Page 4 - Parliament

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

Average 50 days of employment per household under MGNREGS in five years

An average 50 days of employment per household was provided to workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in the last five years, Minister of State for Rural Development Kamlesh Paswan informed the Rajya Sabha on Friday. The flagship rural employment scheme guarantees up to 100 days of wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. In a written reply in the Upper House, Paswan said in 2024-25, average days of employment provided per household under MGNREGS was 50.24. The figures for previous years were similar. In 2023-24, the average number of workdays per household was 52.07, in 2022-23 it was 47.84, in 2021-22 it was 50.07, and in 2020-21 it was 51.54. Altogether, the average number of days of employment per household during the last five years comes to 50.35. In his reply, Paswan also said the responsibility for implementation of the MGNREGS at ground level lies with th

Parliament Winter Session LIVE: FM Sitharaman introduces Appropriation Bill in Lok Sabha

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

IndiGo crisis: Parliamentary panel may summon DGCA, MoCA officials

Parliamentary panel will summon aviation regulators and major airlines to review recent flight cancellations and ongoing safety concerns, including ATC fatigue, pilot shortages and infrastructure gaps

Parliament Winter Session HIGHLIGHTS: RS adjourns for the day, to meet at 11 am on Friday

Parliament Winter Session LIVE Updates: Stay tuned as discussion on electoral reforms is set continue in Rajya Sabha after the Opposition staged a walkout from both houses on Wednesday

Shift Parliament sessions out of polluted Delhi, BJD MP urges government

BJD Rajya Sabha member Manas Ranjan Mangaraj on Thursday appealed to the government to relocate Parliament's Winter and Budget sessions out of Delhi until air quality improves, calling the capital's annual pollution crisis a "man-made disaster". Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Mangaraj, who hails from Odisha, drew parallels between his state's efficient response to natural calamities and the need for similar urgency in addressing Delhi's air pollution. "Coming from Odisha, a state that fights cyclones, floods and natural calamities with unmatched discipline, I know what a crisis looks like. But what troubles me is... Delhi," he said. The MP highlighted the daily exposure to toxic air faced by members, parliamentary officers, drivers, sanitation workers, and security personnel who keep the House functioning. "We cannot ignore their suffering. We cannot pretend this is normal," he said, adding that holding crucial parliamentary sessions during peak pollution months puts lives at .

SIR opposed to keep illegal immigrants on poll rolls, says Amit Shah

Shah attributed the Opposition's protest against the SIR to the incompetence of its leadership to win elections, and not Electronic Voting Machines or 'vote chori (theft)'

Amit Shah defends SIR, asks if illegal immigrants should vote in India

During a debate on election reforms, Home Minister Amit Shah said the Election Commission has the full mandate to conduct SIR under Article 326 of the Constitution