Nagaland Holds One-Day Monsoon Session

The one-day monsoon session of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly was held on Thursday with only a few ruling coalition legislators attending the House, while the opposition NPF boycotted the entire proceedings, an official statement said.

A PTI report even stated, the Commissioner and Secretary of the assembly reported the assent of the Governor to five Bills. They were The Nagaland Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2020, The Nagaland Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2020, The Nagaland Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill 2020, North East Christian University (First Amendment) Bill, 2020 and The Nagaland Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which were passed by the assembly during its sitting in February.

The house also passed by voice vote the Nagaland Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2020 moved by chief minister Neiphiu Rio. Rio also laid the annual administrative report 2019-20 of the department of Justice and Law, while minister V Kashiho Sangtam laid the report of department of Soil and Water Conservation. Chief Minister Rio also tabled four rules of the government on State Disaster Management Plan, Incident Response System, State Disaster Management and Minimum Standards of Relief. The legislators attending the session were wearing face masks as per Covid protocols.

Only 22 MLAs of the ruling grouping comprising Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), BJP and an Independent, attended the house whose effective strength is 58. Opposition Naga Peoples Front (NPF) having 25 MLAs did not attend the session, sticking to their announcment in this regard the previous day itself. Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio was present during the entire duration of the house. Even from the treasury bench, 10 legislators missed the session, which is sixth of the 13th house in the state. The effective strength of the 60-member Nagaland assembly is 58. Two members- one each from the ruling coalition and the opposition- died last year.

Speaker Sharingain Longkumer, was presiding over the house business. The 10 MLAs were among the 19 legislators, from the ruling coalition as well as the opposition, who had applied for leave expresing their inability to attend the session due to varied reasons.

This session was earlier scheduled for July 30, but due to the detection of COVID-19 positive cases among six assembly staff, it was deferred and held on August 13. NPF, the lone opposition in the house, had on Wednesday itself informed the speaker about its decision to boycott the session for turning down its proposal for a longer session to deliberate on the pertinent matters of Naga political issue, SARFAESI Act, 2002 and the current COVID-19 pandemic scenario in the state. In his brief statement, Chief Minister and Leader of the House, the report added.