituted Parliamentary Committee on Disabled Persons, which deliberated upon evolving a mechanism to resolve the issues faced by the persons with disabilities.

Agriculture, being the backbone of the country, was also focused by Speaker Asad Qaiser. Special Committee on Agriculture Products took a lot of initiatives for the welfare of the farmers’ community.

This Committee is still working to suggest reforms and policy intervention in the agriculture sector and to resolve the problems of the farmers’ community. Asad Qaiser especially focused to enhance bilateral trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

He constituted Executive Committee of Pakistan-Afghanistan Parliamentary Friendship Group.

The speaker desired that both the government and the opposition benches should work in collaboration for the welfare of the masses.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021