The members of Parliament attending Parliamentary Standing Committee meetings will have to sit six feet apart, and not more than two witnesses from the ministry concerned can appear before the panel at a time. As per the protocol for meetings of Rajya Sabha Committees, members have to ensure conformity with physical distancing norms.
Veteran party leader Anil Vij will seek re-election from his Ambala Cantt stronghold.
In his attempt to revive a beleaguered Congress, Rahul Gandhi is trying to bring in new leadership in the form of Rajeev Gowda and BK Hari Prasad, whose names have been nominated for the Rajya Sabha, says Renu Mittal.
While winding up his speech against foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam member of Rajya Sabha V Maitreyan thanked all those who supported his stand and said the government had committed a blunder.
Ahmed Patel, K C Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh will be part of the Rajya Sabha Committee, which will also include Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad and party's deputy leader Anand Sharma. Azad and Sharma are signatories to the letter that demanded an overhaul of the Congress party and a new 'full-time and visible' party president.
It appears that the party has some kind of political death wish, observe Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari.
Decks have been cleared by the Centre to transfer the prime land at Indu Mills in Mumbai to the Maharashtra government for constructing a memorial for B R Amedkar. "The government of India has taken a view to make available this land for use to the government of Maharashtra for the construction of a befitting memorial," Textiles Minister Anand Sharma said in identical statements in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Congress members of Parliament led by Rahul Gandhi on Monday staged a protest outside Parliament House demanding removal of Union Minister V K Singh for his "dog" remarks.
The government on Wednesday ruled out banning export of onion saying the spurt in domestic prices was "temporary" caused by unseasonable rains and market closures.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh puts it succinctly: "Arun Jaitley was every non-BJP person's favourite BJP-ite."
While a tweet from a close aide of the Gandhi's and the Chief Whip of the party in Rajya Sabha, Jairam Ramesh took a dig on Azad for accepting the award, Congress stalwarts from the G-23 group have congratulated him for the 'well-deserved' award.
India's exports, after declining for over a year, are expected to improve in the coming months even as global slowdown continues, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said on Wednesday.
"... An early conclusion of Doha Round is important; India is willing to take part in negotiations at the WTO provided the core concerns of the Round, namely development concerns of developing nations are addressed," commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma told Rajya Sabha.
A united Opposition on Tuesday tore into an ordinance promulgated to amend land acquisition rules, calling it an "anti-farmer" move brought by "bypassing" Parliament to benefit corporate houses, a charge vehemently denied by the government.
India will be identifying and separating its civilian and military nuclear facilities and programmes in a phased manner.
Voices of opposition to FDI in retail from within the United Progressive Alliance gained momentum on Tuesday with a Congress member of Parliament from poll-bound Uttar Pradesh criticising the decision, saying it will hurt the poor and its timing was not right.
In reply to a Rajya Sabha question, minister of state for information and broadcasting Anand Sharma stated that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had informed that a comparison of entry level package prices of a few DTH operators with CAS offerings reveals that DTH pricing in the country are not exorbitant.
The government on Wednesday expressed disappointment over China not fulfilling its promise to import more IT, ITeS and pharma products, which could help reduce the hugely-tilted trade imbalance favouring Beijing.
After the heat it faced on climate change stand for the Copenhagen summit, the government on Tuesday came under scanner as the Opposition felt that India might come under US pressure on the trade talks in WTO.
Replying to supplementaries in Rajya Sabha during Question Hour, commerce minister Anand Sharma said, "There can be no negative impact of organised retailing on unorganised sector as 96 per cent of retail business is in unorganised sector.
The government told an all-party meeting Monday that it does not intend to bring any legislative business in Rajya Sabha during the first part of the Budget Session which is till February 11, sources said.
While several opposition parties criticised the move, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said the Parliament session is being held under special and extraordinary circumstances.
The Congress on Monday strongly criticised the Union budget, saying Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's speech was oblivious to the declining GDP and the budget was a case of "wrong diagnosis and prescription".
After some recent events that turned against the party, including the Congress' G-23 Group asking for a revamp in the party, Congress leader and MP Manish Tiwari has been included in the star campaigners list of Congress for Assam and West Bengal Assembly polls.
Ghulam Nabi Azad's resignation from the Congress on Friday marked the most high-profile exit of one of the "Group of 23" (G-23) leaders, who had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi two years ago for a "collective and inclusive leadership" in the organisation, exposing the faultlines in the grand old party.
The agreement that provides for both India and ASEAN reducing tariff on agreed goods has come into force with all but Cambodia and Philippines.
Congress said it will comply with all formalities to get the status of the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha even as the party has been kept on tenterhooks on the issue ahead of Budget Session beginning on Monday.
The G-23 group seems to have expanded with several senior Congressmen attending Wednesday's meeting.
Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu also made a fervent appeal to the leaders of various parties at an all-party meeting to ensure smooth and effective functioning of the House during the Budget Session.
18 leaders from 14 parties said it is unfortunate that the government has 'unleashed a misleading campaign to malign the combined opposition' and blaming it for the continued disruption of Parliament proceedings.
Facing isolation in Rajya Sabha over its stand against the Judicial Appointments Bill, Congress on Monday said it was "not opposed" to the amendments but would take a decision in the matter only after "examining" the changes.
The Congress party needs a safe pair of hands in the form of Kharge, Tewari said.
Let there not be any "misgivings or concerns" on this score, Sharma said intervening in the short-duration discussion on Indo-US nuclear deal.
In a "firm, appropriate and timely" response, India on Tuesday told the Vatican that it disapproved of the Pope's criticism against banning conversions and his remarks of religious intolerance in the country.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar has already held telephonic talks with leader of the opposition in the Upper House Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday assured at the all-party meeting that the government is ready to discuss all issues.
An anonymous letter threatening to kill Rahul Gandhi at an election meeting in Puducherry has been received by a senior Congress leader V Narayanasamy.
Raising the issue, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said the prime minister should come to the House and clarify on what he said, as his charges that his predecessor was "conspiring" with Pakistan was "a big issue."
The Bharatiya Janata Party plans to target Sonia Gandhi and other Congress leaders on the issue of bribes in the AgustaWestland chopper deal during the United Progressive Alliance regime
In a public show of dissent, the 'G-23' leaders, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Kapil Sibal, who have been pressing for a leadership change and organisational overhaul in the Congress, gathered on one stage in Jammu on Saturday, saying the party is weakening and they have come together to strengthen it.
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