News Analysis India

Tag: Rajya Sabha

  • BJP MP gives Zero Hour notice in Rajya Sabha over demand for Bengaluru SC Bench

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Rajya Sabha MP KC Ramamurthy on Thursday gave a Zero Hour notice in the Upper House over the ‘demand for setting up of a Supreme Court Bench at Bengaluru’.

    Also, BJP MP Jyotiraditya M Scindia has also given a Zero Hour notice in Rajya Sabha over ‘increasing cases of malnutrition among women and children’.

    During Zero Hour, parliamentarians can raise issues of urgent public importance. Members usually give expression to their feelings around noon after the Question Hour. This time has been termed as ‘Zero Hour’.

  • Number of buildings to be remodelled, demolished under Central Vista Project not finalised: Government

    Other components of the project are in the planning stage, Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told Rajya Sabha in a written response to a question.

  • Govt to consider suggestion on giving separate facility to transgenders in prisons

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The government informed Parliament on Wednesday it will consider a Rajya Sabha member’s suggestion to provide separate facility to transgenders in prisons.

    “As of now, Indian Penal Code (IPC) is applicable uniformly on every citizen. We will consider the member’s suggestion to have a special focus on transgenders,” Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Rattan Lal Kataria said during Question Hour in the Upper House.

    The minister was responding to a query raised by BJP member Rakesh Sinha on the subject.

    In response to a query by BJD leader Amar Patnaik on amending the IPC to bring transgenders under its ambit, the minister said, “No such changes have been made as of now.”

    However, the government has taken measures to ensure livelihood to them and protect their rights.

    Padmashree awards have also been given to transgenders and many other measures are being taken to rehabilitate them, he said.

    Patnaik, while asking a supplementary question on transgenders, stressed that the government had passed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act in 2019 but then the Upper House had expressed concern that it was not aligned with the IPC.

    “Rape laws were not in alignment. IPC required inclusion of transgenders under section 376. When would the government or is the government thinking of bringing changes in the IPC to include transgenders in its ambit,” he asked.

    Responding to a query on steps taken to improve the economic situation of elderly citizens, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale said the government has decided to ensure employment for retired and elderly people.

    “Our ministry is making efforts in this direction,” he added.

    On plans to promote construction of more old-age homes, the minister said there is already a scheme for that.

    There are 613 old-age homes across the country, providing facilities to more than 30,000 people.

    Responding to a query on plans to extend Poshan Abhiyan to more elderly people, the minister said about 55,000 senior citizens will be covered in 2,000 gram panchayats and 200 urban municipalities in the current fiscal.

    And the numbers would rise for the coming years, he added.Athawale also said no study has been conducted to ascertain the number of senior citizens deprived of nutritious food.

     “Such study is not there. As per the 2011 census, there are about 10.83 crore elderly population. Tentatively, the figure could reach to 14 crore in 2021,” he added.

  • No decision yet on nationwide NRC, Govt tells Rajya Sabha

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Centre on Wednesday said it has not taken any decision on the nationwide roll-out of the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

    Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai was replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha on whether the central government had any plans to implement the NRC throughout the country.

    “Till now, the government has not taken any decision to prepare the National Register of Indian Citizens at the national level,” Rai said in a written reply.

    The NRC was updated in Assam under the supervision of the Supreme Court.

    When the final NRC was published on August 31, 2019, a total of 19.

    06 lakh people were excluded out of the total 3,30,27,661 applicants, which created a ripple across India.

    The NRC is an Assam-specific data of bonafide Indian citizens living in the state.

    Replying to another question, Rai said there is no provision of detention centres under the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the National Register of Indian Citizens.

    He said the Supreme Court on February 28, 2012 had directed that foreign nationals who completed their sentence shall be released from jail immediately and be kept in an appropriate place with restricted movement pending their deportation or repatriation.

    Following that directive, Rai said, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued instructions on March 7, 2012 to state governments and UT administrations to comply with the directions of the Supreme Court.

    The minister said detention centres are set up by the state governments and UT administrations as per their local requirements to detain illegal immigrants and foreigners, some of whom may have completed their sentence and their deportation to their native country may be pending for want of proper travel documents.

  • India’s reputation as pharmacy of world reinforced; made-in-India vaccines supplied to 72 nations: Jaishankar

    He said the supply of the #39;Made-in-India #39; vaccine to 72 nations after the world was reeling under the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • ‘Three new COVID variants reported in India’: Government informs Rajya Sabha

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Three new variants of COVID-19, from the UK variant, South Africa and Brazil, have been reported so far in India, Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

    As on March 4, 2021, a total 242 samples have tested positive for different variants in India, Choubey said in a written reply to a Rajya Sabha query regarding the total number of people who have been infected with the new strains.

    On whether the people who have been infected once could get re-infected by the new virus strain,Choubey said as per World Health Organization, in the three countries where the pandemic is being driven by the variant mutants of SARS-CoV-2 virus, namely United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil, the South African and Brazilian variants have the potential to reinfect persons who have been previously infected with SARS-CoV-2.

    Recognizing that the mutant variants of SARS-CoV-2 are driving the pandemic in countries of their origin, namely United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil, Government of India has revised its guidelines for international travel to minimize the risk of importation and further spread of these mutant variants in India, he said.

    A genomic consortium of 10 regional laboratories with National Center for Disease Control as the apex laboratory has been established to perform genomic sequencing of the samples from positive travellers and 5 per cent of the positive test samples from the community.

    Such international travellers who test positive are kept in special isolation ward, till such time they test negative.

    The contacts of such cases are also kept under institutional quarantine, till such time they test negative.

    “No case of re-infection by mutant variants of SARS-CoV-2 virus has been reported from India so far,” the minister said.

  • India only G-20 country implementing Paris accord commitments, claims Javadekar

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: India is the only country in the G-20 forum implementing the Paris accord commitments on renewable energy and afforestation, the government informed Rajya Sabha on Monday.

    Replying to supplementary queries during the Question Hour, Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar said there has been a net increase of 15,000 square kilometres of tree cover in the last six years.

    He said the pace is likely to increase as the central government has distributed Rs 48,000 crore to states last year with the direction that 80 per cent of the money be spent on afforestation.

    “India is the only G-20 country which is implementing the Paris commitments given through our nationally determined contributions, be it renewable energy, be it reducing (emission) intensity as well as creating more forest area.

    On all three commitments, we are much ahead than any other country,” he told the House.

    Javadekar said several steps taken to increase afforestation both at central and state levels, besides green India and horticulture missions, will help give a boost to increasing the forest cover in the country.

    He said the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has carried out an analysis of observed monsoon rainfall variability and changes in 29 states and union territories based on 30-year (1989- 2018) data during the southwest monsoon season.

    Although there is inter-annual variability, he said, the total precipitation during the Indian summer monsoon has remained largely stable over the period 1901-2019 and has shown a weak decreasing trend during the recent few decades.

    “Five states — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Meghalaya, and Nagaland — have shown significant decreasing trends in southwest monsoon rainfall during the recent 30 years period (1989-2018), as per the IMD report,” he said.

    The annual rainfall over these five states along with the states of Arunachal Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh also shows significant decreasing trends, the minister added.

    “All changes cannot be linked to only climate change,” he, however, said.

    On climate change, Javadekar said in written reply to a question that according to a report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the average global temperature for 2015-2019 is currently estimated to be 1.

    1 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial (1850-1900). “According to the MoES, the surface air temperature over India has risen by about 0.7 °C during 1901–2018 which is accompanied with an increase in atmospheric moisture content.

    The sea surface temperatures in the tropical Indian Ocean have also increased by about 1 °C during 1951–2015.

    On an average, at present, the sea level along the Indian coast is estimated to be rising at about 1.7 mm/year,” he said in his reply.

  • Rajya Sabha passes Bill to declare food tech institutes as national ones

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha on Monday approved a bill that declares two food technology institutes at Kundli in Haryana and Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu as national institutes.

    The Rajya Sabha passed The National Institutes of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management Bill, 2019 by voice vote on Monday.

    The Bill declares National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management Kundli, and the Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology, Thanjavur as National Institutes of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management.

    Clarifying members’ doubts about implementation of reservation policy in these institutions, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said while replying on the bill in the House that all policies of national importance would be implemented in these institutions and reservation would be applicable in these institutes

  • Inter-Parliamentary Union President Duarte Pacheco observes Rajya Sabha proceedings

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: Duarte Pacheco, President of Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Geneva, was present in Rajya Sabha on Monday to observe the proceedings of the House.

    The President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union is in India on a seven-day visit.

    During his visit, he will attend a felicitation ceremony and address members under the auspices of the Indian Parliamentary Group (IPG) in the Central Hall of Parliament on March 16, according to a statement by the Lok Sabha secretariat.

    Pacheco, a Member of Parliament of Portugal, was recently elected as the President of IPU, an international organization of national parliaments, for a three-year term from 2021 to 2023. He is visiting India at the invitation of the Parliament of India.

    During the visit, Pacheco will call-on Rajya Sabha Vice President and Chairman Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla on March 15 to exchange views on further strengthening the relations between the Parliament of India and IPU.

    “The IPU President will also visit Rajghat and pay homage to, ‘Father of the Nation’ – ‘Bapu’ Mahatma Gandhi. He will also attend a felicitation ceremony and address members under the auspices of the Indian Parliamentary Group (IPG) in the Central Hall of Parliament on 16 March,” the statement read.

    The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) formed in 1889, is one of the oldest and largest international Parliamentary body consisting of more than 179 Members.

    The IPU espouses the cause of promoting democracy across the world and take up issues of international importance, such as, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Climate Change, Gender Equality, etc.India, since its independence, has always been an active Member of Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). In the past, G.S. Dhilon, the then Speaker of Lok Sabha and Dr Najma Heptulla, the then Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha had served as the Presidents of IPU.

    India has been contributing to the deliberations and outcomes of IPU by being on various Standing Committees, Forums and Advisory Groups of IPU.  

  • Sanjay Singh writes to Rajya Sabha Chairman, urges discussion on ‘farmers’ issue’ in House

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: Expressing his concern over ongoing farmers’ protest, Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Sanjay Singh on Monday urged the Parliament to postpone its session for the other businesses and hold a discussion on this “serious” issue in the House.

    In a letter to the Rajya Chairman, Singh said: “Under the provision of 267, other businesses of the House should be postponed and this serious issue of farmers should be discussed.”

    He also targeted the Centre government’s role over the farmers’ issue.

    “In spite of controlling the prices of petrol and diesel, the Central government is calling the agitating farmers ‘terrorist’. The government is behaving with the farmers like foreigners and outsiders,” the AAP MP stated.

    Farmers have been protesting at different borders of the national capital since November 26 last year against the three newly enacted farm laws — Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.