Page 103 - Parliament

Rahul Gandhi unlikely to attend winter session due to Bharat Jodo Yatra

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is unlikely to attend the upcoming winter session of Parliament due to the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra, the party said on Saturday. The winter session of Parliament is likely to commence in the first week of December in the old building and conclude by the end of the month, sources had said on Friday. There is a proposal to hold the session between December 7 and 29 and a final decision regarding the dates will be taken by the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, they had said. Asked whether party MPs participating in the yatra will attend the session, Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh told reporters that it is unlikely that he and three other parliamentarians -- Rahul Gandhi, K C Venugopal, Digvijaya Singh -- who are walking in the yatra consistently would attend Parliament. Ramesh said they would inform the Speaker and the Chairman accordingly that they would not be able to attend the upcoming session. He said

Winter session may commence in first week of Dec in old Parliament building

The Winter Session of Parliament is likely to commence in the first week of December in the old building and conclude by the end of the month, sources said on Friday. A final decision regarding the dates will be taken by the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, they said. While the session is likely to take place in the old building, the government is also contemplating a symbolic soft inauguration of the new building, being built at an estimated cost of over Rs 1,200 crore, by the end of this month or early December, the sources said. The session usually starts from the third week of November with around 20 sittings. But there have been occasions when the session was held in December, during 2017 and 2018. This time, it is likely that the session will be held in the first week of December, the sources said. Elections to the Gujarat Assembly will be held on December 1 and 5, while counting for both Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh will be held on December 8. The government ear

Three questions on EWS quota: Here's what the Supreme Court judges said

Supreme Court upholds constitutional validity of 10% EWS quota on 'economic basis'

IIT-D likely to be House knowledge partner; keep MPs updated on 5G, climate

IIT Delhi, known not only in the country but all over the world for its excellent research and innovations, is likely to become a 'Knowledge Partner' of the Parliament

Central Vista: New building work going on at fast pace, says Hardeep Puri

With less than a month to go for the November deadline, Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday said construction work of the new Parliament building is going on at a very fast pace. The government has been maintaining that the project would be completed by November and the winter session would be held in the new building. On August 4, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishore had told Lok Sabha that the physical progress of the new Parliament building is 70 per cent and the month of November is the deadline to complete the project. Addressing a press conference here after inaugurating '15th Urban Mobility India (UMI) Conference & Expo', Puri said there are over 4,000 people working round-the- clock on the project. Responding to PTI's question on whether the project would meet the deadline, he said, "I go there (construction site) every week. The work is going on at very fast pace. We have something 4,000 people working ...

Parliamentary panel to seek explanation over EPFO plan rejection

A Parliamentary panel will seek explanation from the finance ministry for turning down the labour ministry's proposal to increase the pension of EPFO subscribers from the current Rs 1,000 per month. The quantum of increase proposed by the labour ministry could not be ascertained. Top officials from the labour ministry and Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Thursday briefed Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour chaired by BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahtab on operation of the EPF pension scheme and management of its corpus fund. The finance ministry had not agreed to the labour ministry's proposal for any enhancement in the monthly pension, the officials informed the panel. The panel has now decided to call top officials from the finance ministry to seek explanation behind the move. The labour ministry has constituted a High-Empowered Monitoring Committee for complete evaluation and review of the Employees Pension Scheme (EPS), 1995. The committee in its report had ...

Parliamentary panel recommends setting up regulators for medical devices

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare has recommended setting up of a new set of regulators at different levels for regulating the medical Devices industry

SC refuses to entertain PIL on putting up draft laws in public domain

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a PIL seeking directions to the Centre and the states to publish draft laws prominently on government websites and in the public domain at least 60 days before they are introduced in Parliament and state assemblies. A bench of Chief Justice U U Lalit and Justice Bela M Trivedi, however, hoped that the governments would put the laws in public domain in local languages so that citizens know about the legislations made for them. With regard to the pleas seeking a direction to put future laws in public domain, the bench said, It would not be proper on our part to direct the government to publish draft legislations. It is entirely left up to the government to take such decisions. As regards to the second prayer, we do believe that people must know the legislations made for them and such legislations must be provided in public domain in local languages. Senior lawyer Gopal Sankarnarayanan, appearing for petitioner Ashwini Upadhyay, said t

Kharge's presidency of Congress in Modi era is a poisoned chalice

It's time to admit the Congress's problem is not, in fact, the Gandhis. If anything, they hold together a party that would otherwise split into multiple factions

No direction can be issued to Parliament to frame UCC: Centre tells SC

The Law Ministry has told the Supreme Court that the court cannot direct Parliament to frame or enact any law, as it sought dismissal of PILs seeking a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the country

Lebanese parliament fails to elect new President twice over lack of quorum

The Lebanese parliament has failed for the second time in a month to elect a new head of state as President Michel Aoun's term is about to end in about two weeks

Ministry proposes to decriminalise law on collection of statistics

No imprisonment for offences like obstructing or deceiving officers, but fines will be increased

Malaysian PM Ismail Yaakob dissolves Parliament, calls for early elections

Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced that Parliament will be dissolved on Monday, paving the way for general elections that are expected to be held in early November. The elections would come nine months before Parliament's term expires, following calls for early polls from Ismail's United Malays National Organisation. UMNO, the biggest party in the ruling coalition, was feuding with its allies and is aiming for a big win on its own. The Election Commission is expected to meet within the week to announce a date for the vote, which is likely to be held before the year-end monsoon season that often brings devastating floods.

'Parliamentary illiteracy' on fiscal issues needs to be overcome: N K Singh

Former finance commission chairman calls for having a fiscal council to debate policy issues

In major rejig, Cong loses chairmanship of parliamentary panel on Home, IT

Opposition parties have not been given the chairmanship of any of the four key parliamentary panels including the committee on Home Affairs and Information Technology, which were with the Congress, in the latest rejig announced on Tuesday. With this, the chair of six major parliamentary committees -- Home, IT, Defence, External Affairs, Finance and Health -- all are with the BJP and its allies. Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi has been replaced by BJP MP and retired IPS officer Brij Lal as the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing committee on Home Affairs. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who is contesting the party's presidential polls, has been replaced by Prataprao Jadhav, a Shiv Sena MP from the Shinde faction, as the head of the Parliamentary Panel on Information Technology. The Trinamool Congress, which had the chair of the Parliamentary Panel on Food and Consumer Affairs, has not been given the chairmanship of any parliamentary committee after the reshuffle. "TMC is the third

House panel flags poor placements, under-utilisation of funds in PMKVY 3.0

The committee is particularly concerned about the third edition of the scheme, as placement figures fall below 10%

Tharoor likely to make way for Shinde faction Sena MP as IT panel chief

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor will likely make way for Shinde faction Sena MP as IT panel chief

Japan's Parliament to convene extraordinary session next week: Report

Japan's Diet, the country's Parliament, will convene an extraordinary session next week, lawmakers have confirmed

Australian lawmakers pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, discuss republic

Australian lawmakers on Friday paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, with some also weighing in on the republic debate, after they returned to parliament from a break taken to observe the queen's death. An obscure and longstanding protocol in Australia bars parliament from sitting for 15 days following a British monarch's death. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had decided to follow the protocol. Albanese has previously said he wants an Australian president to replace the British monarch as the nation's head of state, although he has avoided getting entangled in the republic debate since the queen's death. Each chamber of Australia's parliament the Senate and the House was spending Friday passing condolence motions for the late monarch as well as congratulating King Charles III on his accession to the throne. Albanese said it was hard to grasp the queen was now just a memory after her seven-decade reign. She was a rare and reassuring constant amidst rapid change, Albanese ...

New telecom bill may clarify on insolvency norms for stressed firms: Report

With Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022, a spectrum will be held by a telco till it continues to pay the dues and provide the services. Once the service stops, the spectrum will go to the government