Bills to address post-retirement politics, citizenship to be introduced in RS

New Delhi: Private Members’ Bills scheduled for the upcoming Monsoon Session of the Rajya Sabha include proposals for prohibiting holders of constitutional posts, such as judges, from joining political parties post-retirement, addressing issues related to artificial intelligence and deepfakes, and amending the citizenship law.

In all, 23 Private Members’ Bills have been listed for introduction in the upcoming session in the Upper House.

The Constitution (amendment) Bill, 2024 (amendment of articles 124, 148, 319 and 324 and insertion of new articles 220A and 309A), listed by Rashtriya Janata Dal MP AD Singh, seeks to bar those retiring from Constitutional posts, like judges and former election commissioners from joining political parties post retirement, a source said.

The Bill comes against the backdrop of recent controversies such as one involving Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who resigned from his judicial position on March 5, and within two days, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.

In July, former Madhya Pradesh High Court judge Rohit Arya joined the BJP, three months after his retirement. Another Bill listed by Singh seeks amendment in the The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita to include marital rape as a crime.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP V Sivadasan has listed two Bills — one seeking universal basic income and another enactment of Right to Old Age Care.

Trinamool Congress MP Mausam Noor has also listed two bills, one on protecting rights of employees from Artificial Intelligence, and another seeking criminalisation of ‘deepfake’.

Deepfake involves morphing someone’s face or other features of their body digitally to make it appear like someone else, typically for malicious purposes. During the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, concerns were expressed over the use of deepfake videos to spread misinformation. Union Home Minister Amit Shah was one of its victims.

P Sandosh Kumar of Communist Party of India has listed a bill to create an Artificial Intelligence Technology Regulatory Authority. Kumar has also listed The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2024 to amend the law to provide citizenship to “persecuted minorities” from neighbouring countries, and not to provide citizenship on the basis of religion, as prescribed in the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.

The law which led to protests in several parts of the country, including Delhi, provides for accelerated eligibility for Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, and who entered India on or before December 31, 2014. The Act does not mention Muslims.

A private member’s bill is a bill introduced by a legislator who is not a part of government. Only 14 such bills have been passed by both Houses since 1952. According to a booklet published by Rajya Sabha secretariat, the importance of Private Members’ Bills lies in the fact that they enable legislators to draw attention to issues which might not be represented in Government Bills or to highlight the issues and gaps in the existing legal framework requiring legislative intervention.

input: PTI