NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha on Monday passed a Bill which seeks to prevent commercial surrogacy in the country. The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019 also provides for constitution of surrogacy boards at both national and state levels, as well as that the intending couples should not abandon such a child under any condition.
The Bill also provides that only infertile Indian couples (between the age of 23-50 years and 26-55 years for female and male), respectively, who have been legally married for at least five years would be allowed to choose surrogacy, but only through altruistic surrogacy.
The Lower House on Monday also passed a Bill which provides a mechanism for social, economic and educational empowerment of transgenders.The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2019 was passed by a voice vote amid noisy protests by some opposition parties over Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury not being allowed to speak on his adjournment notice.
Replying on the Bill, Minister of State for Social Justice Ratanlal Kataria said it makes provision for establishing a nationalauthority for safeguarding the rights the transgender community. .A Bill to address the rising pendency of cases and to increase the number of judges in the top court from 30 to 33 was also
introduced and passed on Monday.
According to the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill introduced by Ravi Shankar Prasad, the apex court will have a sanctioned strength of 33 judges, plus the chief justice of India, once it gets
parliamentary approval.
The ‘Right’ to choose
After the abrogation of Article 370, two other Bills were passed—
The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2019
Provisions
A national authority to safeguard trans rights
Right to choose to be identified as a man, woman or transgender, irrespective of sex reassignment surgery and hormonal therapy
Screening by a district magistrate and district committee to get certified as a trans person
The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019
The Bill allows
Altruistic surrogacy
Infertile couples to opt for this option
Prohibits commercial surrogacy and same sex, live-in couples from becoming surrogate parents