Joint-sitting of Parliament passes 3 bills separately: Tenure of trade bodies’ office-bearers extended to 2 years

ISLAMABAD: A joint-sitting of the Parliament, Tuesday, passed three bills separately to increase the tenure of the office-bearers of all trade organisations from one year to two years, special measures for the education of dyslexic children and social protection and welfare including working hours of domestic workers.

According to “The Trade Organization (Amendment) Bill, 2022”, the tenure of current office-bearers of all trade organizations has been increased from one year to two years.

A minor amendment was incorporated in sub-clause 2 of clause one of the bill which was moved by Senator Saleem Mandviwalla. After the amendment, the sub-clause (2) of the bill described as “It shall come into force at once and shall be deemed to have taken effect on and from 1st January, 2022.”

According to objects and reasons of the bill, “the Trade Organization are backbone of the economy of any country. It resolves the issue of trade, industry and safeguards the interests of the private sector through constant dialogue with the government. The current tenure of the office bearers of all trade organizations is one year which is too short to serve the organization by the chosen representative in an efficient manner.”

According to “The Dyslexia Special Measures Bill, 2022”, due to lack of awareness about dyslexia in Pakistan, we have to rely on International statistics according to which 15 to 20pc of children in each class have some form of learning difficulty. It is not a disease and therefore has no cure, and with support, proper instruction and hard work, many people with dyslexia are able to succeed academically and in their later lives. But most of the parents of dyslexic children are in denial, and educational institutes are not “dyslexia” friendly. It is, therefore, high time to change the attitudes which society has towards those with learning difficulties including dyslexia.

We need to begin to understand that there isn’t one standard way of thinking and we need to appreciate each individual child’s way of understanding and expressing the world surrounding them. Dyslexic children need special mechanism to understand learning. Identification of children with dyslexia, appropriate instructional service to them, institutions for the therapy of such children and awareness programs for public can help children suffering from dyslexia or associated disorders. Through this Bill, special measures for education of the dyslexic children will be ensured and such children will be able to get meaningful education as a fundamental right.

According to the objects and reasons of“ Islamabad Capital Territory Domestic Workers Bill, 2022,” the bill will provide workers for their social protection and welfare, including working hours, minimum wages, the entitlement of leaves, safety and medical care etc.

Later, Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal appealed to the parliamentarians and philanthropists to donate blankets for the flood-affected shelter-less people before the onset of winter.

Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Javed Abbasi also appealed to the Senate chairman to send a disqualification reference to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against former finance minister Shaukat Tarin for violating the oath.

He said the Parliament should act against those who violated the country’s Constitution. He pointed out that an audio leak of former finance minister Tarin reveals that he tried to sabotage the government’s deal with the IMF.

The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs said the Parliament should also take action against former deputy speaker Qasim Khan Suri, whose ruling on the no-confidence motion moved against the then prime minister, was in violation of the Constitution.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022