NEW DELHI, Aug. 12 -- Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed a bill that seeks to improve the efficiency, transparency, independence and accountability of various tribunals as well as to establish a National Tribunals Commission. The Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2026, already cleared by the Lok Sabha, was passed by a voice vote. The bill, part of the government's efforts to advance judicial reforms, also seeks to bring uniformity to the qualifications, appointment, and conditions of service for chairpersons and members of various tribunals, and to improve their administration and functioning. Replying to a debate on the bill, law and justice minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said strengthening the country's legal infrastructure was as critical as building physical infrastructure. "The bill will ensure ease of justice and ease of doing business," he said, adding that both were related. Setting up the National Tribunal Commission is the core of this bill, he said. It will not alter the jurisdiction of the tribunals. The bill states the National Tribunals Commission will have its headquarters in Delhi and consist of a chairperson and four members, of whom two will be judicial members and two technical members. To be appointed as the commission chairperson, a person must be a retired Supreme Court judge or a former chief justice of a high court. A former chief justice of a high court or a high court judge will be eligible to become a judicial member. Technical members need to have special knowledge and experience of not less than 25 years in the fields of public administration, finance, law, accountancy, banking, management or technology. The Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026, and the National Co-operative Development Corporation (Amendment) BIll, 2026, were passed in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday without debate, but amid heavy protest and sloganeering by the Opposition members of the House, who demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a statement from Union home minister Amit Shah over the police excesses on student protesters at new Delhi's Jantar Mantar on July 20. Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju said he was disappointed that senior Kerala leaders from the Congress chose not to speak on the bill, that will change the state's name from Kerala to Keralam. The Lower House also passed the NCDC (Amendment) Bill, moved by minister of state for cooperation Murlidhar Mohol on behalf of Amit Shah, who holds the home and cooperation portfolio. The bill seeks to widen the channels through which the NCDC can fund cooperative societies. President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday gave her assent to "The Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026", that criminalises intentional disruption or prevention of the singing of the national song Vande Mataram, giving it the same legal protection currently accorded to the national anthem, a statement by the Press Information Bureau said....