Rajya Sabha adjourned due to repeated disruptions

The High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Bill, 2017 was introduced in Lok Sabha on Thursday.

The Bill seeks to revise the salaries of judges as follows: (a) Chief Justice of India - from Rs 1,00,000/pm to Rs 2,80,000/pm; (b) Judge of Supreme Court - from Rs 90,000/pm to Rs 2,50,000/pm; (c) Chief Justice of High Court - from Rs 90,000/pm to Rs 2,50,000/pm; and (d) Judges of High Court - from Rs 80,000/pm to Rs 2,25,000/pm. The revision is effective from January 1, 2016.

Lok Sabha also took up discussion on the Supplementary Demand for Grants. The demands for grants include a gross additional expenditure of Rs. 66113 crores. During the discussion, members highlighted several concerns about the overall economy.

Members raised questions about the impact of GST, challenges in its implementation, impact of demonetisation on employment in the organised and unorganised sectors, falling growth rate, among other issues.

With the government's introduction of the supplementary demands and increased expenditure, members asked if the government will be able to meet its fiscal deficit target.

The Rajya Sabha, on the other hand, had to be adjourned, owing to repeated disruptions by the opposition over a demand for the Prime Minister, to come to the House, to give a clarification on his remark that his predecessor, Dr. Manmohan Singh, was conspiring with Pakistan to ensure the Bharatiya Janata Party's defeat in the recently held elections in Gujarat.

Dr. Singh has rejected the charge as "innuendos and falsehoods", and added he was deeply pained by the prime minister's "ill thought transgression".

Addressing an election rally in Palanpur, Gujarat, earlier this month, Modi suggested that Pakistan was trying to influence the assembly polls in the state. He claimed that some Pakistani officials and Manmohan Singh met at Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's house over dinner on December 6. This was a day before Aiyar's "neech" jibe against Modi.