With the final week of the ongoing winter session of Parliament set to begin from Monday, the government will try and push for the introduction and passage of some key Bills, especially those which were cleared by the Union Cabinet during the course of the weekend.
Key among these are likely to be the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill-2025, which envisages more foreign investment in the insurance sector and increase competition.
The Union Cabinet on December 12 had okayed the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2025.
It had also cleared the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI), rechristened as the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill, which is also likely to be introduced in the ongoing winter session.
The Bill will enable setting up a higher education regulator that will replace bodies such as the UGC and AICTE.
The commission is proposed to be set up as a single higher education regulator, but medical and law colleges will not be brought under its ambit. It is proposed to have three major roles – regulation, accreditation and setting professional standards.
The Atomic Energy Bill, 2025, a reform that could open nuclear power generation to private companies for the first time, was also cleared by the Union Cabinet on December 12 and is likely to be introduced in the Lok Sabha this week.
The legislation aims to boost capacity and address long-standing structural issues. At present, all of India’s more than 20 operational reactors are run exclusively by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd.
The government is also likely to introduce the Bill seeking to amend the nomenclature of MGNREGA to Pujniya Bapu Gramin Rozgar Guarantee Yojana. The proposal was cleared during the December 12 Cabinet meeting.
Till now, ever since the winter session began on December 1, only three Bills out of the 12 Bills listed by the government for introduction and passage, have been cleared by Parliament. These are the Health Security and National Security Cess Bill, amendments to the Central Excise Act, enabling higher cess on pan masala and tobacco products and the Manipur GST Bill, which replaces an earlier ordinance.
The first week of the session was washed out due to protests by the Congress-led Opposition over a demand for a discussion on the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in nine states and three union territories.