Indian ruling party wishes Parliament to pass Food Security Bill next week

India's ruling Congress party has expressed hope the Parliament can approve the milestone Food Security Bill next week, after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addresses the legislative Monday, according to local media reports on Sunday. The Indo-Asian News Service quoted Congress officials as saying the food bill will be taken up on Monday by the Lok Sabah, or lower house of parliament. If it gets passed in the lower house on Monday, the bill would be taken up in the upper house, or Rajya Sabha, on Tuesday. The opposition has prevented the Congress from listing the bill over the past three weeks of the monsoon session of Parliament by highlighting other issues. Manmohan Singh's statement in the Rajya Sabha on Monday is expected to clarify some controversies raised by the opposition, such as missing coal-block files as was charged by local media and opposition figures as evidence of corruption by the government. The Parliament Speaker also suspended last Friday 12 lawmakers due to their disruption of parliament sessions. The monsoon session of Parliament is due to end next weekend.