Rajya Sabha

The Rajya Sabha on Monday passed a bill that seeks to tackle the issue of delayed payments to MSMEs by prescribing timelines to ensure faster adjudication of disputes, provide recovery of the settlement agreement, and address their liquidity issues, even as Opposition members continued to disrupt the House. The Upper House was adjourned after the passage of the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Amendment) Bill, 2026. Members of the Opposition kept raising slogans during the bill's passage, demanding the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah to answer questions on police action against students protesting NEET exam paper leak. Replying to the discussion on the bill, Union Minister for MSME Jitan Ram Manjhi outlined the advantages of the proposed legislation for the sector and various sections of society, expressing dismay at the loud protests by Opposition members. "We expected our opposition allies to support, cooperate, and pass this bill, but today they are opposing .

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day on Friday, shortly after meeting at 11 am, amid sloganeering by Opposition MPs. As proceedings began, papers were laid on the table of the House and Opposition members demanded that Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge be allowed to speak. Chairman C P Radhakrishnan later permitted Kharge to speak, but ruled that no notices under Rule 267 will be admitted after the Leader of Opposition sought to raise some issues under the provision. Opposition members then raised slogans, including on the paper leaks issue, and on the alleged theft of donations from the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Amid the protests, Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan accused the Opposition of indulging in "sadak-chhap" politics and "playing with the dignity of the House". "They're doing sadak-chhap politics, playing with the dignity of the House. Democracy is being destroyed," Chouhan said. As the sloganeering continued, the Chairman adjourned the House for the day. The

Macroeconomic fundamentals of the Indian economy remain strong, supported by robust domestic demand, healthy corporate balance sheets and sustained fiscal discipline amid global challenges, Union Minister Pankaj Chaudhary told Parliament on Tuesday. Further, according to the RBI's Financial Stability Report (June 2026), the domestic financial system remains resilient, underpinned by strong bank and non-bank balance sheets, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha. "As a major player in global markets, India's economy is also linked with international trends, which impact its exchange rate movements. Since the start of the West Asia conflict, the Indian Rupee (INR) has depreciated against the US Dollar (USD) by 5.8 per cent in FY27 (from February 27 up to July 22, 2026)," he said. At present, the macroeconomic fundamentals of the Indian economy remain strong, he said, adding real GDP has consistently grown at over 7 per cent during the

The government on Tuesday introduced a Bill in the Rajya Sabha that seeks to tackle the issue of delayed payments to micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by prescribing timelines to ensure faster adjudication of disputes, provide recovery of the settlement agreement, and address their liquidity issues. Union Minister for MSMEs Jitan Ram Manjhi introduced the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Amendment) Bill, 2026 in the Rajya Sabha. The Bill seeks to amend The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006. "This legislation was framed in 2006, therefore there is a need for reforming it and making additions," the minister said. Notably, the proposed legislation seeks to empower courts to order payment of at least 50 per cent of the awarded amount to MSME suppliers, if the application to set aside an order is pending for more than six months. It also seeks to provide recovery of the mediated settlement agreement or the arbitral award as arrear of land

Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned on Monday following protests from Opposition parties demanding a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah over alleged police brutality against students protesting the NEET paper leak in the national capital. When the Upper House assembled at 5.15 pm after four successive adjournments since morning, Opposition parties led by the Congress continued their protest demanding a statement from the Home Minister. Parliament Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government is ready for discussions on the issue and appealed to the Congress leader to discuss the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026. "Such an important Bill has been brought forward. We appealed to Congress yesterday, we have been appealing to them since this morning, but they are not agreeing," said Rijiju. The government, which has moved the Bill in the Lok Sabha on Monday, has allotted time for discussions. "Here, too, as the Opposition party wanted, th

Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned further till 2 pm on Friday as Opposition parties continued to protest, demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET paper leak and police action on students. As soon as proceedings resumed at 12 noon after the adjournment in the morning, Leader of Opposition in the Upper House Mallikarjun Kharge once again raised the demand of Pradhan's resignation. "The Education Minister should resign," Kharge said, while NDA MPs objected to the demand. Chairman CP Radhakrishnan adjourned the proceedings until 2 pm following the pandemonium. Earlier, when the House met at 11 am, Radhakrishnan went ahead with the Zero Hour proceedings. However, there was an uproar from the Opposition benches over the police action against students protesting the NEET paper leak. When Kharge began speaking on the NEET issue, the chairman adjourned the House until 12 noon amid the din. The House has not been able to conduct any substantial

Rule 176 and Rule 267 are often at the centre of Parliament disputes. Here's how the two Rajya Sabha rules differ in allowing discussions on urgent public issues

Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned till 12 noon on Thursday as Opposition parties continued to insist on Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation before starting a discussion on the NEET paper leak issue. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government was ready for a discussion on NEET on Thursday itself and the Opposition should not put any condition for holding the debate. However, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said Pradhan has to resign first before any discussion on the issue can take place. As both sides continued sloganeering, Chairman CP Radhakrishnan adjourned the House till 12 noon. Parliament has seen repeated adjournments since the monsoon session commenced on Monday.

The government told the Rajya Sabha that the PAIMANA portal is helping ministries monitor project execution gaps and delays in real time, enabling timely intervention

Government prepares to introduce at least five new Bills this session

More than Rs 262 crore was spent on salaries, allowances and facilities for all sitting Rajya Sabha MPs in the last two financial years 2024-25 and 2025-26, with over Rs 151 crore spent on their allowances and travel alone, an RTI reply has shown. In 2024-25, the state exchequer spent over Rs 98 crore on Rajya Sabha members, which significantly increased to Rs 163 crore in 2025-26, a rise of Rs 65 crore. The amount includes domestic travel, international travel, office expenses and medical bills. In 2024-25, salaries amounted to over Rs 25.71 crore, medical bills to Rs 8.2 crore, tour expenses to Rs 24.99 crore and allowances to the MPs to over Rs 33.33 crore. In 2025-26, salaries amounted to over Rs 44.6 crore, medical bills to Rs 9.6 crore, tour expenses to Rs 36 crore and allowances to over Rs 58.78 crore, according to the reply given by Rajya Sabha Secretariat to a query filed by applicant Chander Shekhar Gaur. The Rajya Sabha MPs are entitled to a total of 21 object heads, wh

Bypolls to three Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal, vacated following the resignation of rebel Trinamool Congress MPs, will be held on July 24, the Election Commission said on Monday. The three TMC Rajya Sabha members who resigned are Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Sushmita Dev and Prakash Chik Baraik. They stepped down on different dates in June after questioning the party leadership following its defeat in the assembly polls. According to the procedure, the votes will be counted on the evening of July 24. With the BJP sweeping the West Bengal assembly polls, their numbers in the Rajya Sabha are set to go up after the three bypolls.

Eight newly-elected MPs of the Rajya Sabha, including Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and BJP leader Tarun Chugh, took oath as members of the Upper House on Monday. Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan administered the oath of office to the new members. While Kharge took the oath separately in Radhakrishnan's chamber, the seven other members took oath in the Rajya Sabha chamber. Apart from Kharge and Chugh, the six other new members included Jitendra Meghjibhai Kanzariya and Mansingh Meraman Parmar (Gujarat), M Nagaraja (Karnataka), Rajendra Hiralal Jain (Maharashtra), Adhikarimayum Sharda Devi (Manipur) and Alka Singh (Rajasthan). Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh, Leader of the House J P Nadda, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal were present at the oath-taking, both inside the chairman's chamber as well as in the House. Kharge took oath in Hindi while holding a copy of the Constitution in his hand. Congress Parliamentary Party

BJP did not renominate Kurian to the Rajya Sabha; his exit has renewed speculation about a possible Cabinet reshuffle ahead

Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs George Kurian has resigned from the council of ministers after his Rajya Sabha term came to an end. The BJP had decided not to renominate him in the recent Rajya Sabha polls. President Droupadi Murmu has accepted his resignation, the Rashtrapati Bhavan said on Tuesday. Kurian was also holding the charge as Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying. The President of India, as advised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has accepted the resignation of Kurian from the Union Council of Ministers, with immediate effect, the communique said. Kurian was probably the only minister in the Union government who belongs to the Christian community. His Rajya Sabha tenure ended on June 21. Two Union ministers -- Ravneet Singh Bittu and Kurian --- were not renominated for the June 18 Rajya Sabha elections even though their tenures were coming to an end.

The NDA is assessing its numbers in Parliament as it prepares to revive the Delimitation Bill, which requires a two-thirds majority for passage

The Supreme Court on Friday said once nomination of a candidate is rejected by the returning officer, the only remedy is to approach the Election Commission as it heard Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan's plea challenging rejection of her nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha polls. The court also asked Natarajan to show any judgement passed by the it where it has interfered in such cases. A bench comprising Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Atul S Chandurkar said, "However erroneous the decision may be, once a nomination is rejected, the remedy ordinarily lies elsewhere. Is there any judgment of this Court where we have interfered at that stage? Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Natarajan, submitted that a candidate is supposed to disclose a criminal case which provides for a minimum sentence of two years and, in the present matter, only summons were issued. He said the nomination paper for the Rajya Sabha poll in Madhya Pradesh was wrongly rejected by the returni

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party's media cell head Pawan Khera besides BJP leaders Satish Poonia and Tarun Chugh were among 24 candidates elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha on Thursday. All but three of the 27 seats for Rajya Sabha were decided with NDA candidates declared elected unopposed in 19 and Congress in the remaining five. Elections for two seats in Jharkhand, where a keen contest is on the cards, and one seat in Mizoram will be held on June 18. The scrutiny of nominations for elections to 24 Rajya Sabha seats in 10 states besides bye-elections to one seat each in Maharashtra, Odisha and Tamil Nadu was on Thursday. All the candidates declared elected unopposed were handed over winning certificates by the respective returning officers. Elections would be held for the two Rajya Sabha seats in Jharkhand, where three candidates - JMM's Baidyanath Ram, Congress nominee Pranav Jha and Independent Parimal Nathwani, a director at Reliance Industries who has the suppo

Trinamool Congress MP Sushmita Dev on Wednesday resigned as a member of the Rajya Sabha, the second TMC MP to resign this week. Dev, a former Congress leader who had joined the TMC a few years ago, met Rajya Sabha chairman C P Radhakrishnan and resigned from the membership of the House. She is the second MP of the TMC to resign this week. Earlier, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray had tendered his resignation from the party as well as the Rajya Sabha. Sources said Dev is likely to quit the TMC and join the BJP. She has also met Assam chief minister Humanta Biswa Sarma. In her resignation letter, she said, "I do hereby resign from the membership of Rajya Sabha, which may please be accepted with immediate effect." "I convey my sincere gratitude to your excellency, hon'ble deputy chairman and all functionaries of the Rajya Sabha secretariat extending all help and cooperation during my tenure as a member of the Rajya Sabha," Dev said in the letter to the Chairman. The Trinamool Congress is facing

Top Congress leaders met the Election Commission on Wednesday, alleging that the nomination papers of Meenakshi Natarajan, its Rajya Sabha candidate from Madhya Pradesh, were wrongly rejected. A delegation of top party leaders, including K C Venugopal, Randeep Surjewala, Jairam Ramesh, Deepa Dasmunshi, Vivek Tankha and Abhishek Singhvi, along with Meenakshi Natarajan, met the commission and demanded that the decision should be reversed. They contended that no case is pending against Natarajan as no court has yet taken cognisance of a private complaint filed against her. Singhvi, who also heads the legal cell of the Congress, said on X that " the decision of the Returning Officer is indeed poor and absolutely partisan." Singhvi said he spoke to Natarajan and several other senior Congress leaders on Tuesday after he learnt of this "most remarkable and astonishing rejection" of her nomination papers by the Returning Officer. "This is, on the face of it, patently and blatantly illegal