News Analysis India

Tag: Parliament

  • Defer implementation of new criminal laws: Jairam Ramesh

    Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Saturday demanded that the enforcement of the three criminal laws, which are to come into force from July 1, be deferred, saying the Bills were “bulldozed” through Parliament. In a post on X, Ramesh said the implementation of the Bills be deferred to enable a thorough review and re-examination by a reconstituted Standing Committee on Home Affairs as they were passed at a time when 146 MPs had been suspended.

    “On Dec 25 2023, the President of India had given her assent to the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023,the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. The three far-reaching Bills had been bulldozed through Parliament without proper debate and discussion, and at a time when 146 MPs had been suspended from the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha,” Ramesh said.

    “Earlier the Bills had been bulldozed through the Standing Committee on Home Affairs without detailed interactions with stakeholders across the country and completely ignoring the written and very detailed dissent notes of a number of MPs belonging to different political parties, including the Indian National Congress, who were members of the Standing Committee,” he said. Ramesh said the three new laws are to come into effect from July 1, 2024, and the Congress is of the firm opinion that the date should be deferred to enable a thorough review and re-examination of the laws by the reconstituted Standing Committee on Home Affairs.

    He said the panel should have more extensive and meaningful consultations with various legal experts and organisations “who have serious concerns on the three laws as they stand”, after which it should be scrutinised by the 18th Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha as well.

    On Friday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding deferment of the implementation of the three criminal laws, saying they were “hurriedly passed”. Similar demands have been made by the DMK as well.

  • 54 MPs including ex-PM Manmohan Singh, 9 Union ministers retiring from Rajya Sabha

    As many as 54 members of the Rajya Sabha including former prime minister Manmohan Singh and nine union ministers are set to retire on Tuesday and Wednesday with some not returning to the Upper House. Former prime minister Singh ends his 33-year-long parliamentary innings in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday (April 3), just as former party chief Sonia Gandhi will enter the Upper House of Parliament for the first time.

    Singh, who is known for ushering in several bold reforms in the economy, became a member of the House for the first time in October 1991. He was the finance minister in the Narasimha Rao government from 1991 to 1996 and the prime minister from 2004 to 2014.

    Sonia Gandhi will enter the Upper House for the first time from Rajasthan, filling the seat that will fall vacant after 91-year-old Singh completes his tenure on April 3. Seven Union ministers — Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Minister Purshottam Rupala, Information Technology Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MoS External Affairs V Muraleedharan, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Narayan Rane and MoS Information and Broadcasting L Murugan — end their tenure in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

    Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw will end their tenure on Wednesday.

    All these Union ministers, except Vaishnaw, are contesting the Lok Sabha elections and have not been given another term in the Upper House. Vaishnaw and Murugan have been given another Rajya Sabha term. As many as 49 members are retiring on Tuesday (April 2), while five are retiring on Wednesday (April 3).

    Of those retiring from the Upper House include Samajwadi Party’s Jaya Bachchan who has been renominated to the Council of States by her party for another term. So is Manoj Kumar Jha, who has been renominated by his party RJD for another term in the Rajya Sabha from Bihar, and Naseer Hussain (Congress), who has been renominated from Karnataka.

    Abhishek Singhvi of the Congress party, whose tenure in Rajya Sabha ends today will not be in the upper house as he lost his election from Himachal Pradesh.

    Among others who will be retiring include BJP’s national media in-charge Anil Baluni, who is contesting the Lok Sabha election from Garhwal seat in Uttarakhand,

    Besides, BJP’s Prakash Javadekar, a former union minister and Sushil Kumar Modi, former deputy chief minister of Bihar, also retire from the Rajya Sabha and have not been renominated by the party.

    BJP’s Anil Jain also retires on Tuesday as he has not been given another term by the party and so has Saroj Pandey from Chhattisgarh, who is contesting the Lok Sabha election in the state.

  • White Paper on UPA decade: Congress lacked 'neeyat and niyam', says FM Sitharaman

    White Paper on UPA decade: Congress lacked 'neeyat and niyam', says FM Sitharaman

  • On BJP’s White Paper, Congress Mulling ‘Black Paper’ Move Against Modi Government |

    The Congress party is planning to bring a ‘Black Paper’ against the BJP government after the ruling party said it will present a ‘White Paper’ on earlier UPA government’s economic mismanagement. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is likely to present the report. As the government plans to present the white paper, the ongoing budget session of the Lok Sabha has been extended until Saturday, February 10. There will be no Question Hour session on the extended date. As per a Lok Sabha Secretariat notification issued on Wednesday, extension of the current session of Lok Sabha, as announced by the Chair today (7.2.2024) and agreed to by the House, the current session of Lok Sabha has been extended up to Saturday, February 10, 2024, in order to provide sufficient time for completion of essential items of Government Business.

    The BJP has planned to present the White Paper which will show the mismanagement of the economy by the earlier UPA government and the steps taken by the Modi government to improve the situation. It may be notable that under PM Narendra Modi, the Indian economy has become the fifth largest in the world from 11th in 2014.

    The last session before Lok Sabha polls expected to be held in April-May this year was started with the address by President Droupadi Murmu to the joint sitting of two Houses on January 31. It was earlier to be concluded on February 9.

    Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, stated that his party is prepared to address any papers the government brings to the House. “Narendra Modi has Congressphobia. We are ready to fight. The government can bring a ‘White Paper’, Red paper, black paper, we have no problem. However, Mehul Choksi’s papers should also be presented to the House,” Chowdhury told ANI.

    Welcoming the idea of bringing a ‘White Paper’ to the House, BJP Lok Sabha MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy said that the document is a much-awaited call and should be brought so that the public becomes aware of the corruption that occurred during the UPA tenure before 2014. “The government has passed the finance bill and the interim budget. If I recall correctly, the PM mentioned in his speech that they would present a White Paper on the mess that prevailed prior to 2014. I think it is likely to be listed tomorrow. It is a much-awaited call,” said Rudy.

  • PM Modi to reply on ‘Motion of Thanks’ in Rajya Sabha today

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

    President Droupadi Murmu had addressed the joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on January 31, the first day of the Budget Session.

    PM Modi replied to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address in Lok Sabha on Monday.During his speech, he said that the third term of his government is not far and this time the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will win 400 seats and the Bharatiya Janata Party, individually will get 370 seats.

    “A Ram Temple of Lord Ram was built which will continue to give new energy to the great tradition of India. Now the third term of our government is not far. Maximum 100 days left. The whole country is saying that ‘Abki baar 400 paar’. I don’t go into numbers but I can see the mood of the country. It will make the NDA cross 400 and BJP will get 370 seats,” PM Modi said.

    “We all saw the abolition of 370. Article 370 was abolished before the eyes of these many MPs and with the power of their votes. Nari Shakti Adhiniyam became law in the second term. From Space to the Olympics, there is an echo of the power of women’s empowerment. People have seen the projects that were pending for years being completed,” he added.A general discussion on the Union Interim Budget 2024-25, and the Interim Budget on Jammu and Kashmir 2024-25 is also to be started in the Upper House today after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address.Apart from this, as per the List of Business in the House for the day, Rajya Sabha MPs Harnath Singh Yadav and Ram Nath Thakur will lay on the table, a copy of the statement showing action taken by the government on 62nd Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing on the action-taken by the government on the Observations/Recommendations contained in the Fifty-Third Report on ‘Demands for Grants (2023-24)’ of the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying (Department of Fisheries).

    MPs Satish Chandra Dubey, and Dr Ashok Bajpai will lay on the table, a copy of the following reports of the Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution (2023-24): Thirty Ninth Report of the Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution (2023-2024) on “Regulation of Weights and Measures with specific reference to Dispensing Machines at Fuel Stations” pertaining to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution (Department of Consumer Affairs); and Fortieth Report of the Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution (2023-2024) on “Transforming Fair Price Shops” pertaining to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution (Department of Food and Public Distribution).

    Union MoS, Danve Raosaheb Dadarao will make a statement regarding status of implementation of recommendations contained in the 37th Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Coal, Mines and Steel on ‘Import of Coal – Trends and issue of self-reliance (2022-23)’ pertaining to Ministry of Coal.

    The Budget Session, which began on January 31, will be spread over eight sittings spread over a period of 10 days and may conclude on February 9.

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