New Delhi: Almost a month after its formation, the Joint Committee of Parliamentarians has invited suggestions from people on the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021 that was introduced in the Lok Sabha last month.
The Joint Committee put out a notice in public domain, including advertisements in main newspapers, on Sunday inviting “memoranda containing views/suggestions from the public in general and NGOs/experts/stakeholders and institutions in particular.”
The deadline given is 15 days from the publication of the advertisement.
The Committee is expected to submit a report by the last day of the first week of next Session, which would mean before or by February 6. Lok Sabha member Dr Sanjay Jaiswal (BJP) is the chairperson of the Joint Committee.
Earlier, Rajya Sabha Member and Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav had moved that the Bill be referred to the Joint Committee of the two Houses on December 20.
Yadav had introduced the Bill in the Lok Sabha on December 16 amid din by the opposition members. There was no debate on the issue and the House was soon adjourned. The government then sent the Bill to a Select Committee. A day after that, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had expressed “strongest possible protest” that the government had referred the Bill to a Select Committee and not to the Parliamentary Standing Committee.
Apart from Dr Jaiswal, members of the Committee from the Lok Sabha are Diya Kumari (BJP), Dr Heena Vijaykumar Gavit (BJP), Aparajita Sarangi (BJP), Raju Bista (BJP), Pallab Lochan Das (BJP), Santosh Pandey (SP), Prathap Simha (BJP), Jugal Kishore Sharma (BJP) and others.
The 10 members from the Rajya Sabha include Shiv Pratap Shukla (BJP), Dr Anil Agrawal (BJP), Neeraj Shekhar (BJP), Ramilaben Becharbhai Bara (BJP), Jairam Ramesh (Congres), Jawhar Sircar (TMC), Tiruchi Siva (DMK), Dr Amar Patnaik (BJD), Prof Ram Gopal Yadav (SP) and Ram Nath Thakur (JDU).
