Expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh found an ardent supporter in former vice-president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat today when the latter praised his book on Pakistan-founder M A Jinnah and also appeared to reprimand the party for asking him to quit Parliament's Public Accounts Committee chairman's post.
Top Pakistani officials are refusing to disclose how and on what the country's powerful spy agency Inter Services Intelligence spent a whopping Rs 5.55 billion allocated to it during 2007-08. "This is highly sensitive information and hence I can't talk about it at an open forum," Finance Secretary Salman Siddiqui told the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly or the lower house of parliament.
In a snub to Public Accounts Committee chairman Murli Manohar Joshi, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has returned the controversial draft report filed by him on the 2G Spectrum allocation. "The draft report on the 2G issue has been returned to the PAC Chairman", sources in Parliament's PAC said on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's offer to present himself for questioning appeared to have weighed in on the Parliament's Public Accounts Committee with the PAC giving him a clean chit in its draft report, while indicting arrested former telecom minister A Raja and seeking re-tendering of the 2G licences he had given for a song, causing a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore (Rs 1.76 trillion) to the exchequer.
Anil Ambani, chairman of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group and a former Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament, was made to wait for over an hour by the Murli Manohar Joshi-led Public Accounts Committee before he was called in for intensive questioning on the 2G spectrum issue. He pleaded that since the name of his company and some key officials figure in the chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation on the massive scam, he would not like to say anything.
Parliament's Public Accounts Committee has called leading industrialists, including Ratan Tata and Anil Ambani, and corporate lobbyist Niira Radia to appear before the panel in connection with the 2G spectrum scam which it is probing.
The defence ministry received the bags from a French firm at a cost of 11.86 million Francs, a parliamentary panel said.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes was pulled up by the Public Accounts Committee for delay in tax recovery from the hosts of the 1996 cricket World Cup.
A meeting of the Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday witnessed a verbal slugfest between its chairman Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and MPs from the ruling National Democratic Alliance as the Congress leader sought to raise the issue of COVID-19 vaccination drive for discussion in the panel, sources said.
The government had taken kickbacks when coffins meant for Kargil martyrs were purchased, she said.
The PAC, headed by Congress lawmaker K V Thomas, is keen to find out the details of huge loans given by the banks to corporates including the basis on which such favours were extended.
The grilling of Brigadier-General Dyer by Akshay Kumar's Sir C Sankaran Nair, as shown in Kesari 2, is purely an imaginary sequence, proves Utkarsh Mishra.
Or do you think there is a realistic chance of the government being brought down?
The Supreme Court of India has released an inquiry report into the alleged discovery of a large amount of cash at the residence of Delhi High Court judge Yashwant Varma. The report, which includes photos and videos, was uploaded on the court's website. Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna has formed an in-house committee to investigate the matter and has asked the Delhi High Court Chief Justice to not assign any judicial work to Justice Varma. Justice Varma has denied the allegations, claiming they are part of a conspiracy to frame him. The inquiry report, submitted by the Delhi High Court Chief Justice, has been made public and calls for a deeper probe into the incident. The incident has raised concerns about judicial accountability and has prompted the Congress party to call for strong measures to uphold public trust in the judiciary.
The boycott is on the issue of government's refusal to part with a CVC report to the Parliament's Public Accounts Committee.
Proceedings in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were disrupted as Opposition members raised slogans demanding a discussion and a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the fraud-allegation-triggered rout.
'There is no question that Putin's preference will be to avoid unpleasantness with Trump, leave alone a collision course,' observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Gandhi claimed that if a JPC probe was conducted, names of PM Modi and businessman Anil Ambani will come to the fore.
One hopes the new Lok Sabha will mark a break from a dismal tradition -- lack of interest in defence and security policies, argues Colonel Anil A Athale.
'Gyanendra back on the throne would be bad news for the Nepali people. He may not have learnt from his experience, but we have.'
The privileges enjoyed by MPs and MLAs are "tethered intrinsically" to the functioning of the legislature collectively, the Supreme Court said on Monday while holding that lawmakers taking bribe to vote or make a speech in the house are not immune from prosecution.
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.
Both houses of Parliament were adjourned for the day on Friday after an uproar over the violence in Manipur.
Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel is learnt to have told the parliamentary panel on demonetisation that discussions between the central bank and the government on the process began early last year.
The Congress, which was not a petitioner before the apex court, wants the Rafale deal to be referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee to go into the price arrived at by the BJP government versus the one negotiated by the previous UPA regime, as also how billionaire Anil Ambani's group with virtually no experience in manufacture of fighter jets was selected as an offset partner for the deal.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has called for tough decisions and unity within the party after the Congress suffered electoral defeats in Maharashtra and Haryana. In a meeting with top party leaders, Kharge highlighted the need to strengthen the organization from the grassroots, fix accountability, and address internal bickering. He also urged leaders to remain united and avoid public criticism of each other. The Congress chief expressed concern over the party's performance in state elections despite a strong showing in the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year. He acknowledged the need to learn from the setbacks and improve the party's strategy and communication to counter its rivals' propaganda.
The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday approved the bill giving primacy to Delhi's Lieutenant Governor (L-G) over the elected government after high drama in the House that saw uproar by the opposition and a walkout by MPs of parties like the BJD, SP, Congress and the YSRC.
The Supreme Court has sought details from the Allahabad High Court regarding controversial statements made by Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav at a VHP function. The development comes amid calls for action against the judge for his remarks, which have been labeled as hate speech by some. The judge's statements were made at a VHP function on December 8, where he spoke about the Uniform Civil Code and the law working according to the majority. Several individuals and organizations, including lawyer Prashant Bhushan and CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat, have called for an inquiry into the judge's conduct and for his removal from judicial duties.
Opposition parties on Wednesday opposed the 'one nation, one election' proposal by calling it impractical and a 'cheap stunt' by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The decision came after a storm was kicked up by the ruling party members on Thomas' statement earlier this week that the PAC can call the PM to depose on the note ban issue.
'We are going to need more technical people in government.' 'You can't expect a generalist to understand the complicated world of financial engineering.' 'I regret to say that most of our politicians have no competence to deal with these things. Nor is there a willingness to learn.'
British Parliament's Petitions Committee will consider a Westminster Hall debate in the House of Commons complex on the issue of farmers protests and press freedom in India after an online petition attracted over 106,000 signatures.
The Samajwadi Party and Congress have announced that they will contest together under the INDIA bloc.
India is among 75 countries with which Switzerland's Federal Tax Administration has exchanged information on financial accounts within the framework of global standards on Automatic Exchange of Information.
Condemning the raids, the TDP said it was "pure political vendetta" as Ramesh had been vociferously fighting for the state's causes in Parliament.
Addressing the gathering after laying the foundation stone of the new building and performing the ground-breaking ceremony, Modi said many new things were being done in the new Parliament House, which will increase the efficiency of the MPs as modern methods will be incorporated in the work culture.
The Finance Ministry said it has followed standard practice and has not violated any Constitutional provision by not showing interest on tax refund as separate expenditure in the Budget.
Pujaris from the Sringeri Math Karnataka did the rituals for the 'bhoomi pujan' at the new Parliament building site.
While the BJP and the Congress have always supported the bill, opposition by other parties and demands from some for quota for backward classes within the women's quota have been key sticking points.
