Six-day 'Janata Parliament' from August 16

With the Budget Session curtailed and the Monsoon Session delayed due to Covid-19, a group of activists and academicians have come together to organise a six-day digital 'Janata Parliament' (People's Parliament) to discuss the issues concerning vulnerable sections of the society due to the pandemic.

The 'People's Parliament' is being convened as the government has taken "several far-reaching and even controversial policy decisions" during this period, which have "escaped any kind of legislative scrutiny or representative accountability", the organisers said.

The civil society bodies that are part of the programme include People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), Maadhyam, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, Right to Education Campaign, Vikalp Sangam and All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS).

Former Delhi High Court Chief Justice A P Shah, ex-Planning Commission member Syeda Hameed, Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani and activist Soni Sori will speak at the inaugural session of the digital People's Parliament, which will be streamed live.

Aiming to fill the "vacuum created between public and political discourse" due to the pandemic, activist Nikhil Dey said, 11 sessions will be held online on health, food security and nutrition, education, environment, agriculture, economy, industry labour and employment, technology and surveillance, impact on vulnerable communities, and civil liberties, laws and governance between August 16 and 21.

Through the People's Parliament, Maansi Verma (Maadhyam) said the organisers aim to demonstrate that it would not have been difficult to convene a Parliament session, online, had the government intended to. Another objective is to set the agenda for what must be discussed whenever the Parliament session is convened and to have issue-based discussions instead of political rhetoric.

Prof. Jayati Ghosh of Jawaharlal Nehru University said that the session on economy will highlight, among other things, the fiscal relations between the centre and the states and how states are cash strapped right now. She said that corporates are also being approached to participate in the session on the economy.

Vijoo Krishnan (AIKS) said that the session on agriculture will look to the problems faced by the farmers in the country and seek to mobilise people against the farm-related ordinances issued by the government, which are detrimental to the sector. This session will also have speakers talking about a host of allied sectors like forest dwellers, fishworkers and livestock farmers.

There will be two sessions dedicated to discuss the impact of Covid-19 on various vulnerable communities including, adivasis, notified and denotified tribes, Dalits, the elderly, disabled and sexual minorities, activist Paul Diwakar said adding that the past few months have "disproportionately affected" such vulnerable communities more.

Dr. Rushda Siddique of the National Federation of Indian Women said these sessions would also look at the issue from a gender perspective. "How women have been particularly impacted in the last few months will inform the discussions during these sessions. For example, the way that the anti-CAA protesters, which were largely led by women, are now being targeted by the police will be discussed," she said.

The session on health will focus on the effectiveness of the Ayushman Bharat scheme, regulation of private healthcare providers and the impact of Covid-19 on various vulnerable populations, Abhay Shukla (JSA), said.

In the session of civil liberties, Kavita Srivastava (PUCL) said, the use of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and clampdown in Jammu and Kashmir among other issues will be discussed.

The session on food security, which will discuss topics like universalisation of Public Distribution System and 'One Nation, One Ration', will see academicians Jean Dreze and Reetika Khera.