NEW DELHI: After back-toback Parliament sessions witnessed major disruptions, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha got off to a smooth start on the first day of the monsoon session.

Lok Sabha took up question hour in the morning and later passed a bill to amend the Right to Education (RTE) Act, abolishing the ‘no detention policy’ in schools. Replying to the debate, HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said it would be at the discretion of states whether or not to continue the detention policy.

A bill to ban unregulated deposit schemes and protect the interest of depositors was introduced in Lok Sabha. Two other bills, the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2018, and the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2018, were also introduced.

Rajya Sabha passed two bills in the afternoon session after a full question hour in the morning. Chairperson Venkaiah Naidu expressed happiness that all sections of the House had agreed to take up nine other bills proposed by the government.

The two bills, the State Banks (Repeal and Amendment) Bill and the Requisitioning and Acquisition of Immovable Property (Amendment) Bill, were passed by Lok Sabha.

Opposition MPs, however, expressed concern over bad loans and the disruptive political influence in the banking sector in the country, while discussing the first bill that approved merger of associate banks — State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala and State Bank of Travancore — with State Bank of India.

Responding to the debate, junior finance minister Shiv Pratap Shukla said the merger would make SBI profitable, improve its working capital and enable it to offer better services to customers.

This came after Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said he would like the government to make “an authoritative statement” that “privatisation and de-nationalisation of banks” was not on its agenda.

Telugu Desam Party, which was at the forefront of disruptions for most of the last session, found itself isolated with most opposition parties keen to ensure that the House functioned. Following TDP MPs’ insistence on taking up Andhra Pradesh’s needs, Naidu said Rajya Sabha would discuss the issue of implementation of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act next week.

