Parvesh Sahib Singh, an MP of the BJP on Friday introduced a Private Member’s Bill in the Lok Sabha which seeks a ban on serving of non-vegetarian food in government gatherings.
The bill was named Official Government Meetings and Functions (Prohibition on serving Non-Vegetarian Food) Bill, 2018.
Private Member’s Bill
A private member’s bill requires a one month notice before introduction whereas a Government bill can be introduced in the Parliament with a prior notice of seven days only.
Every Friday last two hours of sitting in Lok Sabha are allocated to the Private Members. A Private Member is a member of parliament who is not a minister in the government, even if his party forms a part of the government. The bills introduced by such members are called Private Member Bills.
Singh is an MBA and was a member of the Delhi Assembly before being elected to the Lower House of the parliament in 2014. He is now an MP from West Delhi (NCT Of Delhi) constituency. Also, from June 2014 he is serving as the Deputy-Whip for the BJP in Lok Sabha. He is a member of a number of committees in the parliament like Standing Committee on Urban Development, Joint Committee on Salaries and Allowances of Members of Parliament, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, and Joint Committee on Food Management in Parliament House Complex.
Other than this Bill, over 85 other Private Members’ Bills were introduced on Friday. Some of them are:
- Congress Leader Shashi Tharoor came up with a private member’s bill which seeks an effective regime to maintain the integrity of sports in India. It also seeks the prevention and penalisation of sports fraud along with regulation of online sports gaming.
- NCP MP Supriya Sule introduced a bill seeking the setting up of an Employees’ Welfare Authority to ensure the right of every employee to disconnect the work-related telephone calls and emails beyond the working hours and on holidays and the right to refuse to answer calls and emails outside the working hours.
- BJP MP Jagdambika Pal introduced a Bill to amend the Army Act, 1950, the Navy Act, 1957 and Air Force Act, 1950 to give equal rights and opportunities to members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community to serve in the armed forces.
- Shiv Sena MP Shivaji Adalrao Patil came up with a bill for the abolition of begging and rehabilitation of beggars.
- Another MP from BJP Kunwar Pushpendra Singh Chandel came up with High Court at Allahabad (Establishment of a permanent bench at Mahoba) Bill.
- Anurag Singh Thakur from BJP introduced Suicide Prevention in Youth Bill and Single-use Plastic (Regulation) bill.