Page 39 - Rajya Sabha

Monsoon session of Rajya Sabha to commence from July 20 to August 11

'The President has summoned the Rajya Sabha to meet on Thursday, 20th July 2023 and to conclude on Friday, 11th August 2023,' it said

Biennial polls to RS seats on July 24; Jaishankar, O'Brien to retire

Elections to 10 Rajya Sabha seats, including those held by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Derek O'Brien, will be held on July 24, the Election Commission (EC) said on Tuesday. The 10 seats in the Upper House of Parliament are falling vacant in July and August with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members Vinay D Tendulkar from Goa and Jaishankar, Jugalsinh Lokhandwala and Dineshchandra Anavadiya from Gujarat being among those completing their tenures. TMC members O'Brien, Dola Sen, Sushmita Dev, Shanta Chhetri and Sukhendu Sekhar Ray are retiring from West Bengal. Congress member Pradip Bhattacharya also completes his tenure in August. According to practice, the counting of votes will take place at 5 pm on July 24 itself, an hour after the conclusion of the poll process. According to a statement issued by the EC, the 10 members are retiring between July 28 and August 18 on the completion of their six-year term in the Upper House.

Rajya Sabha MP Hardwar Dubey passes away at 74, PM, Prez mourn

Hardwar Dubey, BJP Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh, has died at a private hospital here, sources said on Monday. He was 74. Dubey breathed his last at the Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, the hospital sources said. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took to Twitter to condole Dubey's demise. "The (news of the) demise of honourable Rajya Sabha MP and former Uttar Pradesh minister Shri Hardwar Dubey ji is very sad. My condolences are with the bereaved family members. May Lord Shri Ram grant the departed soul a place at his holy feet and strength to the bereaved family members to bear this immense sorrow. Om Shanti," Adityanath said in a tweet in Hindi.

Congress appoints Rajya Sabha MP Shktisinh Gohil as new Gujarat PCC chief

The Congress on Friday appointed Rajya Sabha MP Shaktisinh Gohil as the new Gujarat PCC president and relieved him from the charge of AICC in-charge of Haryana and Delhi by appointing Deepak Babariya in his place. "The Congress president has appointed Shaktisinh Gohil as the new Gujarat PCC president and V Vaithilingam, MP, as the new Puducherry PCC president," said an official communication. "The Congress President has appointed Shri Deepak Babaria as AICC in-charge of Haryana and Delhi with immediate effect," said another official order from the party. It also said that the party appreciates the contributions of outgoing AICC in-charge Gohil. Gohil has replaced Jagdish Thakor, who had resigned after the party's poor performance in the last assembly elections in Gujarat when the party reached its lowest-ever legislator tally. The Congress also appointed MLA Varsha Gaikwad as the new president of Mumbai RCC (Regional Congress Committee). She replaces Bhai Jagtap. Vaithilingam ha

Wish PM had lived up to his words of 'Naari Samaan': Shiv Sena MP

Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi has slammed the BJP-led Centre and the Delhi Police for the treatment meted out to the protesting wrestlers

New Parliament building: Lotus motif for Rajya Sabha, peacock for Lok Sabha

Premium hand-knotted carpets weaved laboriously by as many as 900 artisans from Uttar Pradesh for a whopping "10 lakh man-hours" will adorn the floors of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in the new Parliament building. The new Parliament building, to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, will showcase exquisite motifs of national bird peacock and national flower lotus in the carpets of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, respectively. Obeetee Carpets, the over-100-year-old Indian company behind the project, said weavers crafted more than 150 carpets each for Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha "before stitching them into a single carpet in the form of a semi-circle to sync with the architecture of each of the Houses spread across 35,000 square feet of area". "The weavers had to craft the carpets for halls measuring up to 17,500 square feet each. This posed a significant challenge for the design team, as they had to meticulously craft the carpet in separate pieces and seamlessly join them

PM Narendra Modi to inaugurate India's new Parliament building today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new Parliament building equipped with state-of-the-art technology today

It's drama: CPI MP Binoy Viswam on new Parliament building inauguration

Amid the opposition's objection to Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating the new Parliament building, Communist Party of India (CPI) Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Viswam on Wednesday said, it is a 'drama'

National e-Vidhan Application: What is it and why is it significant?

NeVA is transforming all state legislatures into digital Vidhan Sabha systems, allowing them to conduct all government business on the digital platform

Political spin to Parliament building inauguration as Oppn plans boycott

Nineteen parties, including Congress, Left and TMC say inauguration "undignified", insults the high office of the President; BJD, TDP, YSR Congress, and Bahujan Samaj party to attend

Have to ensure that bill on Delhi services is not passed in RS: Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said he will be meeting leaders of various political parties to ensure that a bill related to Centre's ordinance nullifying the Supreme Court order on services matters is not passed in the Rajya Sabha. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has announced that it will hold a "maha rally" at Ramlila Maidan here on June 11 against the "black ordinance". "Today, I am starting my journey around the country for the rights of the people of Delhi. The Supreme Court had passed a judgement giving justice to the people of Delhi. The Centre snatched away those rights by bringing the ordinance," Kejriwal said. "When this comes in the Rajya Sabha, it has to be ensured that it not passed. I will meet the leaders of all political parties and ask for support," he added. Kejriwal is expected to meet his West Bengal counterpart and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on Tuesday. The AAP on Monday sought support of all non-BJP parties in defeating in the Rajya Sabh

Rs 200 cr spent on salaries, facilities for RS MPs in last 2 years: RTI

Around Rs 200 crore was spent on salaries, allowances and facilities for Rajya Sabha MPs over the last two years with around Rs 63 crore spent on their travel alone, according to an RTI reply. In 2021-22, in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, the exchequer spent over Rs 97 crore on Rajya Sabha members. The amount includes Rs 28.5 crore on domestic travel and Rs 1.28 crore on international travel. Salaries amounted to Rs 57.6 crore, medical bills of Rs 17 lakh and office expenses of Rs 7.5 crore. It also spent Rs 1.2 crore on information technology assistance to the MPs. In the 2021-23, Rs 100 crore was spent in total which included Rs 33 crore in domestic and foreign travel expenses, according to the reply by Rajya Sabha Secretariat to a query filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by Madhya Pradesh-based Chander Shekhar Gaur. The Rajya Sabha Secretariat has said that during 2022-23, Rs 58.5 crore was spent on the salaries of members, while Rs 30.9 crore on domestic

Need to debate if OPS will create economic crisis: RS deputy chairman

Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh on Monday underscored the potential economic ramification of going back to the old pension scheme (OPS) that was shelved by the National Democratic Alliance government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee nearly two decades ago. The talk of restoring the OPS for the sake of power is on. Society should debate whether such moves would create an economic crisis in the country akin to Sri Lanka and Pakistan, he said at a lecture series on Challenges in New Era. Harivansh said that the NDA government led by Vajpayee scrapped the OPS on April 1, 2004, and introduced the National Pension Scheme (NPS). Under the OPS, an employee gets 50 per cent of the last drawn monthly salary as pension as against the NPS which is a market-linked scheme. Now, for the sake of power, there is talk of reverting to OPS because government employees are organised, and thus, they form a significant vote bank, he said. The five states that have restored the OPS have been burdened

RS chairman should be impartial, not always praising govt: Cong on Dhankhar

The Congress on Monday hit back at Jagdeep Dhankhar over his remarks that people should leave their "political spectacle" behind while embarking on a foreign visit, saying the Rajya Sabha chairman should be impartial and not always praise the government. Speaking at a World Homeopathy Day function here, Dhankhar said as India lays the foundation for the centenary of its independence in 2047, every attempt that seeks to attack the country's dignity should be blunted. He said people should leave their "political spectacle" behind while embarking on a foreign visit, in an apparent reference to a row over Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's remarks made during a recent visit to the United Kingdom. Responding to Vice President Dhankhar's tweet advising that people should leave their "political spectacle" behind while embarking on a foreign visit, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet in Hindi, "First you give this advice to those who started this practice in 2015. Then give

Parliament adjourns: Budget session a near-washout amid Oppn protests

MPs of the Congress and DMK, mostly dressed in black, ignored the speaker's pleas and continued their protests

Govt blames Oppn for logjam in Parliament as productivity dives in Houses

The government on Thursday blamed the Opposition for the virtual washout of the second half of Parliament's Budget Session, saying the ruling BJP was ready to drop its demand, a likely reference to its insistence on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's apology, if opposition parties reciprocated its gesture on their stand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Adani issue. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal told reporters after the session concluded that the government wanted a discussion on the Finance Bill before it was passed. "We were ready to give up our stand. But they should have also given up their stand. We had a strong stand," he said, without directly referring to the BJP stand. He noted that Speaker Om Birla had called a meeting to defuse the logjam, but the Opposition stuck to its stand. Meghwal said the productivity of Lok Sabha was 34 per cent and of Rajya Sabha 24.4 per cent during the session, which had begun on January 31. Overall

Linking of Aadhaar details with voter ID card yet to start: Rijiju in RS

Linking Aadhaar details with the voter identity card has not started yet, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday while noting that the exercise was "process driven" and no target or timelines have been given for the proposed linkage. In a written reply, he also asserted that the names of those who do not link their Aadhaar details with the voters' list will not be struck off the electoral rolls. Section 23 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, as amended by the Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021, provides for the electoral registration officers to require the existing or prospective elector to provide the Aadhaar number for establishing identity on a voluntary basis. The Election Commission had launched the programme to collect the Aadhaar number of existing and prospective electors on a voluntary basis from August 1, 2O22 in all the states and union territories. "Linking of Aadhaar is process driven and no targets or timelines have been given for .

Rajya Sabha adjourned sine die, second leg of Budget Session concludes

Rajya Sabha was on Thursday adjourned sine die, ending the four-week-long second leg of the Budget session, during which treasury and opposition members locked horns over Rahul Gandhi's "democracy" remark and the Adani issue. When Rajya Sabha reassembled at 2 pm after an adjournment in the morning session, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar informed that the suspension of Congress MP Rajani Ashokrao Patil for filming proceedings of the House has been extended beyond the Budget Session based on the privileges committee's recommendations. Before that DMK's Tiruchi Siva and Congress' Shaktisinh Gohil sought clarity over the implications of Dhankhar's Wednesday decision to reject Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge's objection to Rajya Sabha discussing a statement of Gandhi. The chairman, however, was firm on his decision. Amid protest by opposition members over the suspension issue, Dhankhar read out his valedictory remarks and adjourned Rajya Sabha sine die (for indefinite period). Earlie

Lok Sabha functioned for 45 hours, Rajya Sabha 31 hours this Budget Session

Parliament could function much less than the planned duration with daily protests and frequent adjournments disrupting the second half of the Budget Session, data compiled by a think tank showed. According to it, the Lok Sabha functioned for over 45 hours against a scheduled duration of 133.6 hours while the Rajya Sabha worked for over 31 hours out of 130 hours. This translates to Lok Sabha functioning for around 34.28 per cent of its scheduled duration and 24 per cent for the Rajya Sabha, the PRS Legislative Research said. Both Houses witnessed repeated adjournments of the Question Hour throughout the Session. The Lok Sabha could take questions for 4.32 hours while the figure for Rajya Sabha was worse at 1.85 hours for the entire Budget Session. In his concluding remarks, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said the House held discussions on the General Budget for 14.45 hours, and 145 MPs participated in it. Discussions on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address were held for 13 ho

'RS chairman allowed subversion of standing committee's basic function'

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Thursday wrote to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar over the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023, being sent to a joint committee, alleging that this was an "open and shut case" of his allowing the government to deliberately circumvent the standing committee concerned. Ramesh alleged that Dhankhar had allowed the "subversion of the Standing Committee's basic function". His letter to Dhankhar over the issue, the second in just over a week, came in response to a letter dated April 5 from Ranjit Punhani, Secretary in the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, asking him to "state the exact premise" for his objection to the reference of the Bill to the joint committee. Ramesh heads the Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change. "This is an extraordinary request given, I have met you personally and also written to you on my objections. I have already informed you that the Forest Conservation (Amendment) Bil