Page 10 - Parliament

Disruptions unbecoming of MPs, says RS Chairman as Winter session ends

Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan on Friday strongly disapproved of disruptions by Opposition members during the passage of the rural employment guarantee bill (G RAM G), terming the conduct "unbecoming of Members of Parliament", and urged them to introspect and refrain from such behaviour in future. Radhakrishnan read out a synopsis of the legislative and other business transacted during the 15-day sitting of the Winter session before adjourning the proceedings sine die. Adjourned sine die (Latin for without a day') means suspending a parliamentary session indefinitely, without setting a specific date to reconvene. It's used when legislative bodies end a session without naming a future date for reassembly. The Winter session of Parliament started on December 1. "Disruption created during yesterday's sitting by the Opposition Members by shouting slogans, displaying placards, disrupting the Minister replying to the discussion, tearing up papers and throwing them in the well of

Oppn sits on overnight protest in Parl against passage of G RAM G bill

Opposition leaders staged a 12-hour overnight protest dharna in Parliament complex on Thursday night, while protesting against the passage of the VB-G RAM G bill that seeks to replace the MGNREGA rural employment programme and said they would take to the streets across the country. Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha deputy leader Sagarika Ghose accused the Union government of bulldozing the VB- G RAM G bill, as opposition MPs sat on a 12-hour dharna in the Parliament complex. The Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill was passed by Parliament amid opposition's protests, with the Rajya Sabha giving it its nod post midnight. Ghose said the manner in which the Modi government has brought in this completely "anti-poor, anti-people, anti-farmer, anti-rural poor" VBGRG bill, and has done away with the MGNREGA. "This is an insult to India's poor, it is an insult to Mahatma Gandhi, it is an insult to Rabindranath Tagore. With just five hours' notice,

Parl panel flags delays, seeks clearances for critical mineral projects

A Parliamentary Panel has flagged delays between mine auctions and operationalisation and has urged the government to explore setting up an inter-ministerial committee to monitor the post-auction progress for mineral and critical mineral projects. The panel also stressed that critical mineral projects should be given priority in necessary statutory clearances. "Although policy initiatives and simplification of exploration norms for auction of mineral blocks are in place, the Committee feels that the lengthy process of regulatory clearances, inadequate exploration, forest clearance requirement even at the exploration stage, considerable time lag between auction of mines and their operationalisation, etc., needs to be looked into," it said. The observations were made by the Standing Committee on Coal, Mines and Steel in its latest report titled "Self-Reliance in Minerals and Metals". "In view of these persistent challenges, the committee desires to explore the possibility of setting

Lok Sabha clears SHANTI Bill by voice vote amid Opposition walkout

The tough provisions of India's nuclear liability laws led to "silent phobia" among industry, prompting the government to bring a new comprehensive bill to address their concerns and open up the atomic energy sector for private participation, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Wednesday. Singh was replying to a discussion in the Lok Sabha that passed the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill by a voice vote amid a walk out by the opposition. The opposition contended that the government was putting citizens in harm by allowing suppliers of nuclear equipment to escape the liability net in case of a nuclear accident. "The government will deal only with the operator, it is upon the operator to deal with the supplier," Singh, the Minister of State in the PMO, who oversees the Department of Atomic Energy, told the Lok Sabha. He said the operator liability has been rationalised through graded caps linked to reactor size to encoura

Parliament clears 100% FDI in insurance: What it means

The Lok Sabha has passed an insurance reform bill, raising foreign direct investment in the sector to 100%. The government says this will bring capital, competition, and better coverage.

Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha Bill passed; way paved for 100% FDI in insurance

The Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Bill, 2025, was cleared by the Rajya Sabha with a voice vote, a day after it was passed by the Lok Sabha

Revamping rural employment: New law will bring significant changes

The Bill proposes to increase the number of guaranteed days of employment to 125 per household

Parliament Winter Session LIVE: India mother of democracy, says Nadda, urges respect for EC on SIR

Parliament Winter Session LIVE Updates: Follow all the latest updates from Parliament as government and opposition debate key issues

Govt introduces bill in Lok Sabha to hike FDI in insurance sector to 100%

A bill seeking to raise FDI in the insurance sector to 100 per cent was on Tuesday introduced in the Lok Sabha amid strong protest from the Opposition. The Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Act, 2025, seeks to amend Insurance Act, 1938, Life Insurance Corporation Act, 1956, and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999, as per the bill circulated to members of Parliament. Introducing the bill, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the common people's insurance has always been the focus of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the central government has provided insurance to the marginal sections of the society even during the Covid pandemic. Sitharaman said objections of some of the Opposition members could be part of the debate and she was ready to answer all their questions during the debate on the proposed legislation. Opposing the introduction of the bill, RSP member N K Premachandran said the nomenclature of the bill has nothing to do wit

Big Nuclear Shift for India! All about the new SHANTI Bill and it's major provisions

India is on the brink of a major shift in its energy policy. The SHANTI Bill, cleared by the Union Cabinet and tabled in Parliament, could fundamentally change how nuclear power is built

Congress seeks apology after govt says 'no Nehru papers missing from PMML'

The Congress on Tuesday took a swipe at the government over its reply to a question in the Lok Sabha that no documents related to Jawaharlal Nehru were missing from the Prime Ministers Museum and Library (PMML) during its annual inspection, asking if there would be an apology forthcoming. In September, Rizwan Kadri, a member of the Prime Ministers Museum and Library (PMML) Society, had said he had written to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi to allow physical or digital access to private papers related to former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru that are in her possession. Sharing the reply of the government in the Lok Sabha, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "The truth was finally revealed in the Lok Sabha yesterday. Will there be an apology forthcoming?" The government informed Parliament on Monday that no documents related to the first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, have been found missing from PMML during its annual inspection this year. Union

Hindi words in English Bills an affront to non-Hindi speakers: Chidambaram

The Congress leader highlighted that the practice was to write the title of the Bill in English words in the English version and in Hindi words in the Hindi version

Bill introduced in LS to send 71 laws which are in disuse to chopping board

A bill to repeal 71 laws which have outlived their utility in the statute books was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday. While 65 of the bills are amendment Acts, which were brought to tweak existing laws, six are principal laws that have become outdated. At least one law, proposed to be repealed, is of the British era -- The Indian Tramways Act of 1886. The law was brought to facilitate the construction and to regulate the working of tramways in British India. The proposed repeal and amendment Bill is not aimed at striking off colonial laws but to remove Acts which have outlived their utility. "Once an amendment is passed by Parliament, it gets subsumed in the principal law. It then only clutters the statute books. Its use has ended, but it still exists, creating confusion," an official explained. So far, 1,562 old archaic laws have been repealed. Once the proposed Bill gets Parliament's nod, the total number of laws to be repealed will stand at 1,633. Since May 2014, the Mo

Datanomics: Right to Disconnect Bill fuels work-life balance debate

Since it is a private member Bill, there is a high probability of it not getting passed in the house

Bill to set up single higher education commission tabled, sent to JPC

The introduction of the bill faced sharp resistance from the opposition

Parliament Winter Session LIVE: Dharmendra Pradhan introduces Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill

Parliament Winter Session LIVE Updates: Follow all the latest updates from Parliament as government and opposition debate key issues

Govt set to introduce Bill to hike FDI in insurance sector to 100%

The government is planning to introduce a Bill in Parliament this week to raise FDI in the insurance sector to 100 per cent, with a view to providing insurance to all by 2047. The Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Act, 2025, seeks to amend the Insurance Act, 1938, the Life Insurance Corporation Act, 1956, and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999, according to the Bill circulated to members of Parliament ahead of its introduction in Parliament. The amendment will raise the Foreign Direct Investment limit in the insurance sector from 74 per cent to 100 per cent, it said. Despite the Bill to hike FDI in the insurance sector to 100 per cent, one of the top officials Chairman, Managing Director, or CEO must be an Indian citizen. It also paves the way for the merger of a non-insurance company with an insurance company. The Bill received the Union Cabinet's nod on Friday, paving the way for its introduction in Parliament. The Bill further ai

Brazilians protest bill that would reduce ex-Prez Bolsonaro's time in jail

Tens of thousands of Brazilians demonstrated Sunday against a bill that advanced in Congress this week which would reduce the time former President Jair Bolsonaro spends behind bars following his sentence of more than 27 years for attempting a coup. Protests took place in the capital Brasilia and in other major cities across the country, including Sao Paulo, Florianopolis, Salvador and Recife. On Copacabana's boardwalk in Rio de Janeiro, crowds composed of left-wing voters chanted No amnesty and Out with Hugo Motta, a reference to the speaker of the lower house, which approved the bill on Wednesday. It is now with the Senate. It's an attempt to protect those who tried to attempt a coup, said Antonio Edson Lima de Oliveira, a 56-year-old geologist who was at the protest in Rio. Brazil has already had several dictatorships and they were awful for the country. We never want it to happen again. Famed musicians including Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil performed in Rio, where the sun wa

Wangchuk's HIAL doing exemplary work, must be given recognition: Parl Panel

The Himalayan Institute of Alternatives (HIAL), founded by Ladakh educator and activist Sonam Wangchuk, is doing "exemplary" work and should be granted recognition by the University Grants Commission, a Parliamentary panel has noted. In its report tabled in Parliament earlier this week, the committee headed by Congress MP Digvijaya Singh expressed its concern over pending recognition of HIAL by UGC. The panel also recommended that the Ministry of Education closely study the HIAL model and consider how it can be replicated elsewhere through Centres of Innovation in Education or other interventions. "During its study visit to Ladakh, the committee was impressed with the academic, research, and entrepreneurship ecosystem at the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh (HIAL), especially its success in implementing experiential education and learning rooted in local socio-cultural and ecological contexts," said the report of the Standing Committee on Education, Women, Youth and ...

2001 Parliament attack: Vice Prez, PM, MPs pay tributes to fallen heroes

Vice President C P Radhakrishnan on Saturday led Parliamentarians in paying floral tributes to those who died fending off terrorists who attacked the Parliament House in 2001. On the 24th anniversary of the attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Radhakrishnan, who is also the Rajya Sabha Chair, were among the first to offer tributes. A brief function is held outside the now old Parliament building (Samvidhan Sadan) every December 13 to mark the day. CISF personnel presented a salute or "samman guard" at the venue, after which a moment of silence was observed to mark the anniversary. Till 2023, the CRPF used to offer 'salami shastra' (present arms). Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a senior party leader, were also present at the event. Union ministers Kiren Rijiju, Jitendra Singh and Arjun Ram Meghwal also lined up to offer flower petals at the photographs of the personnel who went down foil