Low margins and cash crunch have resulted in job cuts and a decline in the insurance industry. A policy roadblock is making it worse.
Lashing out at Abhishek Singhvi on the draft Lokpal Bill, Team Anna on Wednesday accused the Congress leader of disrespecting Parliament by going against its commitment of including lower bureaucracy and Citizens' Charter in the ambit of the ombudsman.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee going into the Lokpal Bill has recommended keeping the judiciary and the MPs' conduct in the House out of its purview and rejected the demand for hiving off the anti-corruption wing of the Central Bureau of Investigation to come under its jurisdiction.
'Going forward, the encouragement would be to move to the new tax regime.'
It is curtains for the much-talked about Women's Reservation Bill, at least for the time being. While the 14th Lok Sabha has just concluded its last session, the parliamentary standing committee examining the women's reservation bill has now got one more extension to complete its task.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a chargesheet in the National Herald case, accusing Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi of a "criminal conspiracy" to "usurp" properties worth Rs 2,000 crore of its public company AJL by transferring 99 per cent shares for just Rs 50 lakh to their private company Young Indian. The ED has named Sonia Gandhi as accused no 1 and Rahul Gandhi as accused no 2 in the chargesheet, which was filed under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
With several government agencies, including Railways, seeking its land for their use, the Defence ministry has made it clear that it has no surplus land to share with others and needs additional land to keep up with the demands of the armed forces.
The Central Vigilance Commission will suggest to the Parliamentary Standing Committee certain changes in the proposed Lokpal bill and pitch for greater powers to prosecute higher bureaucracy in corruption-related cases.
This is the first time that oath-taking of members will take place in the House chamber during the inter-session period so as to maintain norms of physical distancing due to COVID-19, officials said.
"Before the BJP came into existence, its forerunners Jan Sangh and RSS had opposed Babasaheb while the Constitution was being adopted," Prakash Ambedkar, who heads Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, told reporters in Pune.
Terming the movement of two army units towards Delhi in mid-January as a routine drill, Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma on Monday said no permission was required for the same from the government.
Chairman of the Parliamentary standing committee on defence Satpal Maharaj on Sunday sought to downplay the controversy over the alleged unnotified movement of two Army units towards the capital in mid-January, saying such exercises are routinely held.
India's Parliamentary Standing Committee on Food and Consumer Affairs has called for a complete ban on futures trading in essential commodities like wheat, rice and sugar.
Civil society groups welcome the submission of a memorandum opposing Aadhaar and other anti-people policies to the prime minister along with a big truckload of signatures numbering 3.57 crore on March 14, says Gopal Krishna
The Budget session of Parliament started Monday with the President's address.
With a host of chief ministers attacking the Centre's creation of an anti-terror body, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday stepped into the picture assuring them that states' powers will not be affected and asking Home Minister P Chidambaram to hold talks with them.
'Muslims need to work according to strategy and not fall into the trap of Opposition parties.'
A Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways observed that projects were started without much 'justification and background' work. The projects were not completed despite making huge investments on them, as new projects were taken up.
The Companies Bill 2009, which seeks to replace a half-a-century-old Act, will be presented in Parliament in the ongoing Budget session, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Monday.
The Reserve Bank of India has told parliamentarians that it is concerned over the stock market exposure of various non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) promoted by leading banks in the country.
Ahead of his day-long fast for a strong Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare launched a vitriolic attack on the government, charging that it was "intoxicated" by power and said the "second fight for independence" has started which will go on till corruption is eradicated.
A parliamentary panel has recommended replacing the word 'seamen" with 'sea-persons' in the Merchant Shipping Amendment Bill, which aims at governing the welfare of seafarers, to make the legislation gender neutral.
A parliamentary panel has asked the government to restrict imports of all petroleum products especially transportation fuels (petrol and diesel) by private firms in view of the excess refining capacity in the country.
A parliamentary panel has rapped the government for bypassing Parliament in deciding to privatise oil refiners Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corp
It plans to introduce an amendment to the Anti-defection Law in the winter session of Parliament.
The Bharatiya Janata Party will on Thursday submit a note of dissent on the draft Lokpal bill to Abhishek Singhvi, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee going into the Lokpal Bill.
Turning down the suggestion of Parliamentary Standing Committee, the Union Cabinet also decided that there would be no guarantee of assured returns on schemes by pension funds.
Criticising the auto policy as "short-sighted", a Parliamentary panel on Thursday demanded a total ban on the import of second-hand cars and used tyres.
While the government's recent moves may have been necessary in some cases, these would have an adverse impact on the investment cycles of some of these companies. The marquee global names are suddenly finding themselves out of favour as local flavour is gaining currency in the run up to 2019 elections.
The government lags behind in implementing the various schemes meant for SC/ST and OBCs, a parliamentary committee has said
The Central Vigilance Commission on Saturday indicated it did not want to come under Lokpal but work closely with the proposed anti-corruption ombudsman.
Under attack for his comments on Anna Hazare, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari on Wednesday opted out of the Parliamentary Standing Committee going into the Lokpal issue even as Bharatiya Janata Party inducted two new members in the panel being reconstituted after its term ended today.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs will be briefed on Indo-Pak relations with specific reference to recent surgical strikes.
The pension reforms Bill is likely be passed with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) deciding to support it in the parliamentary standing committee. The Bill has been pending since 2005. Its revised version was tabled in the Budget session of Parliament this year.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour will recommend to the Union Ministry of Labour to frame laws so as to bring workers of the unorganised sector in the country under the social security net.
