Page 14 - Parliament Winter Session

Two more Lok Sabha MPs suspended, count at 143 Opposition lawmakers now

The Lok Sabha on Wednesday suspended two more opposition MPs for showing placards in the House. Thomas Chazhikadan of the Kerala Congress (Mani) and A M Ariff of the CPI(M) were suspended for misconduct after a resolution moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi was adopted by the House. This takes the number of suspended MPs in the Lok Sabha to 97. So far 143 opposition MPs have been suspended from the two Houses of Parliament.

House panel recommends benchmark percentage of GDP for defence allocation

The government should fix a "definite benchmark" percentage of the GDP for defence budget as military expenditure by neighbouring countries and the evolving global security scenario warrant such an outlay for the country to prepare for dealing with future security challenges, a parliamentary panel said on Wednesday. It expressed "surprise" over the defence ministry not taking any action towards arriving at such a benchmark yet following its earlier recommendation. In its report, the parliamentary standing committee on defence, specifically recommended putting adequate focus on developing futuristic drones and electronic warfare systems to confront future challenges. "While appreciating the concern and the efforts made by the ministry towards preparedness of the defence forces in the country, the committee feel that the recent wars in the international arena should act as a grim reminder that the nomenclature of war has really changed and defence preparedness in terms of an electroni

Parliament passes Bill to raise cap on age of GSTAT president, members

Parliament on Wednesday passed a bill that will raise the cap on the age limit for president and members of GST Appellate Tribunals. The bill was approved with a voice vote in Rajya Sabha and returned to Lok Sabha, which had passed the bill on Tuesday. In the post-lunch session, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman moved The Central Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill, 2023 in the Upper House. The bill seeks to raise the cap on age for president and members of the GST Appellate Tribunals (GSTAT) to 70 years and 67 years, respectively. Currently, the age limit for the president is 67 years and for members is 65 years. The bill also seeks to align the provisions of the Central GST Act in line with the Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021. Among others, with the latest amendments, an advocate with 10 years of 'substantial experience' in litigation in matters relating to indirect taxes in an appellate tribunal, would be eligible to be appointed as a judicial member of the GSTAT.

Breach and overreach

Sustained disruption needs systemic solutions

Lok Sabha passes 3 criminal law Bills to replace colonial-era laws

The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed three bills to replace the colonial-era criminal laws by voice vote. The three redrafted bills -- the Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Bill -- were introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union Home Minister Amit Shah last week. These bills will replace the Indian Penal Code-1860, the Code of Criminal Procedure Act-1898, and the Indian Evidence Act of 1872, respectively. Replying to a debate on the bills in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Shah said the proposed laws were framed after comprehensive consultations and that he had gone through every comma and full stop of the draft legislations before bringing them before the House for approval. He said the existing criminal laws were reflective of the colonial mindset with the intention to punish and not impart justice. "The three new bills seek to establish a justice system based on Indian thinking... The three proposed criminal laws

Cash for query: Delhi HC reserves order on Mahua Moitra's defamation plea

The Delhi High Court Wednesday reserved its order on an interim plea by Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra, who was recently expelled from the Lok Sabha, seeking to restrain BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai from posting or circulating any alleged fake and defamatory content against her. The high court reserved its order on the interim application after hearing the counsel for Moitra, Dubey and Dehadrai. It sought to know from the counsel for the defendants if there was any quid pro quo between Moitra, who was recently expelled from the Lok Sabha, and businessman Darshan Hiranandani. The expelled Lok Sabha member from Krishnanagar in West Bengal had, in her plea filed in October, sought permanent injunction against Dubey, Dehadrai, social media platforms X, search engine Google, YouTube and 15 media houses, and wanted them to be restrained them from making, publishing, circulating defamatory, ex facie false and malicious statements against her. She ha

India's pledge to eliminate child labour by 2025 distant goal: House panel

The implementation of a policy to eliminate child labour has a long way to go before achieving its ultimate goal by 2025 and the country needs a uniform definition of 'child' under various laws, a parliamentary panel said in its report on Wednesday. According the 52nd report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour, Textiles And Skill Development Committee tabled in the parliament, the panel found ambiguity in definition of child under various legislations. It stated, "The implementation of the Policy has to go a long way for achieving the objective of elimination of child labour as per commitments made by the county after ratification of ILO conventions and to achieve the target stipulated in Sustainable Development Goal 8.7 to end all forms of child labour by 2025." According to the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 (CALPRA), the panel noted, 'child' means a person who has not completed his fourteenth year of age or such age as may be ...

New criminal law bills in consonance with spirit of Constitution: Amit Shah

Amit Shah said the bills will encourage the use of technology in giving justice to people. He said "mob-lynching" had been included as an offence in the bills

India expected to be surplus in coal production by FY26: Pralhad Joshi

The country is likely to be surplus in coal production by FY26, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. India may be surplus in coal production except for some high quality fossil fuel and coking coal needed for the steel industry and imported coal-based power plants. Replying to a query in Lok Sabha, coal and mines minister Pralhad Joshi said, "India is expected to be surplus in coal production by the year 2025-26 except for some high quality coal and coking coal required for steel sector and ICB plants." To another query, the minster said that against the estimated coal demand of 1,196.60 million tonne (MT) in the current fiscal, the country's production target of the fossil fuel is 1,012.14 MT. Joshi said "the estimated coal demand for 202324 is 1,196.60 MT." The coal production target for 202324 is 1,012.14 MT, the minister said. The government, he said, under a central sector scheme, carries out exploration of coal and lignite through Central Mine Planning & Design Institute .

Travesty of parliamentary democracy: Shashi Tharoor on suspension of MPs

Slamming the government over the suspension of over 140 MPs, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday claimed that a "dubious record" had been created as in no country so many lawmakers had been suspended together and alleged that our entire parliamentary democracy has been "betrayed and reduced to a travesty". Speaking with reporters after participating in the opposition protest over the suspension of MPs, Tharoor, who was himself suspended on Tuesday, said that with the suspension of so many opposition MPs, the history of parliamentary democracy has been "besmirched" in our country. What has been seen in the country in the last few days is a "travesty of parliamentary democracy", he said. "I did a bit of research, never in the entire history of Parliamentary democracy has any Parliament in any country in the world ever suspended or expelled 150 people. That is the dubious record being set in our Parliament this week," he said. Everyone understands that the basic principle of

Govt tables Telecommunications Bill 2023 in Parliament: Check details

The Centre will take temporary possession of telecom network in case of any public emergency or in the interest of public safety, under the Telecommunications Bill, 2023

Will not tolerate any insult to Parl, VP post: Dhankhar on mimicry row

Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar Wednesday said he will not tolerate any insult to Parliament and the post of vice president while expressing deep anguish over a TMC MP mimicking him in the parliament complex and a Congress MP recording the act. In the Rajya Sabha, the chairman said the act of mimicking him and its videography has caused an "insult" to the honour of the post of the vice president, the farmers and his own community. When the House met at 11.45 am after the third adjournment, Dhankhar expressed his anguish over Tuesday's incident and asked the Congress party, including Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, to ponder over it. "I am not bothered if anyone insults Jagdeep Dhankhar but I cannot bear that I could not protect the honour of my post. It is my duty to protect the honour of the House", Dhankhar said. "You cannot imagine what has happened. Such a big incident took place. The post was disrespected. The farmers' community was insulted. My community was ..

Winter Session: After disruptions, suspensions, Parl to reconvene today

As the session resumes at Rajya Sabha, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will move for leave to introduce a Bill to amend the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017

Winter Session: Lok Sabha clears 3 key Bills as 49 more Oppn MPs suspended

The Congress, which now has only nine MPs in the Lok Sabha that have not been suspended, termed it a "complete purge" to ensure the passage of "draconian bills" without any meaningful debate

Share of agriculture in India's GDP declined to 15% in FY23: Govt

Share of agriculture in India's GDP declined to 15 per cent last fiscal year from 35 per cent in 1990-91 due to rapid growth in the industrial and service sector, the government informed on Tuesday. "The share of agriculture in total Gross Value Added (GVA) of economy has declined from 35% in 1990-91 to 15% in 2022-23. The decline is brought out not by the decline in agricultural GVA but a rapid expansion in industrial and service sector GVA," Union Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda said in a written reply to Lok Sabha. "In growth terms, agriculture and allied sector has registered an average annual growth of 4 per cent during last five years. As far as global experience is concerned, share of agriculture in the world's GDP has also declined over the decades and stands at about 4 per cent in recent years," he added. The minister said the government has adopted/implemented several developmental programmes, schemes, reforms and policies towards increasing agricultural productivity, ...

Unclaimed deposits with banks rise by 28% to Rs 42,270 crore in FY23: Govt

There has been a 28 per cent annual increase in unclaimed deposits with the banks to Rs 42,270 crore as on March 2023, Parliament was informed on Tuesday. As compared to Rs 32,934 crore unclaimed deposits with public and private sector banks in FY22, the amount increased to Rs 42,272 crore at the end of March 2023, an increase of 28 per cent. As much as Rs 36,185 crore unclaimed deposits were with public sector banks while Rs 6,087 crore were with private sector banks at the end of March 2023. Banks send unclaimed deposits of account holders lying in their accounts for 10 or more years to RBI's Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) Fund. RBI has taken various steps to reduce the quantum of unclaimed deposits and return such deposits to rightful claimants, Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat K Karad said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha. As per the RBI's direction, banks have been advised to display the list of unclaimed deposits in accounts that are inactive or inoperative fo

LS passes Bills to cap age of GSTAT Prez, effect Budget duty changes

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed a Bill that seeks to give immediate effect to the changes in customs and excise duties announced in the Budget. The House after a brief discussion on the Provisional Collection of Taxes Bill 2023, passed the Bill by voice vote. Jayant Sinha (BJP) and B V Satyavathi (YSRCP) participated in the brief discussion on the Bill which is aimed at curbing speculative activities following changes in customs and excise duties in the Budget. Moving the Bill for passage, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, the Provisional Collection of Taxes Bill, 2023 seeks to obtain the authority from Parliament to provisionally levy and collect the newly imposed or increased duties of customs and excise for 75 days. This Bill proposes to replace the erstwhile Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 1931 with a minor change that is technical in nature. The provisions of the Bill empower collection provisionally, during the period between the introduction and enactment of th

Amid MPs row, Sonia Gandhi-led Congress Parliamentary Party meet on Wed

This comes amid the political tensions escalating between the Opposition and the central government over the demand of Union Home Minister Amit Shah's statement over the Parliament security breach

About 20% of 510 mn Jan Dhan accounts inoperative: MoS finance informs RS

About 20 per cent of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts in the country are inoperative, the government said on Tuesday. As on December 6, of the total 10.34 crore inoperative PMJDY accounts, 4.93 crore belong to women, Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat K Karad said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. As per data received from banks, of the approximately 51.11 crore PMJDY accounts, around 20 per cent accounts were inoperative as on December 6, he said. The percentage of inoperative PMJDY accounts is similar to the percentage of overall inoperative accounts in the banking sector, he said. The deposited balance in the inoperative PMJDY accounts is around Rs 12,779 crore, which is around 6.12 per cent of the total deposited balance in PMJDY accounts, he said. This balance continues to earn interest at par with that applicable to operative accounts and can be claimed and withdrawn by depositors at any point of time after the account becomes operative again, he ...

Suspend, throw out, bulldoze is Modi govt's new policy: Kharge on MPs row

A total of 141 MPs were suspended following a ruckus over the demand by the Opposition for a statement from Union Minister Amit Shah on the Parliament breach incident