Rajya Sabha passes Homeopathy Bills

The Rajya Sabha on Friday passed two Bills -- the Indian Medicine Central Council (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and Homoeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Bill, 2020.

Replying during the discussion on the Bills, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said, "The Ordinance was necessitated as Parliament was not in session."

The Minister said that Yoga and Naturopathy will also be promoted in due course, as demanded by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha.

During the discussion, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Prasanna Acharya supported the Bill, but questioned the need for the ordinance. He said only in extraordinary situations the ordinance route should be adopted.

Speaking on the Bill, BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi said that new things are always opposed first, but during covid times homeopathy medicine was prescribed as an immunity booster.

Samajwadi Party (SP) member Ram Gopal Yadav asked the government not to delay the constitution of the commission as homoeopathy is a necessity for the poor as allopathy is costly and in covid times private hospitals are charging more than Rs one lakh per day.

The DMK MP T. Siva said, "The government is taking away the powers of the states", and alleged that its diluting the federalism.

The Bill brought by the Centre amends the Homoeopathy Central Council Act, 1973. After becoming an Act, the Central Council of Homoeopathy will regulate homeopathic education and practice.

The Bill replaces the Homoeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 which was promulgated on April 24, 2020. The period for the supersession of the Central Council -- The 1973 Act -- was amended in 2018 to provide for the supersession of the Central Council of Homoeopathy. The Central Council was required to be reconstituted within one year from the date of its supersession.

This period was amended in 2019 to require the reconstitution of the Central Council in two years. The central government constituted a Board of Governors to exercise the powers of the Central Council.

The Bill amends the Act to increase the period for the supersession of the Central Council from two years to three years.

The resolution moved by K. C. Venugopal, E. Kareem and K. K.Ragesh was defeated. But Ragesh raised a point of order for the right to reply as the mover of the resolution and asked about the role of the state governments in this Bill.

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