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Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha on Tuesday revoked with immediate effect the suspension of eight opposition members, who were suspended from the House on February 3 for "unruly" behaviour, after Congress leader K Suresh requested the House to consider the matter. Following the submissions by several opposition members, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said there was a need to draw a 'Laxman Rekha' for the smooth functioning of the House, which both treasury and opposition benches agreed to. Speaker Om Birla said there is a need to ensure that no placards, posters, photos or AI-generated images are displayed in the House or inside the Parliament complex. Rijiju then moved a motion to remove the suspension of seven Congress MPs and one CPI-M member, which was adopted by a voice vote. The suspended MPs included Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Hibi Eden, C Kiran Kumar Reddy, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Manickam Tagore, Prashant Padole and Dean Kuriakose of the Congress, and S Ventakesan of the ...
The suspension of eight opposition MPs from the Lok Sabha is likely to be revoked on Tuesday, sources said, citing a decision taken at a meeting convened by Speaker Om Birla. Seven Congress and a CPI(M) MP were suspended for unruly behaviour, following a resolution passed by the Lok Sabha in the first part of the Budget Session. While the eight MPs were suspended for the entire session that is scheduled to conclude on April 2, opposition parties have been urging the speaker to revoke the suspensions during one of the sittings of the Lok Sabha. When Congress members had urged Birla to revoke the suspensions, he had said such action is taken when someone climbs on tables. The revocation of suspension of the eight MPs has been a key demand of the opposition since the second leg of the Budget Session commenced on March 9. The sources said there was a general consensus at the meeting that opposition members will restrict themselves in the Well of the House and not cross over to the ...
The government will soon come out with a modified Stand-Up India scheme to provide better benefits to SC/ST and women entrepreneurs looking to set up new projects, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday. Launched in 2016, the Stand-Up India scheme aimed to empower Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and women entrepreneurs by facilitating bank loans for setting up new enterprises. The scheme expired on March 31, 2025. Replying to a supplementary question in the Lok Sabha, the Minister said the modified scheme will incorporate lessons learnt in implementation of the original Stand-Up India scheme. "With studies done by Niti Aayog and others, this scheme is being redrafted and sooner the Cabinet will be given a proposal with which we will launch a new scheme to continue with this Stand-Up which benefitted SC/ST and women all over the country," Sitharaman said. The scheme provided loans between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore at the lowest applicable rate of the bank f
A bill seeking to give a precise definition of the term "transgender" and provide graded punishments that reflect the gravity of the harm inflicted upon such persons was introduced in Lok Sabha on Friday. It also underlines that a transgender person "shall not include, nor shall ever have been so included, persons with different sexual orientations and self-perceived sexual identities". The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill was introduced by Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Virendra Kumar. It notes that it is imperative to give a precise definition for proper and definitive identification and protection of transgender persons, to whom the benefits of the present law must reach. The protection and benefits that are provided under the present 2019 law are vast in nature, and therefore, care has to be taken that "such identification cannot be extended based on any acquirable characteristics or personal choice or claimed self-perceived identity of an ...
A Parliamentary panel has suggested that regulator NFRA conduct sectoral studies to identify industry-specific accounting and auditing challenges as well as put in place sector-specific accounting guidance to help boost investor confidence. The National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA), set up by the government in 2018 under the Companies Act, 2013, regulates auditors and monitors compliance with accounting and auditing standards by companies. It also oversees the quality of audit services to ensure reliability in financial reporting. In a report tabled in the Lok Sabha on Thursday on the corporate affairs ministry's demand for grants 2026-27, the Standing Committee on Finance has made certain recommendations in relation to the NFRA. According to the report, the corporate affairs ministry should take expeditious steps to operationalise the separation between audit quality review and disciplinary functions within the NFRA to strengthen procedural clarity, institutional independen
The Lok Sabha on Friday passed the second batch of supplementary demands for grants, allowing the government to spend an additional Rs 2.01 lakh crore in the current fiscal. Through the second batch of supplementary demands, the government sought Lok Sabha approval for spending a gross of Rs 2.81 lakh crore extra in the current fiscal year. With additional receipts of Rs 80,000 crore estimated for the current fiscal year in the supplementary, the net additional cash spending will be Rs 2.01 lakh crore. Despite the additional expenditure, the fiscal deficit for the current financial year (2025-26) will be within the Revised Estimates (RE), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while replying to the debate. The second batch of supplementary demands was passed by a voice vote in the Lok Sabha amid din. Opposition members were protesting over the availability of LPG in the country amid the ongoing West Asia crisis. The Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day after the passage of the ...
Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned till 2 pm on Friday amid relentless protests by opposition members over the LPG situation and hike in its price due to the ongoing West Asia crisis. As the House reassembled at 12 noon after an earlier adjournment over the same issue, Opposition members trooped into the Well and raised slogans against the government. After laying of papers, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for refusing to understand the pulse of the people saying if the principal opposition continues to behave in such a manner, people will punish them severely. "Their leader is refusing to change. Now the members are also behaving like him. Their leader is indulging in drama in Parliament premises by holding plate and glass. They think that by doing such theatrics they will be able to draw the attention of the people, but people know them very well that is why they have not been able to come to power," Rijiju said. Expressing ...
The government on Thursday said there was no shortage of petrol, diesel, kerosene or aviation turbine fuel in India after the Opposition criticised it over the handling of the fallout of the West Asia crisis by citing instances of scarcity and panic buying across the country. Responding to concerns raised by Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha, Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri said it was the foremost priority of the government that the kitchens of over 33 crore families, especially the poor and the underprivileged, did not face any shortage of gas. Domestic supply was fully protected and the delivery cycle unchanged, he said. "There is no shortage of petrol, diesel, kerosene, aviation turbine fuel or fuel oil. The availability of petrol, diesel, aviation turbine fuel, kerosene, and fuel oil is fully assured," Puri said. He said retail outlets across the country were well stocked, supply chains were functioning normally, and additional allocation of PDS (pub
IndiGo has the lowest pilots-to-aircraft ratio at 7.6 compared to other domestic airlines, the Civil Aviation Ministry informed Parliament on Thursday. SpiceJet has the highest at 9.4 pilots per aircraft followed by Akasa Air having 9.33 pilots per aircraft, according to data presented by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol, in response to a question in the Lok Sabha. Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express have 9.1 pilots per aircraft and 8.8 pilots per aircraft, respectively, the data showed. In response to another question, the minister said that Air India Express had employed the highest number of expat pilots at 48, while IndiGo hired 29 foreign pilots. The minister said that IndiGo has a total of 5,200 pilots, including 970 female pilots in the company, while Air India has 3,123 pilots with 508 female pilots. The number of total pilots with Air India Express is 1,820, and 234 of them are females, the minister said. Akasa Air has 761 pilots, including
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Thursday said the House functions strictly under its rules and regulations and will continue to do so, irrespective of whether it is acceptable to any member, and asserted that he would conduct the proceedings with sincerity and fairness. A day after a motion seeking his removal as Speaker was defeated in the House, Birla also said that the Chair does not belong to any one individual but is a symbol of the prestige of the House. Birla said he was grateful to the members of the House for the faith reposed in him during debate and thanked all those who spoke in favour of him as well as against him. "The House has been running with rules and regulations and will continue to function in future, irrespective of whether it is acceptable to any member or not. I will continue to discharge my duty with all sincerity and impartiality," he said amidst the thumping of desks by the treasury bench members. Thursday was the first time Birla came to the House to condu
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said he was stopped from speaking in the Lok Sabha on multiple occasions and asserted that the House does not represent one party but the whole country. Interjecting in a debate in Lok Sabha on the resolution to remove Om Birla as speaker, Gandhi alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi "has been compromised" and everybody knows the result of that. Responding to BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad, who cited parliamentary procedures to say that the leader of opposition should measure his words carefully, especially on issues of national security, Gandhi said that his name was being raised during the debate multiple times and "vile things" were being said about him. "The discussion here is about the democratic process and the role of the speaker. But multiple times, my name is being raised, vile things are being said about me. This House is the expression of people's will. This House does not represent one party; it represents the whole country,"
Union Home Minister Amit Shah will address the Lok Sabha on Wednesday during the debate on the motion seeking the removal of Speaker Om Birla.The motion was moved by Congress MP Mohammad Jawed, with more than 50 MPs standing in support of the resolution. BJP MP Jagdambika Pal, who was in the Chair, granted leave to move the motion and announced that 10 hours had been allotted for debate, and asked MPs to stick to the resolution. He said that the Speaker was generous with the permissions and procedure for the Opposition resolution.A total of 118 Opposition MPs signed the resolution, alleging "partisan behaviour" by the Speaker.The discussion on the no-confidence motion began on Tuesday with sharp exchanges over procedure, including objections from AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi and Congress MP KC Venugopal, who said that the House should elect a member who would preside over the debate. They questioned how the choice was made of who would be in the Chair from the panel of ...
The Lok Sabha on Tuesday took up an opposition resolution seeking the removal of Speaker Om Birla from office for his alleged bias towards the ruling party, amid a heated debate on who will preside over the House while the motion is being taken up. Congress legislator Mohammad Jawed read out the notice seeking to move a resolution to remove Birla from office. Besides Jawed, MPs K Suresh and Mallu Ravi had also moved the resolution. As soon as Jawed read out the notice, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi raised a point of order questioning the decision to allow Jagdambika Pal to chair the proceedings as he was appointed to the panel of chairpersons by Speaker Birla. BJP's Nishikant Dubey countered the claim, citing constitutional provisions, law and House rules. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said Owaisi's claim was irrelevant as Pal was competent to preside over the Lok Sabha when the resolution was taken up. Trinamool Congress MP Saugata Roy said Rijiju should move a mot
The government provides 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in direct recruitment to civil posts and services under the Centre, the Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday. The implementation of the reservation policy is being done by the Department of Personnel and Training, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment B L Verma said in response to a question. "Government has a reservation policy through OM (office memorandum) dated 8.9.1993 of the Department of Personnel and Training and other instructions issued from time to time, under which 27 per cent of vacancies in direct recruitment to civil posts and services under the government are reserved for OBCs (Socially and Educationally Backward Classes)," the minister said in a written reply. He said the ministry is taking measures for the welfare of OBCs under the umbrella scheme of the PM Young Achievers' Scholarship Award Scheme for Vibrant India (PM-YASASVI), which includes pre-matric and post-matric .
The government on Tuesday sought Lok Sabha approval for gross additional expenditure of over Rs 2.81 lakh crore in current fiscal year. The second batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants was tabled in the Lok Sabha by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. "Approval of Parliament is sought to authorise gross additional expenditure of Rs 2,81,289.26 crore. Of this, the proposals involving net cash outgo aggregate to Rs 2,01,142.96 crore and gross additional expenditure, matched by savings of the Ministries/Departments or by enhanced receipts/recoveries aggregates to Rs 80,145.71 crore," said the Supplementary Demands for Grants.