Page 75 - Parliament

Parliament panel seeks review of judges' post-retirement assignments

Also questions the 'colonial legacy' of collective judicial holidays

Revenue from ticket sales at ASI monuments stands at Rs 252.8 cr: Govt

The total revenue earned from centrally-protected ticketed monuments in India in the financial year 2022-23 stood at Rs 252.85 crore, the government informed Parliament on Monday. In a written response in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister of Culture G Kishan Reddy said the total revenue earned from centrally-protected ticketed monuments in the financial year 2020-21 stood at Rs 48.30 crore, which grew to Rs 101.50 crore in 2021-22 and Rs 252.85 crore in 2022-23. The minister was asked monument-wise and year-wise details of the amount collected through the sale of entry tickets of monuments under the Archaeological Survey of India and the amount spent in their conservation during the last ten years. In response to a separate query, Reddy said the ASI annually undertakes special nature of conservation, preservation and environmental development of about 600-700 monuments out of its 3,696 monuments or sites across the country. On a query on preservation of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in .

Over 13,000 vacancies filled in central higher education institutions: MoE

Over 13,000 vacancies in Central Higher Education Institutions (CHEIs) have been filled in 10 months under the mission recruitment drive, Parliament was informed on Monday. The information was shared by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in a written reply in Lok Sabha. "Occurring of vacancies and filling thereof is a continuous process. The vacancies arise due to retirement, resignation and additional requirements on account of enhanced student strength. "Ministry of Education has directed all the CHEIs to fill up the vacancies in Mission Mode, including a special drive for reserved category posts. As on August 3, a total of 13371 vacancies have been filled up in the CHEIs under the Mission Recruitment drive, in a period of ten months only," he said. The minister did not mention the number of remaining vacant positions. The ministry informed Lok Sabha in February that over 14,600 faculty positions are vacant in central HEIs.

Voice representing people will be heard again: Priyanka on Rahul in LS

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday hailed Rahul Gandhi's return to Lok Sabha as an MP, saying the voice representing the real issues of people will be heard once again in Parliament. As soon as the Lok Sabha membership of Gandhi was restored, celebrations broke out at the Congress headquarters here with workers dancing and raising slogans in favour of the former party president. Gandhi was also accorded a warm welcome by Congress and other opposition MPs on his arrival in Parliament after his Lok Sabha membership was restored. Tagging a video of Gandhi reaching Parliament, Priyanka Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi, "The voice representing the real issues of the people will once again reverberate in Parliament." "Heartfelt thanks to millions of Congress workers who fought shoulder to shoulder with Rahul Gandhi ji as also crores of people of the country who supported the fight for justice and truth," Priyanka Gandhi said. Rahul Gandhi's status as the MP from Kerala's Way

RS adjourned till 2 amid uproar; House revokes suspension of Cong MP Patil

Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned till 2 pm on Monday amid uproar as opposition parties demanded a discussion on Manipur violence while members from the treasury benches sought to raise matters related to the law and order situation in Rajasthan. Soon after the House revoked the suspension of Congress MP Rajani Patil with a voice vote, BJP members rose to seek a discussion on the law and order situation in Rajasthan in view of atrocities reported against women in the state. However, Congress and other opposition party members pressed for a discussion on the prevailing situation in Manipur. The proceedings in the Hose have been disrupted since the start of the Monsoon session on the Manipur issue. Amid ruckus, Leader of the House and Union Minister Piyush Goyal said the government had agreed for a short duration discussion on Manipur, but opposition does not want discuss it. Patil was suspended from Rajya Sabha during the Budget session for violating rules of the House by ...

Rahul Gandhi's status as Lok Sabha MP restored; to attend Parliament today

In 2019, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi, in Karnataka's Kolar, had said, "How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?" while referring to Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi

Lok Sabha restores Rahul Gandhi's membership after Supreme Court stay

Gandhi was disqualified as a Lok Sabha member on March 23 after a Gujarat court convicted him in a defamation case and sentenced him to two years in jail

Debate, discussion should take place: Dhankar flags concerns on disruptions

Addressing a valedictory function of the 'Festival of Libraries' in Delhi, Dhankar also flagged concerns over repeated adjournments in both Houses of Parliament

Govt may introduce draft Telecommunications Bill in Parliament this week

Officials say the draft bill has received cabinet clearance

Par panel lists steps to get women in CAPFs, reservation for transgenders

Highlighting the low representation of women in the Central Armed Police Forces, a parliamentary committee has asked the Union home ministry to take steps to encourage them to join the services, besides recommending a reservation for transgenders. In its latest report, the panel said a policy may be explored for women officers to be given soft postings and not subject them to extremely strenuous working conditions. The Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, headed by BJP MP Sushil Kumar Modi, said the representation of women personnel in the CAPFs and Assam Rifles is 3.76 per cent as on September 30, 2022. "The Committee advocates that all necessary steps should be taken by MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) to encourage women to join forces to the maximum possible extent. A major constraint that prevents women from joining forces is the difficult terrains and conditions in which they might have to work," it said in its 131s

Parl disruptions will accomodate forces not accountable to Constitution: VP

Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday cautioned that if Parliament does not engage in dialogue and discussion and is plagued by disruption, the space will not remain vacant and will be occupied by forces that are not accountable to the Constitution. His remarks came amid daily disruption of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha proceedings during the ongoing Monsoon session over ethnic violence in Manipur. Dhankhar, who is also the chairman of Rajya Sabha, said that "some among us make sinister efforts with pernicious motivations to taint, tarnish, demean our institutions". He urged people to be judgmental about such forces and said citizens should never hesitate in neutralising the "anti-Bharat narrative". "You'll have to speak out your mind to defeat sinister forces that think otherwise," he said while addressing a Culture Ministry event here. Describing Parliament as the temple of democracy where debate, discussion and dialogue have to take place, the vice-president said that no one ..

247 Bills got the Presidential sanction between 2014 and 2022, shows data

One-fifth of Bills approved since 2014 from Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh

No-trust vote, Delhi services Bill highlight of final week of Parliament

The Monsoon session of Parliament is set for a stormy final week with the Lok Sabha being set to take up the no-confidence motion against the government while the Rajya Sabha is likely to witness some spirited debate over the Delhi services bill. At the outset, all eyes will be on the Lok Sabha Secretariat on Monday when it is expected to review the stay granted by the Supreme Court on the conviction of Rahul Gandhi in the 'Modi surname' case and decide on the revocation of his Parliament membership. If Gandhi's disqualification is revoked, the Congress would prefer him to be the key speaker from the opposition ranks during the no-trust motion which is scheduled to be taken up for debate on Tuesday. The Rajya Sabha will take up the Delhi services bill on Monday. The Business Advisory Committee of the Lok Sabha has allotted 12 hours for the discussion on the no-trust motion and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to respond to the debate on Thursday. Opposition protests demandi

Govt likely to present Delhi Services Bill in Rajya Sabha on Monday

The government is likely to bring the Delhi Services Bill for its consideration and passage in Rajya Sabha on Monday, sources said. The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023 to replace the ordinance on transfers and postings of senior officers in the Delhi government was passed by Lok Sabha on Thursday amid a walkout by the opposition parties. "The Delhi services bill will come up in Rajya Sabha on Monday. Voting for the passage of the bill will be held the same day in the evening after the conclusion of a discussion on the bill," a source said. Senior Congress leader and Supreme Court lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi is likely to initiate the debate from the opposition side, the sources said. Singhvi had represented the Delhi government in the Supreme Court in the matter related to control of administrative services. On Friday, some leaders of the INDIA bloc met Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralh

Unfortunate that court procedures used for political agendas: Cong's Sibal

With the Supreme Court staying Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's conviction in a defamation case, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Saturday said he had stated earlier that the conviction was unwarranted and rued that "court procedures are used for political agendas". Gandhi on Friday got a huge relief from the Supreme Court after it stayed his conviction in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his Modi surname remark and paved the way for his reinstatement as a Lok Sabha MP. The stay which will also enable Gandhi, 53, to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was given on the grounds the the trial court in Surat in Gujarat failed to explain why he deserved the maximum two-year punishment upon his conviction that led to his disqualification from the Lower House of Parliament. The top court also noted that the sentence would not have attracted disqualification had it been a day lesser. In a tweet, Sibal said, "Supreme Court stays Rahul's conviction. On the day Rahul was convicted I publicly

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Only 22 out of 148 operational airports making profit: Parliamentary Panel

Only 22 airports out of 148 airports in the country are making profits and despite being on a growth path for the last two decades, the Civil Aviation sector in India has not been able to reap full benefits and demographic dividends, according to a Parliamentary panel. The panel headed by Rajya Sabha MP Sujit Kumar has noted that the number of operational airports in the country is very low for a country of India's size. "Though the civil aviation sector in India has been on a growth path for the last two decades, it has not been able to reap the full benefits of the growth in Indian economy and demographic dividends, which is evident from the fact that in all, India has 148 operational airports which is very low for a country of our size. To make matters worse, out of 148 airports, only 22 are profit making," the panel said in its report tabled in Rajya Sabha on Friday. "There is thus a huge upside in constructing airports. India is a country of approx. 1.4 billion people and thoug

Cabinet clears Telecommunication Bill, may not be tabled in current session

The Union Cabinet is learnt to have cleared the Indian Telecommunication Bill 2023, but the government may not table it in the current Parliament session, according to sources. According to sources, the government has relaxed a significant part of internet-based calling and messaging services from the ambit of telecom rules. "Cabinet has cleared Indian Telecommunication Bill 2023 but the government is not in a hurry to table it in the current session," a source, who did not wish to be identified, said. The government had proposed to include internet-based communication services, in-flight and maritime connectivity services, interpersonal communications services, machine-to-machine communication services and over-the-top (OTT) communication services under the ambit of telecom service in the draft Bill floated for public consultation. The government during the consultation process had said that users' protection will be a key focus of the Indian Telecommunication Bill. The bill seek

Parl panel recommends population-based cancer registries in rural areas

A parliamentary committee has recommended setting up of population-based cancer registries in rural areas to help data-driven and evidence-based policy formulation. It has also suggested raising taxes on tobacco products citing that increasing their market price would make them less affordable. This will result in lower consumption and decrease the risk of tobacco-related diseases, including cancer, the panel said. The health ministry must pursue with the Department of Revenue to expedite the decision on raising taxes on tobacco products, the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare said in its 147th report. It was presented in Rajya Sabha on Friday It said for better policy formulation on cancer treatment and uniform distribution of cancer care, there is an urgent need to have realistic information about the incidence and type of cancers across the country. The committee said that the health ministry should take appropriate steps to persuade

Have take measures in partnership with CERT-In against cyber threats: Govt

The Union Health Ministry has undertaken various measures in collaboration with the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) to ensure data security and protect the privacy of patients from cyber threats, the Lok Sabha was told on Friday. Advisories issued by the CERT-In are disseminated to all authorised medical care entities and service providers in the country for compliance, Minister of State for Health S P Singh Baghel said in a written reply in the Lower House. These include advisories on the latest cyber threats or vulnerabilities and countermeasures, guidelines on information security practices for government entities and specifically for health, data and network security and identity and access management, application security, third-party outsourcing, hardening procedures, security monitoring, incident management and security auditing, he said. On observing any cybersecurity incidents highlighted by the CERT-In, remedial actions are taken as per its direction and