Thursday was the penultimate day of the Budget Session of Parliament. The second half of the session which began on March 5 has been a washout with no legislative business being transacted due to stalling of proceedings by the opposition.
Instead of conceding the demand for a cut in personal income-tax rates, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman should phase out many exemptions in both personal and corporation taxes, suggests A K Bhattacharya.
Modi earned his spurs as a doughty leader of the Opposition in the assembly, a post he held till 2004 when he got elected to the Lok Sabha from Bhagalpur.
Opposition parties have slammed the decision to change the long-standing practice, alleging it was being done with an eye on the assembly polls in five states.
The Lok Sabha Secretariat on Thursday revoked the disqualification of Bahujan Samaj Party leader Afzal Ansari as a member of the Lower House after the Supreme Court conditionally suspended his conviction in a Gangsters Act case.
China last year pegged its defence budget at 1.45 trillion yuan, a 7.1 per cent increase. This year the defence spending is increased to 1.55 trillion yuan.
For the fourth day, the Lok Sabha House fails to take up trust vote notices.
Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu read out an obituary reference after which MPs stood as a mark of respect to the memory of the departed.
Expectations from this Budget are sky-high.
HRD Minister Smriti Irani is likely to be the target of Opposition attack in Parliament where Rahul Gandhi will lead the Congress charge against the government on Tuesday.
Budget 2018 bears imprints of a government unsure of second term with clear majority, says Shekhar Gupta.
Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Monday the government does not "disturb" the personal freedom and activities of individuals but the issue related to the institution of marriage was a matter of policy.
Rajya Sabha's next session will begin from April 23, three days after the second half of the budget session of Lok Sabha commences.
The row over Bharatiya Janata Party MP Anurag Thakur's remarks in Lok Sabha escalated on Wednesday with the Congress submitting a notice to move a privilege motion against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for posting on 'X' a video that allegedly also contained expunged portions of Thakur's speech.
Justice Krishna S Dixit, presiding over a single judge bench, issued notice to the parties concerned and paused the ongoing investigation.
MPs cutting across party lines were seen violating social distancing norms during President Ram Nath Kovind's address to the joint sitting of both houses of Parliament on Monday.
In between spells of adjournments, the House conducted business for a brief period and passed two Bills -- the Mineral Laws (Amendment) Bill and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Second Amendment) Bill - amid continuous protests by the Opposition.
The Lok Sabha was adjourned twice in the post-lunch period on Thursday as a war of words broke out between the treasury and opposition benches, triggered by Congress MP Charanjit Singh Channi's spat with the Bharatiya Janata Party's Ravneet Singh Bittu.
Communist Party of India's member of Parliament Binoy Viswam on Monday submitted a notice to move a privilege motion against Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for his statement in Parliament last year on the Pegasus spyware issue.
The police detained five women and Shree Rajput Karni Sena president Mahipal Singh Makrana before he could meet them in Ahmedabad.
Amarinder Singh was ousted from the party and he later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Noting that elections will be held in four states, she urged party leaders to sustain the momentum and goodwill that had been generated for the party in the Lok Sabha elections.
"You (lawyer) tell us what provisions have been violated. Tentatively speaking, we don't find any material in support of the petition," a bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud said.
The Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Saturday said Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar not favouring formation of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe allegations against the Adani group will not lead to cracks in opposition unity.
Sparks flew on the first day of the debate on the no-trust motion moved by the Congress with the Opposition on Tuesday asserting that it was forced to do so to break Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'maun vrat' (vow of silence) on Manipur and the treasury benches hitting back saying it was a no-trust vote against a 'poor person's son' who has worked for the welfare of the people.
The Congress high command has summoned Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and former chief minister and Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah to discuss the Telangana issue. The Congress high command, while delaying its final decision on creating a separate state, had stated that it wanted to consult senior leaders from the state about it.
There was no law that prevented the government from presenting a sixth full Budget, or something similar to it.
The Lok Sabha speaker and the secretariat found themselves embroiled in an angry dispute on Tuesday as members of the Trinamool Congress party and Telugu Desam Party clashed over the contentious Room no 5 on the first floor of Parliament House.
A 'White Paper' versus 'Black Paper' battle erupted on Thursday as the Centre and the Congress unveiled documents and crossed swords over the handling of the Indian economy during the nearly 10 years of the BJP-led NDA rule and the previous 10-year tenure of the Congress-led UPA government.
Birla said he was assured by the leaders of their cooperation in conducting the Lok Sabha proceedings without any adjournment and added that he would give adequate time to all parties to raise their issues.
The Congress leader's remarks had drawn a sharp response from the treasury benches, with Law Minister Kiren Rijiju asking him not to level "wild allegations" and to furnish proof of his claims.
'Ladakh has become a hollow UT.' 'Bureaucrats from Delhi rule Ladakh and there is no attention paid to the grievances of the people.'
The opposition parties did not yield, and the Chairman adjourned proceedings for the day
The Supreme Court verdict on the Ram temple showed India's secular character to the world, Shah said.
During the first wave, when people were following lockdown guidelines suggesting that they stay where they are, the Congress was standing at Mumbai station and scaring innocent people, he said.
Centre took the line that it should not be presented in the middle of Assembly poll in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur
Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday sought an apology from the Congress for the controversial statement by party MP that suggested a call for a separate south nation over fiscal injustice, but the opposition party's president said it stands for a united nation and will not tolerate any such call.
On Tuesday, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi accused BJP MP Anurag Thakur of "abusing and insulting" him during the Lok Sabha discussion on the Union Budget.
Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday said legislators across the country should be driven by passion, performance and procedural integrity, and desist from disrupting law-making bodies.
Consensus seems a problem before the current session of Parliament ends.
