The 54-year-old Lekhi, who took oath as a Union Minister of State on Wednesday on her second term as the MP from the prestigious New Delhi constituency, has been at the forefront of struggles on a host of issues ranging from those pertaining to women and environment to law and development.
BMS general secretary Virjesh Upadhyay said, "There are many anomalies in the draft rules on Code on Wages which need to be amended. The new rules are silent about many provisions clearly provided in the four Acts subsumed in the code."
The government draft on the Lokpal Bill, which is expected to be considered by the Cabinet this week, does not include the prime minister in the purview of the ombudsman but the final call on the ticklish issue will be taken by Parliament and its Standing Committee. Disclosing this, Home Minister P Chidambaram said the Bill will be introduced in Parliament in the monsoon session starting on August 1.
Disappointed over the draft report of the Standing Committee on Lokpal Bill, Team Anna member Kiran Bedi has warned that going back on the commitment given by Parliament would encourage a mass movement again. When asked for her comments on the draft report which sought to keep lower bureaucracy out of the ambit of the ombudsman, Bedi said, "This is going back on the commitment and will call for mass movement again".
'Today, let us reaffirm our commitment to strive to realise Gandhiji's dreams. His watchwords, truth and nonviolence, will continue to remain relevant for the whole world. He also taught us that rights and duties are but the two sides of the coin - indeed, the true source of rights is duty. Today we recall his lessons in compassion too - compassion not only for our human neighbours but also for our other neighbours, namely, flora and fauna, rivers and mountains.'
The Uniform Civil Code bill was passed by the state assembly and also received the presidential assent recently after which it has become a law.
Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Friday said people close to social activist Anna Hazare were "somehow close" to Bharatiya Janata Party and questioned the inclusion of father-son lawyer duo of Shanti and Prashant Bhushan in the ten-member joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill.
The Lok Sabha ethics committee has cited the threats India faces from State and non-State cyber actors to indict Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra for sharing her log-in credentials with businessman Darshan Hiranandani, noting that he has residency rights in Dubai and has close relatives who are foreign nationals.
Ahead of the Winter Session of Parliament, the government has convened a meeting of floor leaders of political parties in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on Saturday.
'One nation, one election' is not possible under the present Constitution. It requires at least five constitutional amendments'
'It would be reasonable to assume that Modi 3.0 would be more focused on projects and schemes which do not require any legislative change or which have the support of its coalition partners,' asserts A K Bhattacharya.
The proposed law seeks bars on storing and processing of personal data by entities without the explicit consent of an individual. It, however, provides for exemptions for "reasonable purposes" such as "prevention and detection of any unlawful activity including fraud, whistle-blowing, merger and acquisitions, network and information security, credit scoring, recovery of debt, processing of publicly available personal data and the operation of search engines".
'Right to apprenticeship means that anyone below the age of 25 years with a diploma or other qualifications can demand an apprenticeship with a private, a public sector company or a government organisation. And when he/she demands this, it is the obligation of the government to provide it.'
The contentious bill providing for legal sanction to police to obtain physical and biological samples of convicts and detainees for investigation in criminal matters was passed by Lok Sabha on Monday, with Home Minister Amit Shah asserting it will act as a defender of human rights of law-abiding citizens.
After an all-party meeting in New Delhi, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi also said that some of these 32 bills have already been discussed by standing committees of Parliament.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal for 'one nation, one Election' as recommended by the Kovind panel, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday.
Initiating their dialogue with political parties, the Anna Hazare team on Friday met senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani to drum up support for their version of the Lokpal Bill.
Anna Hazare on Thursday threatened to go on hunger strike from August 16 alleging "backtracking" on Lokpal bill but the government refused to yield, saying it cannot allow creation of a "parallel" structure.
The all-party meeting convened by the government has seen some interesting position being adopted by political parities on the issue of the Jan Lokpal bill with nine parties asking the government to trash its bill, which is with the standing committee. However, there are no takers for Anna Hazare's Jan Lokpal bill either.
The Code on Wages Bill, 2019 seeks to amend and consolidate the laws relating to wages, bonus and matters connected therewith. The Bill will subsume four labour laws -- Minimum Wages Act, Payment of Wages Act, Payment of Bonus Act and Equal Remuneration Act. About 50 crore labourers will benefit.
The Centre on Monday made public the rules under the recently-notified anti-paper leak law, mandating the National Recruitment Agency (NRA) to prepare norms, standards and guidelines for the computer-based tests among others.
The Haryana committee will also study laws enacted by other states on the issue, Vij said.
The results of the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are likely to play out during the winter session of Parliament beginning Wednesday.
The leaders of the Opposition INDIA bloc are meeting on Monday morning ostensibly to redraw their strategies to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP both inside the Parliament and in the electoral arena.
The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed a bill to regulate and supervise assisted reproductive technology clinics, with various members urging the government not to exclude single parents and the LGBTQ community from using this procedure.
Former Law minister Shanti Bhushan, co-chairman of the joint committee to draft the Lok Pal bill, and his son Prashant Bhushan, also a member of the committee, are likely to be in a new controversy, just a day before the first Lok Pal joint draft committee meeting.
Appointed the co-chairman of the much-talked about Lokpal Bill panel, former law and justice minister Shanti Bhushan speaks to rediff.com's Onkar Singh on the urgent need of ant-corruption law, why Ramdev finds no place on the committee and more.
Sharp differences came to the surface at a meeting of the drafting committee for Lokpal bill on Monday with the government strongly opposing proposals for inclusion of prime minister, higher judiciary and acts members of Parliament inside Parliament under its purview.
In the whole sordid series of happenings after Anna Hazare broke his fast, the only side to emerge with credit is the government. In fact, it is outshining the civil society, says B S Raghavan.
We had asked our readers to suggest ways to resolve the stand-off between the United Progressive Alliance government and Team Anna Hazare on the proposed Lokpal Bill draft. The responses.
According to the bill, Indians should not exceed 15 per cent of the population.
The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed a bill on protection of rights of transgenders after a motion to refer it to a Select Committee of the Upper House was defeated.
As outrage against the death of the Delhi gang-rape victim, Congress has decided to propose a tougher law to check crimes against women which could include a provision like chemical castration of perpetrators of rape in rare cases.
The US on Thursday raised concerns over India's Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill and draft non-personal data governance framework, claiming these could potentially threaten innovation and economic growth. In its latest 'Special 301' Report, the US Trade Representative (USTR) kept India on the priority watch list, maintaining the country remains one of the world's most challenging major economies with respect to protection and enforcement of intellectual property (IP). In December 2021, a joint parliamentary committee released a report recommending changes to the PDP Bill, 2019, that could undermine important IP protections in India.
After civil society activists slammed the government's Lokpal Bill, the Centre on Friday said that people who are not satisfied with the Bill can approach the Standing Committee of Parliament and persuade it to make changes. Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, who was part of the joint committee to draft the bill, said the government has already reconciled taking into account a number of provisions suggested by the civil society.
Sections in the draft Personal Data Protection Bill are a blatant violation of the Right to Privacy as guaranteed by the Constitution.
Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned sine die on Thursday, a day ahead of the scheduled end of the Winter session, that saw a security breach in the lower house, suspension of over 140 MPs and the expulsion of Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra.
Creating a positive reform that does away with an official who constitutes a flawed aspect of Indian democracy will allow the BJP to rightfully claim this as one of its positive legacies, suggests Karan P Shah.
Chairman of the Upper House Venkaiah Naidu Naidu clarified that the Triple Talaq Bill will not be taken up on Friday as a consensus has not yet been evolved on the issue.
The bill, which criminalises instant divorce by Muslim men and seeks jail term for the guilty, was the first draft legislation tabled by the Narendra Modi government in this first session after it took oath of office for a second term in May.
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