The Lok Sabha is debating an opposition resolution seeking the removal of Speaker Om Birla, citing alleged bias. The proceedings have been marked by heated arguments over who should preside during the debate.
Controversy dogged the joint committee set up to draft an effective Lok Pal even before it starts its work with Gandhian Anna Hazare on Monday asking Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal to resign from it "if he feels nothing will come" out of this institution.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said there is a broad agreement that public functionaries, including the prime minister, should be brought within the ambit of the proposed law.
The Lok Sabha rejected a resolution seeking the removal of Om Birla as Speaker by a voice vote amidst opposition protests and demands for an apology from Home Minister Amit Shah.
The Lok Sabha faced repeated adjournments due to opposition demands for a debate on the West Asia situation, preventing a resolution seeking the removal of Speaker Om Birla from being taken up. The government and the Chair criticised the opposition for disrupting House proceedings.
Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan informed the Lok Sabha that government initiatives in the agriculture sector have doubled farmers' income through measures like MSP and fertiliser subsidies.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court is considering a plea regarding incarcerated MP Amritpal Singh's absence from Parliament, which has reached 59 sittings. The court has been informed that Singh can apply for condoning his absence, as continuous absence for 60 sittings could lead to his seat being declared vacant.
The Indian Parliament has passed a bill amending the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2019, focusing on biological discrimination and excluding social orientations from its scope. The bill aims to provide legal recognition and protection to transgender individuals facing discrimination due to biological issues, while also introducing graded punishments for harm inflicted on them.
The Indian government is unlikely to allow a parliamentary debate on the West Asia crisis, citing prior briefings by the External Affairs Minister. This decision comes amid opposition protests and a pending no-confidence motion against the Speaker.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday lashed out at TMC MP Saugata Roy for objecting to her speaking in Hindi on a bill, pointing out that the translation technology allows members to listen to speeches in any language.
Rahul Gandhi said that had an INDIA Bloc government negotiated the trade agreement with the US, it would have told US President Donald Trump that he should treat India as an equal.
An FAQ on the controversial anti-corruption bill
As the year draws to a close, Rediff's Senior Contributor Roshmila Bhattacharya takes a look at the hits and misses, the highs and lows, the newsmakers and the dealbreakers in alphabetical order.
Simply put, the fight against corruption in India cannot be left to an institution manned by a handful of officers from the government despite a Lok Pal of impeachable integrity.
'I have always broken my image every time I went on screen. I don't know what it means to be a Greek God but people used to call me one.'
In a novel suggestion, A P J Abdul Kalam on Monday favoured that the post of President be brought under the purview of Lokpal.
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.
According to sources in the government, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is firmly against activist Anna Hazare's demand for formally constituting a joint committee, with representatives from the civil society and the government, to draft a strong anti-corruption bill. Hazare has been on an indefinite fast in New Delhi since Wednesday to press for his demand.Mukherjee has stopped the government from issuing a notification to make the joint committee formal.
Under attack from social activist and anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday quit the Group of Ministers on corruption, saying he does not want to be "associated" with the panel anymore.
A big question mark is on whether Shashi Tharoor, who had led the delegation to the US among other countries, will be picked as speaker by the Congress, as the seasoned Lok Sabha member's enthusiastic endorsement of the government's action following the terror attack has soured his ties with his party.
Malik had served as the 18th governor of Goa between November 3, 2019, and August 18, 2020.
In 2021, the Centre renamed the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna as Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. But many wonder, why despite the public sentiment the country's highest civilian honour continues to elude the man who put Indian hockey on the world map.
Opposition parties have agreed to the agenda of taking up a special discussion on the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor on Monday in Lok Sabha and the next day in Rajya Sabha, brightening up the prospect of normalcy returning to Parliament after the virtual washout of first-week proceedings.
The joint committee of Parliament examining the Waqf (Amendment) Bill submitted its report to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Thursday. The panel adopted the report by a majority vote, with changes suggested by members of the ruling BJP. Opposition members, who submitted dissent notes, called the exercise an attempt to destroy Waqf boards and termed the bill an attack on the constitutional rights of the Muslim community.
'A man who brought about the greatest set of economic reforms in the country, who changed the course of Indian history, cannot be considered weak.' 'A man who fought for nuclear reforms even though his majority in Parliament was threatened, he cannot be considered weak.'
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagging the 'deplorable' conditions in residential hostels for Dalit, ST, EBC, OBC and minority students and the delay in post-matric scholarships for those from marginalised communities.
The parliamentary panel's meetings have become a virtual battleground between the opposition and the ruling party members, who have been vociferously debating the changes to the Waqf Bill proposed by the government.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh is reviving its 'brotherhood committees', a strategy used successfully in the 2007 elections, to bolster its support among Other Backward Castes (OBCs) ahead of the 2027 state assembly elections. These committees, to be formed in all 403 constituencies, aim to connect with 100 people from OBC communities in each village, acting as ambassadors of the party at the booth level. The BSP sees these committees as a counter to the Samajwadi Party's PDA pitch and a means to consolidate its scattered rural vote bank. The party is also highlighting the 'anti-Dalit' and 'anti-OBC' tactics of the Congress, BJP and SP, hoping to capitalize on perceived grievances and reposition itself as a champion of marginalized communities.
The parliamentary committee scrutinizing the Waqf (Amendment) Bill has been granted an extension until the last day of the next Budget Session. This decision follows a heated meeting marked by a walkout from opposition members who expressed concerns about the committee's draft report. The committee will visit several states to meet stakeholders and finalize its report.
All opposition members of the parliamentary panel on the Waqf Amendment Bill were suspended for a day on Friday amid continuous protests and accusations against Chairman Jagdambika Pal of steam-rolling through the proceedings.
'They have no chance of winning if free and fair polls are conducted.'
Opposition MPs, some of whom have given their dissent, slammed the exercise as undemocratic, claiming that they were given little time to study the final report and frame their dissent notes.
A court in Bareilly has summoned Congress MP and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi to appear before it on January 7 for his remarks related to the Economic Survey during the Lok Sabha polls.
The Pal-led committee is currently on a tour of five states to speak to various stakeholders though opposition members have boycotted it.
Writers and creators are telling more authentic stories based in states and cities that we may not have seen much of in mainstream media, such as Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. Or ones that we have some mistaken notions about like Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, highlights Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
The deportation of Indians from the United States, deaths in the Maha Kumbh stampede and the joint Parliamentary committee report on the Waqf bill were among the issues that led to heated exchanges and some disruptions in an otherwise smooth first part of the Budget session that ended on Thursday.
The meeting of the Joint Committee on Waqf (Amendment) Bill took an ugly turn as the Trinamool Congress MP smashed a glass water bottle and threw it towards panel chairman Jagdambika Pal of the Bharatiya Janata Party during a heated exchange of words with BJP's Abhijit Gangopadhyay, a former Calcutta high court judge.
One fallout of Rahul Gandhi's disqualification will be reflected in the Opposition's role in Parliament and related institutions.
Development economist Jean Dreze said the Indian democracy is currently navigating a crisis that is not only limited to the 'recent wave of authoritarianism' but also suppression of opposition voices by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Malik, who was then governor of Jammu and Kashmir, has recently alleged intelligence failures and that the central government denied aircraft for the movement of security personnel.
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