Continuing the deliberations on the National Digital Identity Bill of Bhutan 2023 today, National Council members raised concerns about the complexity of certain sections. The house referred these sections back to the Social and Cultural Affairs Committee to review and re-deliberate for adoption next week.
The National Council members highlighted the need for the Social and Cultural Affairs Committee to simplify and explain the sections to ensure better understanding.
“So far, we have been proceeding only by whether we agree or not and making changes to some words. However, we are not stressing the importance of the sections. We are not able to comprehend whether these sections will benefit the people or not. Therefore, if the committee could explain the sections we would be in a position to analyse the benefits of the provision,” said Pema Tashi, Sarpang MP.
To this, the committee members said that due to time constraints, they were not able to discuss the bill thoroughly.
“We didn’t get time to relook at the bill yesterday evening. Therefore, we would like to request the committee to make changes to such terms. We also came across a few terms that needed to be changed. There will be many such terms that need changes. So, if we have the opportunity we will keep a note of it and make changes,” said Kesang Chuki Dorjee, an eminent member of NC.
The National Council Chairperson instructed the committee to revisit the sections and present it on Tuesday. The House will adopt the bill on the same day.
The National Digital Identity Bill of Bhutan 2023 was put as an urgent bill.
Devika Pradhan & Karma Wangdi
Edited by Sonam Pem
