The specter of how the Munambam issue was exploited during the November by-elections is proof of the price Kerala is paying for its emergent politics. Controversies become the stuff of slow-burn and brinkmanship. The former promises mileage; the latter searches for an advantage, notes Shyam G Menon.
More than five questions and supplementaries, mostly related to agriculture and horticulture, were taken up before the proceedings were first adjourned till noon. The Question Hour went on for nearly 40 minutes.
Then prime minister Manmohan Singh's brief to his new information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari on what should be the government's approach to the media was simple -- it should be an essay in persuasion, not coercion.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance is expected to achieve a clear majority in Rajya Sabha after bye-elections for 12 seats scheduled next month, which would help the party get the nod for key legislations such as the Waqf (Amendment) Bill.
The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2023 by voice vote following a walkout by opposition members over the Manipur issue.
Nitish Kumar wants to assure the BJP leadership that he will continue to be a part of the NDA. But he also wants to secure a larger number of seats for his party in the 2025 assembly elections in Bihar.
The Central government had earlier in the day introduced the bill in the Lok Sabha despite stiff opposition from the National Democratic Alliance.
Keen to scrap the collegium system, government on Monday introduced a Constitution Amendment Bill in Lok Sabha to establish a six-member body for appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and the high courts.
As leaders in both the BJP and Congress concede, neither has within their parties a leader to match Arvind Kejriwal's charisma in Delhi.
Voicing disappointment over passage of a "useless" Lokpal Bill in Lok Sabha, Team Anna on Wednesday said it appeared the legislation is headed for a joint session of Parliament as the Rajya Sabha may pass a version different from the one already passed.
Anyone endangering sovereignty or integrity of India may get a maximum punishment of life imprisonment while those involved in mob lynching and rape of minor may be given the maximum punishment of death sentence.
The data protection bill introduced in Parliament on Thursday enables the government "to call for information" from data protection board, data collecting entities or intermediary, and safeguards the Centre from legal proceedings for "action taken in good faith" under the provisions of the legislation.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi asserted that the Congress will protect the Constitution and the reservation system at all costs and foil "conspiracies" of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
A bill proposing compulsory voting was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday by a Congress member, a suggestion recently made by Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani.
Compliance window for those with undisclosed income abroad to come clean by paying 30 per cent tax and 30 per cent penalty
It also provides that no preliminary enquiry will be required for registering a criminal case and an arrest under this law would not be subject to any approval.
Today even those who support Prime Minister Modi feel there is a certain sense of listlessness in this government. What is it intending to achieve? This is not easy to say, notes Aakar Patel.
Monday was the fourth consecutive day, proceedings were washed out over the Rafale jet deal and Cauvery issues.
Asserting that her government has zero tolerance to incidents of rape, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said an amendment to existing laws will be passed in the state assembly next week to ensure capital punishment to convicted rapists.
The government's move to tweak the long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax regime proposed in the Finance Bill 2024 and re-introduce the indexation benefit is likely to boost the investments and spur housing sales in the country, industry executives believe. "By enabling taxpayers to choose the lower tax burden between the new and old schemes, the amendment is poised to drive investment and enhance sales across housing segments," said Niranjan Hiranandani, chairman of the Hiranandani Group. In Budget 2024, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed an overhaul in the capital gains tax regime, including lowering the LTCG tax to 12.5 per cent from 20 per cent.
Modi can abandon the path of Hindutva only at risk to his position within his own fraternity. But if he pursues a hard line, he faces the risk of being hauled up by his coalition-partners. For the first time in a decade, Modi is not in enviable situation, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
In a stunning comeback, Hemant Soren's Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led alliance on Saturday stormed to power in Jharkhand for a second consecutive term, winning 56 seats in the 81-member assembly, despite an all-out blitz by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance which managed only 24 seats.
Amid demands for getting the long-pending Women's Reservation Bill passed, the government on Wednesday said it is ready to extend the last session of the 15th Lok Sabha if the House agreed.
Lok Sabha is set to witness a confrontation over Land Acquisition Bill on Tuesday when it is taken up for voting with opposition bent on opposing it even as the government again offered to make changes in the legislation in the "larger interest" of the farming community.
The parliamentary affairs minister also said the productivity of Lok Sabha was around 82 per cent and that of Rajya Sabha around 48 per cent.
A landmark bill for creation of Lokpal was passed by the Lok Sabha on Tuesday night with the government making it clear that setting up of Lokayuktas by the states would not be mandatory, amending a contentious provision in view of opposition from allies and others.
Sources said the Congress may consider opposing the bill when it is introduced in Parliament. The Aam Aadmi Party, which is in power in Delhi, has been seeking the support of various political parties on the matter.
Voters, it is said, get the government they deserve. We will soon see what voters in Maharashtra choose. Till then, a sense of helplessness and scepticism hangs in the air, notes Ramesh Menon.
Modi has proven to be a past master in the art of political survival. This means that learning to navigate the choppy waters of coalition government will be an art he will not take long to master, argues Shyam Parekh.
Amid the ruckus over the CAG report on coal block allocation issue, the Lok Sabha on Thursday passed a bill that would allow the government to set up All India Institute of Medical Sciences-like institutes across the country by a notification.
A legislation aimed at preventing sexual harassment of women at the workplace was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, amid the daily pandemonium over the opposition's demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the 2G scam, before the House was adjourned for the 18th day running without conducting any business.
The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2014, better known as the Telangana Bill, was passed in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday amid uproar and a raging controversy as the televised screening of the House proceedings were suspended.
The achievements without the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) were not enough for the future, Ravi said, adding the qualifying test is here to stay.
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.
A bill to amend a four-decade-old law, which proposes to allow Indian legal heirs to inherit the properties of relatives who migrated to Pakistan after Partition, was on Monday introduced in the Lok Sabha.
The path-breaking Land Acquisition Bill, which seeks to provide just and fair compensation to farmers while ensuring that no land can be acquired forcibly, was passed by the Lok Sabha with overwhelming majority on Thursday.
Striking an emotional chord with the people of Jammu and Kashmir, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Thursday said he considers himself their soldier in New Delhi, and added his doors are always open for party workers -- 'the lions of the Congress'.
'As we enter 2025, it must be acknowledged that there is a convergence of capital, influential people (from business and politics) and technology deciding the destiny of others in the name of pride, patriotism, nationalism, nation building, all of it thinly veiled disguises for personal profit and glory,' asserts Shyam G Menon.
The collegium system has shut the doors of judgeship in the higher judiciary on Dalits, OBCs and even the poor among the upper castes
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