Page 39 - Rajya Sabha

Rajya Sabha chair goes digital from this monsoon session of Parliament

As the Rajya Sabha goes fully digital on Thursday, officials said, it resulted in hour-long separate meetings conducted with several officials from various wings of the RS Secretariat

Rajya Sabha adjourned for the day amid opposition uproar over Manipur issue

Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day amid the opposition's demand for a discussion over the Manipur issue. When the Upper House of Parliament, which was also adjourned in the morning session, resumed, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar asked for listed papers to be laid. Opposition members started raising slogans when Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur moved to introduce the Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2023, to further amend the Cinematograph Act, 1952. Leader of Opposition in the House Mallikarjun Kharge said he has been demanding a discussion on the Manipur issue since morning but has not been allowed one. Dhankhar asked opposition members to maintain decorum. But continuous sloganeering, forced him to adjourn the House for the day.

Dhankhar reconstitutes RS panel of vice-chairpersons, half of them women

Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday reconstituted the panel of vice-chairpersons of Parliament's upper house with half of them being women. The House members are informed that the panel of vice chairpersons has been reconstituted with effect from July 17, 2023, he said. Among the Rajya Sabha members who are the new vice-chairpersons are P T Usha, S Phangnon Konyak, Fauzia Khan, Sulata Deo, V Vijaysai Reddy, Ghanshyam Tiwari, L Hanumanthaiah and Sukhendu Sekhar Ray. "Members will be happy to note that 50 per cent of vice-chairpersons happen to be women," the chairman said. As per Rajya Sabha rules, "The chairman shall, from time to time, nominate from amongst the members of the Council a panel of not more than six vice-chairmen, one of whom may preside over the Council in the absence of the chairman and the deputy chairman when so requested by the chairman, or in his absence, by the deputy chairman." A vice-chairperson nominated under sub-rule (1) shall hold office un

Rajya Sabha adjourned over oppn demand for discussion on Manipur situation

Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned till 2 PM on Thursday after opposition members created uproar demanding a discussion on the Manipur violence issue under Rule 267. Soon after the House met at 12 noon, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar accepted eight notices by members for a short duration discussion under the rule. Leader of the House Piyush Goyal said the government has no objections and was ready for a discussion. When the chairman allowed the notices for a short duration discussion on Manipur, Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge raised objections and said all the business of the House be suspended first and their notices for a discussion on Manipur under Rule 267 be taken up. "How the Leader of the house suddenly gets up and says we are ready for a discussion. We have given notices under Rule 267 for suspending all other business of the House and then take this us. Let prime minister give statement and we will discuss," he told the chairman. Rule 267 of the Rajya Sabha pertai

RS chair calls floor leaders' meet ahead of Monsoon session rescheduled

Opposition parties are gearing up to take on the government on a range of issues as the Parliament goes into session in the Monsoon phase

EAM Jaishankar files Rajya Sabha nomination from Gujarat's Gandhinagar

The Election Commission of India (ECI) earlier announced the schedule for the election across 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Goa, Gujarat and West Bengal to be held on July 24

Derek O'Brien, Saket Gokhale among 6 candidates named by TMC for RS polls

The Trinamool Congress on Monday announced its candidates for the six Rajya Sabha seats in West Bengal that will go to polls later this month. Among these candidates were Derek O'Brien, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray and Dola Sen. O'Brien, an MP since 2011, is the TMC's leader in Rajya Sabha, while Ray who was first sent to the Upper House of Parliament in 2012 is the deputy chief whip, and Sen, a senior leader and trade unionist, became an MP in 2017. The newcomers on the list were Bangla Sanskriti Mancha president Samirul Islam, TMC's Alipurduar district president Prakash Chik Baraik, and RTI activist and TMC spokesperson Saket Gokhale. Besides O'Brien, Ray and Sen, the tenures of Congress MP Pradip Bhattacharya, TMC's Assam leader Sushmita Dev and its Darjeeling leader Shanta Chhetri's ended, following which these six seats fell vacant. A seventh Rajya Sabha seat from West Bengal is also vacant after former Goa chief minister Luizinho Faleiro resigned as a TMC MP in April. A bypoll will be

Jaishankar arrives in Ahmedabad, to file nomination for Rajya Sabha polls

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has arrived here to file his nomination papers on Monday for the Rajya Sabha elections from Gujarat, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) official said. Gujarat BJP general secretary Pradeepsinh Vaghela on Sunday said Jaishankar, whose term ends on August 18 along with two other Rajya Sabha members from the state, is scheduled to file his nomination form at around noon on Monday. Jaishankar landed at the Ahmedabad airport on Sunday and was received by Gujarat minister Raghavji Patel, Ahmedabad Mayor Kirit Parmar and other BJP functionaries. While the BJP has not officially declared the names of candidates for the three Rajya Sabha seats for which the elections are scheduled to be held on July 24, Jaishankar's nomination was certain. The Congress on Friday said it would not field candidates for polls to the three Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat as it did not have enough MLAs in the 182-member state Assembly. The BJP won a record 156 seats in the Guja

The political impact of Rahul Gandhi's legal woes

Going to jail is a rite of passage for politicians, and they tend to emerge stronger if the punishment is seen to be unfair

Jaishankar to file Rajya Sabha nomination from Gujarat's Gandhinagar on Mon

Election Commission said that 10 members from Goa, Gujarat and West Bengal are scheduled to retire in the months of July and August

Demand discussion on Manipur in Parliament: Cong MP writes to colleagues

Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi has written to fellow legislators cutting across party lines in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, urging them to demand a discussion in Parliament on the ensuing crisis in Manipur and pursue legislative interventions seeking accountability from the Centre and the state government. Bordoloi, who is a Lok Sabha MP from Assam's Nowgong, said with the Monsoon Session of Parliament scheduled to begin on July 20, he has written to all his colleagues in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha across state and party lines, urging them to lend their voice to the demand for a discussion on the crisis in Manipur. "I am writing to you in the wake of devastating and escalating ethnic violence ensuing in the state of Manipur. Violence has gripped the Northeastern state since the 3rd of May 2023, and the situation in Manipur has deteriorated significantly over the past three months, with reports of widespread violence, human rights abuses, and loss of innocent lives," ...

India's Rajya Sabha members older than upper houses in peer economies

Members are also far richer than they were a decade ago; gender profile improves too

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'