The Congress-led opposition stepped up its attack on Friday against the government over the Adani row and demanded that there should be a thorough investigation into what they alleged was a 'mega scam' as it involved public money.
Worried by a spike in Chinese imports, the Indian Steel Association (ISA) plans to take up the matter with the government and seek measures to fix "trade distortions". Alok Sahay, secretary general of the group that represents the country's steel producers, said systemic changes were needed. "In order to take any trade measure, it takes a minimum of 15 months' time, due to prevalence of lesser duty rule in India, making India an easy target. "We are going to write to the government on this," he said.
Parliament's Budget session has been a washout since the beginning of its second part on March 13, with the BJP demanding an apology from Gandhi.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the NCP may have its view but 19 like-minded Opposition parties are convinced that the "PM-linked Adani Group" issue is real and very serious.
The surprise action comes weeks after the broadcaster aired a two-part documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots and India.
The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) on Thursday trained its guns on the Adani Group, alleging hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in publicly traded group stocks through Mauritius-based 'opaque' investment funds managed by partners of promoter family, charges the conglomerate denied vehemently.
E-commerce giant Amazon has refused to appear before the Joint Committee of Parliament on the Data Protection Bill on October 28 and this amounts to breach of privilege, panel chairperson and BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi said on Friday.
After the first draft of the Bill was submitted under a committee chaired by Justice B N Srikrishna in 2018, there were objections raised by businesses, especially on the broad restrictions on cross-border data flow.
The Government on Friday managed to have its way in the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G scam when the panel approved the draft report giving a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram with a 16-11 vote in its favour.
He said politicians should work for non-political causes as well as they have a lot of impact on society. In this context, Modi noted the Gujarat government's work for "beti bachao" (save daughters) when he was the chief minister and said it helped a lot in improving the gender ratio.
Asking the Congress members, who were on their feet, to maintain the decorum of the House and not show placards, Birla said they should let the House function.
The opposition leaders are expected to meet at Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge's office in the Parliament complex around 10 am, sources said.
The 'kisan mahapanchayat' will be held to press for a legal guarantee on the minimum support price, the SKM, an umbrella body of farmers' union, had said last month.
What some of our leaders were up to over the weekend.
This is the fifth consecutive day that the Parliament has been adjourned without transacting any business since the second part of the Budget session began on Monday due to uproarious scenes in the House.
A private member resolution seeking that the government implement the recommendations of the Sachar Committee report and other reports that have discussed the educational and social backwardness of Muslims and enact a legislation for the prevention of atrocities against minorities was moved in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.
Khera said when a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) could be set up by former prime ministers P V Narasimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, 'what is the problem of Narendra Gautamdas, sorry....Narendra Damodardas Modi'.
Ramesh stressed that the prime minister should participate in the debate on Manipur.
Tharoor said people have incurred losses after their money which was invested in LIC, SBI was put by the government "in its friend's account".
The agitational programmes include the 'Loktantra Bachao Mashal Shanti March' starting from Red Fort on Tuesday and a series of press conferences in 35 major cities across the country on March 28 and 29.
All the current political upheavals in Maharashtra are with the 2024 elections in mind and there is a degree of white-knuckle tension in all parties.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said the current logjam in Parliament could end if the Opposition and the government sit for a discussion and both move two steps forward.
With Sebi telling the Supreme Court that it was not investigating the Adani group since 2016, the Congress on Monday cited a Union minister's reply in the Lok Sabha to challenge the claim and asked whether Parliament was misled or the market regulator was "fast asleep" as investors were "duped".
'It's not that the Opposition has to search for common ground.' 'The government is handing the common ground to the Opposition.'
As reports of political parties swiftly switching loyalties -- to quench their thirst for power -- swirl over Maharashtra, Rediff.com speaks to different players involved in the game of thrones.
The Congress on Thursday objected to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar deleting some portions of Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge's speech from official records, saying he used no unparliamentary words and some of the expressions he employed were earlier used even by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Embattled billionaire Gautam Adani on Thursday spoke publicly for the first time since his ports-to-energy conglomerate publicly battled a short seller's accusation of stock manipulation and accounting fraud, saying the abrupt move to withdraw a fully-subscribed share sale at his flagship firm was due to market volatility. His group continued to lose on the stock market, with the cumulative rout now nearing $108 billion in a week -- one of the biggest wipeouts in India's history. "After a fully subscribed follow-on public offering (of Adani Enterprises Ltd), yesterday's decision of its withdrawal would have surprised many.
The draft report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G scam is critical of the decision taken by the then National Democratic Alliance government to grant concessions to telecom operators over non-recovery of "huge amount" of licence fee despite opposition by then Telecom Minister Jagmohan.
The final report was to be submitted in March but it got an extension till the second week of the monsoon session that began September 14.
First Rajya Sabha approved the Rs 45 lakh-crore spending proposed in the Budget, followed by the nod to the Finance Bill that contains tax proposals.
A fresh political war of words erupted on Tuesday over the Rafale issue as the Bharatiya Janata Party accused the Congress leadership of corruption citing claims of a French media report on 'commissions' being paid during the United Progressive Alliance rule and said the Indian National Congress should be renamed 'I Need Commission' party.
If they will allow I will speak inside the parliament, the Wayanad MP said.
As soon as Lok Sabha assembled, opposition members stormed into the well holding placards and shouting slogans. They demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the alleged stock manipulation by the Adani Group.
Gandhi had recently alleged in London that the structures of Indian democracy are under "brutal attack" and there is a full-scale assault on the institutions of the country.
Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said they will pose three questions a day to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue.
According to a commerce and industry ministry statement, the growth rate for these eight key sectors for April 2019 has been revised upward to 6.3 per cent from 2.6 per cent reported earlier mainly due to upward revisions in production of coal, crude oil, steel, cement and electricity.
The Congress on Thursday said former party chief Rahul Gandhi will file an appeal against a Gujarat court verdict holding him guilty in a 2019 criminal defamation case, and alleged that the government was after him for speaking the truth and bringing to light its 'misdeeds'.
Gandhi's remarks came after the Supreme Court gave clean chit to the Modi government on the purchase of 36 fully-loaded Rafale fighter jets from French company Dassault Aviation.
Women are a minuscule minority of those arrested under the IT Act.
Adani group stocks have taken a beating on the bourses after Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation at the Gautam Adani-led group. The group has maintained it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.
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