Meira Kumar was elected Lok Sabha Speaker unanimously on Wednesday.
In the wake of the death of the Delhi gangrape victim, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Friday cancelled the visit of an Indian parliamentary delegation led by her to South Africa and her own trip to Namibia to attend a Commonwealth Speakers' conference.
Medhavi Kirti, the granddaughter of late veteran Congress leader Babu Jagjiwan Ram, has been campaigning against her aunt Meira Kumar, Lok Sabha Speaker and Congress candidate from Sasaram Lok Sabha seat in Bihar.
'This is how Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar treated the Leader of Opposition,' Swaraj tweeted.
Meira Kumar said this while intervening in the discussion on priorities for the UN and its reform, at the second meeting of the Preparatory Committee of Speakers of Parliaments. The meeting was organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union at the United Nations in New York
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has ruled out her resignation from Congress as suggested by her predecessor Somnath Chatterjee. "There is no convention that the Speaker should resign from the primary membership of his or her party. I will function with the same impartiality towards Congress and the other parties in the Lok Sabha," she said.
Almost a fortnight after former bureaucrat K P Ramaiah took voluntary retirement from the Indian Administrative Service, he is ready to take on Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, a former Indian Foreign Service officer, in the Lok Sabha polls from the Sasaram seat in Bihar.
The 'mock Parliament' initiated by Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav on the MP's salary hike issue last week has turned out to be a major irritation for Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, who is reportedly contemplating stepping down.
A foundation in the name of former Deputy Prime Minister Babu Jagjivan Ram and father of Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has been allotted a bungalow in the prime Lutyen's Delhi for 25 years.
Daughter of former deputy PM late Jagjivan Ram, Kumar, 72, was also the first woman to occupy the high office of the LS speaker
Developmental works being undertaken by India in war-torn northern Sri Lanka and the current political situation came up for discussion when Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar met President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Colombo on Friday. Kumar is in Colombo to attend the 58th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference. She met Rajapaksa at his official residence and discussed a host of issues that concern the relationship between the two countries.
The Lok Sabha on Monday congratulated India's badminton queen Saina Nehwal, who won her third super series title of the year at the Hong Kong Open on Sunday.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Saturday said people were 'rightly angry' over the gangrape of a paramedic student and called for 'very stringent' laws to ensure safety of women.
There was no addition to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar's jewellery though their value increased while her wealth rose by over three-and-a-half times since the 2009 general elections with the total value of her assets declared to be more than Rs 36 crore.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has floored an audience that included her Pakistani counterpart, senior ministers and parliamentarians by delivering a speech in flawless Urdu laced with couplets from Firaq Gorkhpuri, Majrooh Sultanpuri and Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
The resignation of rebel Congress Member of Parliament from Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh Y S Jaganmohan Reddy has been accepted, Speaker Meira Kumar announced in the Lok Sabha on Friday. Kumar said Reddy's resignation has been accepted with effect from November 29. "I have to inform the House that I have received a letter dated November 29 from Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, an elected member from Kadapa parliamentary constituency of Andhra Pradesh.
The Babri mosque issue on Thursday rocked the Lok Sabha with some members demanding action on the report of Liberhan Commission which probed its demolition 20 years ago.
Kumar is registered in the voters' list at her Delhi address of New Friends Colony and since she is now confined to the Sasaram parliamentary constituency from where she is contesting as a Congress candidate, the Speaker will not be able to cast her vote in the national capital, sources in her election office at Mohania said.
Kumar, a Dalit, as its candidate for president against NDA's nominee Ram Nath Kovind.
In a fresh bid to end the Parliament deadlock, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar will on Friday meet leaders of the Left Front and other non-Bharatiya Janata Party opposition parties. Communist Party of India - Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat, CPI-M politburo member Sitaram Yechury and Janata Dal - United chief Sharad Yadav are among those who will attend the meeting.On Thursday, the Speaker met BJP leaders but failed to bridge the differences as they insisted on a JPC.
Bharatiya Janata Party's Karia Munda was today unanimously elected as the new Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha by a voice vote.
Speaker Meira Kumar plans massive celebrations of the 60th year of Indian Parliament, on May 13, 2012.
The decision was taken at a meeting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had with Law Minister Salman Khurshid and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal.
As soon as Speaker Meira Kumar concluded her reference on International Women's Day, SP members began raising slogans demanding dismissal of the Uttar Pradesh government, complaining that it was showing "dictatorial tendencies".
The Lok Sabha on Tuesday strongly condemned Team Anna for "lowering the dignity" of Parliament after a resolution was moved over which members cutting across party line slammed the activists for using derogatory language against members of Parliament.
Kumar will launch her campaign from Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat on June 30.
The Bharatiya Janata Party walked out in protest when Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar refused to allow former external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha who wanted to know whether the statement of external affairs minister S M Krishna had broken the protocol by saying that unless Pakistan government takes action against Hafeez Sayeed, master mind behind the Mumbai bomb blast, there was no point in carrying forward any kind of dialogue with Pakistan.
When the House reassembled at noon after the first adjournment, members of Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal-United and Lok Janshakti Party rushed menacingly to the well shouting 'marshal bulao' (call the marshals), prompting Speaker Meira Kumar to immediately adjourn the House till 1400 hours.
A stench of burnt wire and furniture filled the corridors outside the Speaker's chamber at around 10 am and it was cordonned of for visitors.
Notices have been given by various members for discussion in the Lok Sabha on various versions of Lokpal Bill, but it is not clear when the debate will be taken up.
Reminding lawmakers that they were in Parliament to protect the interest of the people, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Sunday said there was no scope of lapse in the discharge of their duties. "Rising above religion, region, caste, language etc., we are here to protect the interest of the people of the entire nation, especially the marginalised who are ignored. This leaves no scope for any kind of lapse in discharging our duties," she said.
The issue of separate Telangana generated heat in the Lok Sabha, which witnessed two brief adjournments on Tuesday as Telangana Rashtra Samithi, Telugu Desam Party and some Congress members vociferously raised the issue.
The Lok Sabha was adjourned on Thursday following a uproar over the National Democratic Alliance's demand for the resignation of Home Minister P Chidambaram for his alleged role in the 2G scam, and some other issues. As soon as Speaker Meira Kumar called for the Question Hour, NDA members were on their feet demanding the resignation of Chidambaram. They cited a Delhi court order allowing Subramanian Swamy's re-examination as witness in his complaint against the home minister.
The Telangana Bill has been passed in the Lok Sabha after a voting and a heated debate on Tuesday. To ensure that none of the Members of Parliament use TV coverage to cause chaos and drama, Speaker Meira Kumar stopped the live telecast.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Saturday appointed S Bal Shekar as secretary general of the Lower House, as T K Viswanathan demitted office.
The four-day logjam in Lok Sabha over foreign direct investment in retail ended Thursday with Speaker Meira Kumar allowing a discussion on the subject under a rule that entails voting.
A look at the past speakers of the Lok Sabha.
Opposition leaders, including Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj, met Speaker Meira Kumar and said if the government does not discuss the issue tomorrow itself, they would move an adjournment motion in the House.
"Anybody fighting for an ideology and appealing to the voice of conscience cannot be a scapegoat. I am a fighter and I will fight and I am sure that many will join me in this fight," she said in response to a question whether she was being made a scapegoat in the presidential election.
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