Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday drove over to Rahul Gandhi's 12 Tughlak Lane bungalow to personally invite the Congress vice-president to his daughter Sonali's wedding.
The government has proposed to implement GST from April 1, 2016, and the new Finance Commission may be set up ahead of its schedule to look into the issues related to the new indirect tax regime.
Congress on Wednesday hailed party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi's "key role" in the passage of the historic Lokpal Bill, which was cleared by Parliament, while asserting that it was committed to bringing in an anti-corruption code in the country.
Turmoil over Telangana statehood and a variety of other issues paralysed proceedings in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday prompting a comment from the Chair that he was "disturbed" and "disappointed" over lack of consensus to run the House.
The bills that repeal and replace the Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act will usher in a new era in the criminal justice system, Home Minister Amit Shah said
Ali also said he was hopeful that action would be taken by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla against Bidhuri in line with the traditions of the Lower House and the Constitution.
The Lokpal Bill is likely to be introduced in Rajya Sabha on November 29, according to a highly-placed source. The Congress Party's confident manner towards the approaching winter session indicates the party's decision to use the bill as a political weapon to ensure that the Bharatiya Janata Party refrains from disrupting Parliament sessions.
Instead of conceding the demand for a cut in personal income-tax rates, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman should phase out many exemptions in both personal and corporation taxes, suggests A K Bhattacharya.
Opposition parties think they have until New Year's Eve to build nationwide narrative against demonetisation.
Replying to questions in the Upper House of Parliament, the law minister said the Centre has limited powers over appointments of judges.
The marshals wore a blue uniform with a military-style peak cap and stripes on shoulders. In summers, the marshals are likely to wear white uniforms which have a resemblance to the uniform of the Indian Navy.
A firm opening in the European market uplifted the mood.
He ruled out the possibility of 'arm-twisting' to get the MPs, especially from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, on board on these bills as they fear the reforms will affect institutes patronised by them.
They try to hide behind the smokescreen that these are works of fiction inspired by real events. So, you can pick and choose from facts and fictionalise to push the right triggers with your audience or appease the powers that be, observes Shekhar Gupta.
'This means the remedy will be worse than the disease. The thing which you want to avoid will happen.'
Expecting fireworks in both Houses during the Winter Session of Parliament starting from Wednesday -- with the opposition planning to target the government on several issues, including demonetisation -- the Bharatiya Janata Party Parliamentary Party Executive will go into a huddle on Monday to chalk out strategy to counter the opposition which is divided over how to take on the government on the issue.
On the first day of winter session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached out to the Opposition.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday demanded an apology from the Opposition, accusing it of "destroying" Parliament after they rejected his offer of a special session to discuss the Joint Parliamentary Commitee issue on 2G scam.
Every passing day featuring parties within the INDIA alliance sniping at each other at state level is bad publicity for the alliance particularly given the proximity of the 2024 general elections, asserts Shyam G Menon.
The redevelopment work of the Central Vista Avenue, stretching from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate in New Delhi, will be completed within two-and-a-half months, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday.
A total of 16 bills, including the GST Bill, Lokpal (Amendment) Bill, Factories (Amendment) Bill and the Anti-Hijacking Bill are pending in Parliament -- five in Lok Sabha and 11 in the Rajya Sabha.
Ahead of the budget session, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Wednesday expressed readiness to explore "all possible approaches" to end the deadlock in Parliament on the issue of a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into 2G spectrum scam.
Sources said that Shiv Sena MPs Sanjay Raut and Anil Desai will now sit in the opposition benches during the Winter Session of Parliament, beginning Monday.
The meeting saw archrivals TMC and CPI-M coming together on a common platform against the government.
Reiterating the need for 'Bharat Jodo Yatra', Congress MP and party general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said there's lurking danger of breaking 'Bharat' due to the discriminative policies of the Modi government and therefore there is a need of Bharat Jodo led by Rahul Gandhi.
A top oil ministry official said it will be "suicidal" to even think of raising prices of diesel, LPG or kerosene just before Parliament is to meet.
Modi addressed Bharatiya Janata Party's Parivartan Yatra through mobile phone from Lucknow after the Indian Air Force chopper carrying him failed to land in Bahraich due to poor visibility.
Since Parliament is still in session, the government refrained from making an official statement but the ministers said there were ample 'precedents by the Congress governments in the past' of Bills being pushed through the ordinance route.
As soon as the Question Hour ended, Congress' Leader of the House Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury demanded that a discussion on the 'Indo-China border situation be held', saying late Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had allowed a discussion in Lok Sabha on the India-China war in 1962.
Ahead of the Parliament session beginning November 22, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is meeting leaders of the United Progressive Alliance constituents and outside supporters to firm up a strategy to unitedly face any Opposition onslaught on issues like the Foreign Direct Investment in retail and price hike.
Shiv Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray has called a meeting of party MPs and legislators on Friday afternoon amid reports of Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray's deteriorating health.
What some of our leaders were up to on Tuesday, December 6, 2022.
To maintain dignity of the House, government was forced to place this proposal of suspension, minister Pralhad Joshi said
Vociferous protests by Opposition benches demanding the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the debate on demonetisation on Tuesday led to the stalling of proceedings in Parliament once again.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the government is working out a new Bill on cryptocurrency which will be placed in the ongoing session of Parliament after approval of the Union Cabinet. The ongoing winter session is scheduled to end on December 23. Replying to a series of questions in the Rajya Sabha, she said the new Bill takes into account the rapidly changing dimensions in virtual currency space, and incorporate features of the earlier Bill that could not be taken up.
That he hasn't done so yet, has continued to be active on the political street, in public debate and on social media, signals an important change. It will give his party hope. Maybe the achievement of reducing Mr Modi well below the majority mark will now motivate him to stay committed, observes Shekhar Gupta
Fissures in the opposition over Foreign Direct Investment in retail came to government's aid Thursday as the opening day of Parliament's winter session was washed out and Trinamool Congress' move for a no-confidence motion flopped.
A recent public interest suit in the Supreme Court over foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail may have thrown the industry into a tizzy, but lawyers, constitutional experts and government officials indicate the multi-brand retail FDI policy is unlikely to get derailed over Fema.
At present, bank depositors get an insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh on their amount by the Deposit Insurance and credit Guarantee Corporation.
With several Parliament sessions during UPA-II being largely disrupted, BJP leader Arun Jaitley on Sunday "regretted" that a lot of valuable time was lost in the last five years due to "confrontationist politics" and said the Opposition achieves much more through debates than disturbances.
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