The Budget Session of the Indian Parliament was curtailed due to Covid-19 and the sudden imposition of lockdown and since then Parliament has not been in session. The pandemic and the lockdown have fundamentally altered people’s lives and almost no sector or section of society has been left unaffected. World over, many countries have moved to virtual and online sessions because, especially in a pandemic, Parliament cannot stop representing the people and keeping a check on the executive. But in India, several far-reaching and even controversial policy decisions taken by the government have escaped any kind of legislative scrutiny or representative accountability. Therefore, concerned citizens decided to get together and convened a Janta Parliament to discuss urgent Covid related policy measures. The Janta Parliament met in New Delhi from 16th August to 21st August. There were 13 sessions in all, including an inaugural session with four speakers and a closing session where political parties were specially invited to hear summaries of resolutions from each four hour session.
The Janta Parliament was adjourned after 43 hours of discussions with around 250 speakers, over a hundred resolutions, over a thousand voting participants and engaging with over one lakh people on social media.
Below is the first document of the report of the Janta Parliament. It comprises the core issues of immediate concern as identified by each of the anchoring groups of the Janta Parliament. It is a summary of the suggestions made in the concluding session of the Janta Parliament.
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CORE DEMANDS TOWARDS A COMMON MINIMUM PROGRAMME
Overarching demands
1. Governments should increase expenditure, especially in social sectors, and impose a wealth tax of 2% on the richest 1% which should be backed with an 1/3 inheritance tax – the resources generated from which can provide universal coverage for the fundamental socio-economic rights to food, healthcare, education, employment and pensions.
2. Reject ordinances passed during the lockdown. Any new legislation, including in the areas of agriculture, labour, EIA and criminal law, have to be publicly discussed and debated in the Parliament before they are passed by the Parliament.
3. The government must respect and follow the spirit of federalism as envisaged in the Constitution. Several recent developments go against the spirit of federalism, including NEP 2020, GST payments to states, the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2019, etc.
4. Counter the attack on democracy and by deepening democracy and empowering local self-government institutions (including gram sabhas, urban local bodies, autonomous councils and other such bodies in Fifth and Sixth Schedule Area and states with special Constitutional status) with financial and legal powers using the 73rd/74th Constitutional Amendments and other Constitutional provisions as the foundation; such powers should include the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent for any activity proposed on lands/waters in their jurisdiction as well as the right to reject projects proposed under the guise of “Development”.
5. The Atmanirbhar Bharat Covid recovery / stimulus package will not enhance the self-reliance of communities and people who are most vulnerable to crises like COVID; rather, it will destroy their existing livelihood base through coal and other mining projects, and by favouring bigger commercial players including corporates. It must instead focus on:
– the livelihoods of the most vulnerable populations and youth, with substantial packages to support small-holder agriculture, pastoralism, fisheries, forestry and crafts including through the regeneration and conservation of their natural resource base, as also small and medium manufacturing, energy and community-managed services in every settlement, providing dignified livelihoods to all migrant/casual workers and other small producers who have suffered in the COVID lockdown period, and ensuring food, energy and health security and self-reliance through local self-governance institutions in each settlement.
– Increasing and promoting social and ecological resilience of communities, building on their local ecological base, traditional knowledge and skills, and helping them avoid distress migration in search of precarious, exploitative jobs.
– The urban poor and migrant labour must be protected by strengthening workers rights, labour laws and providing social security cover through universal services, such as the right to food, health, education, housing, etc to ensure the dignity of life as promised in the Constitution. Labour who are migrating under distress must be registered in their home states as well as the states that they are migrating to and should be included in the voters list of the state that they have migrated to.
– The overall fiscal stimulus should be at least 10% of GDP without privatization of the public sector and services.
Sectoral demands
Economic Activity and Concerns Related to the Environment
Environment
1. Withdraw the draft EIA 2020 notification, and in its place, initiate a process of widespread consultation for a bringing in a comprehensive environmental regulatory regime, which includes seeking consent from institutions of local self-governance empowered under the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments for any projects in their jurisdiction.
2. Withdraw all coal block auctions, and carry out a process of consultation, seeking consent, and recognition of forest rights under FRA in every village in the areas proposed for coal mining; simultaneously, draw up a comprehensive sustainable energy plan for India, drawing on the best available expertise from civil society and communities, that phases out fossil fuels, nuclear energy and large hydro, energises all settlements with decentralised renewable energy, and eliminates luxury and non-essential demand.
3. Put a moratorium on diversion of natural ecosystems for mining, industrial and other infrastructural/development projects (other than very small ones necessary for community basic needs), till such a regulatory regime and processes for full community participation in decision-making are in place.
Agriculture
1. Compensate farmers for the losses suffered this year for losses of vegetables, fruits, crops, milk and poultry produce due to hailstorms, unseasonal rains and lockdown in February-June 2020; unconditional transfer of Rs 10,000 in the name of women for all the poor rural households with emphasis on single women and female headed households for at least six months; undertake comprehensive identification of all cultivators irrespective of land ownership or title, including tenant farmers, sharecroppers, women farmers and adivasi farmers, and extending all entitlements and support systems to all of them – including bank credit, crop insurance, disaster compensation, PM-KISAN and other schemes; develop a relief package for the sector in consultation with fish worker organisations and individuals and front load in advance a monthly allowance of INR 15,000/- for a period of at least six months to the fishworkers and those engaged in allied activities; repeal the legislations related to liberalisation of land laws and forest rights introduced in the period of the COVID lockdown;
2. In order to ensure no corporate loot in agriculture, oppose, withdraw and repeal the three agriculture related ordinances, the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2020, which increases centralisation and the input cost for irrigation, as well as the Draft Fisheries Policy 2020 and the Indo-US Trade Agreement proposal.
3. Call a special session of Parliament to exclusively discuss the agrarian crisis and related issues of farmers. Consider and pass the two vital bills crafted by the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) [The Farmers’ Freedom from Indebtedness bill, 2018 and The Farmers’ Right to Guaranteed Remunerative Minimum Support Prices for Agricultural Commodities Bill, 2018] and the Pesticide Management Bill after including amendments to strengthen the regulation of pesticide companies.
Economy
1. State governments should be given their due GST compensation immediately and should be allowed to borrow from RBI directly to tackle the COVID pandemic.
2. Central and state governments along the Reserve Bank of India should come up with measures to improve the overall economy of this country, to make it more financially inclusive for people and reduce income inequality. Instead of giving corporate tax concessions governments should increase expenditure, especially in social sectors, and impose a wealth tax of 2% on the richest 1% which should be backed with an 1/3 inheritance tax – the resources generated from which can provide universal coverage for the fundamental socio-economic rights to food, healthcare, education, employment and pensions.
3. To improve the banking system, commercial banks should be restricted for retail lending with
special focus on small depositors and borrowers; and development banks should be revived for large scale developmental projects with due diligence in lending practices.
4. Stop privatisation of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE)
Labour and Employment
1. The government must not use the ordinance route and must pass all laws through the legislature in a democratic manner. Introduction of Labour Codes must be stopped.
2. Entitlement to work under MGNREGA should be 200 days and a similar scheme should also be introduced for urban areas.
3. On an urgent basis the registration of workers must be done under the Unorganised Workers Social Security Act, 2008, Building and Other Construction Workers Act or any other state laws on access of welfare entitlements.
Social Sectors
Health
1. The Union government must allocate an additional supplementary budget of Rs 20,000 crores for the Health budget during 2020-21, with a concrete roadmap for further annual increases in the Union Health budget each year, to enable reaching the declared Union and state combined allocation of 2.5% of GDP by 2025. This additional amount should be used for major expansion of the National Health Mission leading to all states having strengthened public health services, effective medicine procurement and distribution systems, universalisation of Health and Wellness Centres, hiring required additional staff and regularisation of contractual staff including ASHAs, adequate workplace protection and working conditions for healthcare workers, enhanced measures for vulnerable sections particularly the elderly and children in terms of appropriate and easily accessible, generalisation of community based monitoring, and developing of a national Right to healthcare framework.
2. The Union Health Ministry must promptly ensure implementation of the Clinical establishments act across the country, through notification of national standards for healthcare establishments, while developing the national framework for regulation of rates and implementation of patients’ rights, which will enable regulation and accountability of all private hospitals.
3. The Union government must immediately shelve the draft Health Data Management Policy (HDMP), due to the range of very serious concerns. HDMP must be discussed only after adoption of a national Personal Data Protection Bill, and public debate of the HDMP should be combined with thorough national discussion and reconsideration of the National Digital Health Mission, which itself presently has several serious flaws. The constitutional standing of the National Health Authority which has no legal standing should also be revisited, and should be replaced by an appropriate and accountable body created through an Act of the Parliament.
Food and Nutrition
1. Universal PDS: Universal expansion of the public distribution system (PDS) to ensure inclusion of all vulnerable communities, with addition of nutritious foods; and without mandatory Aadhaar.
2. Comprehensive Children’s Nutrition: Provide comprehensive Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) and Mid Day Meal (MDM) nutrition for all children, including eggs, milk and fruits, from all schools and anganwadis as an essential service.
3. Maternity Entitlements: Provide universal, unconditional maternity entitlements and nutritious meals to all pregnant women and lactating mothers.
Education
1. Stop implementation of NEP 2020 forthwith and
a) Make available publicly the entire 66-page NEP-2020 document (not a summary), as approved by the Central Cabinet on 29th July 2020, at least in all the 22 languages listed in the Eighth Schedule under Articles 344(1) and 351 of the Constitution; Disseminate all the linguistic versions widely and make available the written feedback thus received in the public domain for reference and debate;
b) Call for written reports on NEP 2020 from all the Political Parties with representation in the State Legislative Assemblies/Councils and/or the Parliament and make them available in the public domain;
c) Send the entire 66-page NEP-2020 document in the respective languages to all the state/UT governments for scrutiny, discussion, debate and written feedback from the respective State Planning Boards; State Boards of Education; State Councils of Education and Research (SCERTs); State Higher Education Councils and other such state-level institutions; elected bodies under the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments and also those constituted under the Fifth and Sixth Schedules of the Constitution; University (including Professional Institution) Academic & Executive Councils and their respective Departments/Centres in various disciplines as well as Elected Students’ and Teachers’ Unions; Anganwadi Workers’ and School, College and University Teachers’ and Non-Teaching Staff’s Organisations; Students’ and Youth Organisations; state/UT-level Literary & Cultural Workers’ Associations and the State/UT Bar Associations;
d) Share the aforesaid state/UT-level feedback with the respective Legislative Assemblies/Councils for democratic scrutiny and debate followed by submission of the state/UT governments’ written reports on NEP 2020 to the Central Government and the Parliament; and
e) Make available the entire nation-wide written feedback thus received from all states/UTs in the public domain and for scrutiny by the Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee whose report must be made available in the public domain also to be followed by democratic debate and approval by the Parliament with consequent modifications in NEP 2020 as well as the required legislations.
2. NEP 2020 violates the following Constitutional principles and provisions:
a) Social justice agenda including reservation policy as affirmative action for SC/ST/OBC, gender, religious and linguistic minorities and PWD.
b) Exit points at classes 3, 5 and 8 and the pretext of vocational options violate the existing fundamental right to education of equitable quality till age 14 yrs and right to receive at least five years of common courses in mathematics, language, science and social science from Class VI to X.
c) Centralization of Establishment/Closure, Regulation, Accreditation, Eligibility, Curriculum and Assessment on a concurrent subject like Education, encroaching on the Constitutionally enshrined Federal rights of the States. Hence, restore education from the concurrent list to the state list, as was originally the case.
3. Extend the Constitutional Right to Education of equitable quality to children from 3-18 years of age.
4. Declare a concrete timeline and roadmap for budget enhancement for education (minimum 6 percent of GDP) without the provision for transferring the public funds to private institutions under the guise of public-philanthropic-partnership (PPP).
5. Establish a national system of government-funded free education of equitable quality through a Common School System based on Neighbourhood Schools irrespective of class, caste, race, religion, gender, language, birthplace and disability and reverse policy of privatisation of education through strong regulatory framework.
Demands Pertaining to Various Vulnerable Communities
Women
1. Set Up a committee, with 50% women as its members, for gender segregated data and to study the severity of COVID impact on different sections of women and formulate mitigation strategy and its implementation.
2. Special financial allocation for the implementation of Laws to prevent crime and violence against women based on of caste, class and patriarchy; No dilution of Laws like SC/ST POA Act.
LGBTQIA++
1. The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 is a deeply violative, undemocratic and mis-representative piece of legislation, decimating the rights of the very transgender communities it claims to ‘protect’. We resolve that the Government should hold back finalising and notifying Rules till the challenges to the act are resolved and more participation by the community at diverse levels can be ensured.
2. This House seeks substantive emergency relief and rehabilitation measures, livelihood opportunities with safety & dignity or in their absence, fair subsistence incomes, food security, rent relief, medical facilities, including gender-affirming procedures and other support services.
Religious minorities
That the primacy of secularism as a core constitutional value in the functioning of all institutions and all aspects of statecraft, be restored and established and that the discriminatory CAA, 2019 amendments and the NPR & NRC 2003 (rule), be withdrawn and the right to equal citizenship be ensured for all.
Disabled and elderly
1. Provide a minimum support of Rs. 5000/- per month to all disabled and elderly during the pandemic period;
2. Universalisation of pensions.
Dalits and Adivasis
1. Legislate the Special Component Plan and Tribal Sub Plan & Ensure proper implementation of the SC/ST(POA) Act, 1989 so that the mechanism like establishment of special courts and appointments of Special Public Prosecutors shall take place in order to ensure speedy trial in cases of atrocities.
2. Ensure proper implementation of Schedule 5 of Indian Constitution and laws like Forest Rights Act, 2006 and Panchayat extension to Schedule Areas, 1996. Forest based livelihood schemes and policies shall be implemented during Covid-19 pandemic so that there is no distress migration to other states for livelihood.
Democratic Rights and Civil Liberties
Civil Liberties
1. That the criminalisation of ordinary citizens under Epidemic Diseases Act, NDMA, UAPA, sedition (Section 124A IPC) and other penal laws be stopped immediately. Withdraw all such prosecutions, including the fabricated campaigns against activists, intellectuals, journalists, students and others in the anti-CAA protestors & supporters in Delhi and UP as well as in the Bhima Koregaon case and those protesting the abrogation of Article 370 in J&K. Stop indiscriminate imposition of Section 144 CrPC and use of force and torture by police.
2. That all prisoners be tested for COVID 19, according to the ICMR guidelines regularly irrespective of the offence and all prisoners above 60 years or with comorbidities be released on bail / parole.
3. No new laws and major change of policy should be introduced during Covid-19 times. Criminal law reform committee be suspended.
Digital rights
1. Government must ensure that there is no denial of legal entitlement for want of Aadhaar or for failure of Aadhaar authentication and uses of Aadhaar linkage and authentication must remain strictly confined to the limits set forth in the Supreme Court’s 2018 Aadhaar judgment. Aadhaar should not be mandated for the payment of wages or pensions, for medical treatment, for Covid19 testing, for school and hospital admissions, or any other expanded or urgent social good. As a necessary corollary therefore, the recently notified Aadhaar Authentication for Good Governance (Social Welfare, Innovation, Knowledge) Rules, 2020, which is violative of the Supreme Court’s judgment, must be withdrawn immediately.
2. Government must revise the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 to include, inter alia, strict provisions curtailing the surveillance powers of law enforcement agencies and bring them under Parliamentary and judicial scrutiny. And until the Personal Data Protection Bill is enacted, the Government must halt all other efforts to draft data-related policies like the Health Data Policy (under National Digital Health Mission), the Non-Personal Data Governance Framework report etc.
Transparency and Accountability
1. Institutions of transparency and accountability such as the Judiciary, Information Commissions, Lokpal and other such commissions constituted under various laws must be fully functional using a combination of offline and online modes. Accountability laws such as the Grievance Redressal Bill, 2011 must be enacted and the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, 2013 and Whistleblower Protection Act, 2011 must be operationalized. Accountability mechanisms like Pre-Legislative Consultation must be rigorously implemented.
2. Government must proactively disclose and disseminate information in adherence to Section 4 of the Right to Information Act especially with regard to the implementation of social security schemes, utilization of funds, including PM CARES Fund and other relief funds and details of foreign aid and loans received.
Judicial reforms
1. Improve access to justice by operationalising informal Gram Nyayalayas.
2. Ensure proper accountability of judges by setting up independent judicial complaints commissions empowered to receive and investigate complaints against judges and recommend action against them and increase transparency in the functioning of the judiciary by proactively putting out all information regarding cases in the public domain and video-graphing court proceedings.
