'I declared myself a Sikh. We want freedom from caste discrimination.'
The Opposition said that the government was 'bull-dozing'.
The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently down 1.25%
"There will be some challenges" in the switchover to GST in the short term, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has warned.
'We keep saying that we have a very close historical, cultural, linguistic and religious affinity with Nepal. Then why be so insensitive that we cannot find time to talk to them for more than 5-6 months'
Senior leaders of the party -- Prashant Kishor and Pavan Varma -- have slammed the legislation calling it 'unconstitutional' and urged Nitish Kumar to rethink his support in Parliament.
According to the draft, in the northeastern states the threshold is at Rs 500,000.
The AGP, an ally of the BJP, voted for the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha, after Amit Shah's assurance. However, the scale, intensity and, persistence of the anti-CAA protests since then have taken it by surprise.
The proposed reservation will be over and above the existing 50 per cent reservation enjoyed by the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes, taking the total reservation to 60 per cent.
'Upper castes who complain against reservations are fighting only for their own castes.'
Hardening its stand on the Lokpal Bill, United Progressive Alliance ally Trinamool Congress today ruled out any compromise on the Lokayukta provision and said the government should have faced voting in the Rajya Sabha.
A bill to provide for setting up a regular mechanism to encourage persons to disclose information on corruption or wilful misuse of power by public servants, including ministers, was passed by Parliament on Friday.
A slew of challenges that are yet to be resolved include the lack of consensus between the Centre and states over the GST exemption threshold limit, dual control over scrutiny and assessment
The government on Saturday came out with the modalities of the constitutional amendments to enable states to collect and appropriate service taxes, a Bill for which would be introduced in the Budget session of Parliament next year.
The list of exempted goods from central excise duty has shrunk from 400 items in 2011-12 to 300 now.
'The Bills (Bharatiya Saksha, Bharatiya Nagarik Sanhita and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita) are arbitrary, opaque and ambiguous and structurally quite violent.'
The finance minister is "reasonably confident" that when it comes to the crunch, "it would be extremely difficult even for the Congress party to take a contrarian view" on the GST Bill.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah asked the opposition on Monday to allow a debate on the Manipur issue to begin in Parliament but the deadlock persisted in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha as both sides refused to budge from their stand, with Congress and its allies insisting on a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi first.
The much-touted Food Security Bill, which proposes to give the country's three-fourth population the right to highly-subsidised food, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, with the government rejecting apprehensions that it would impinge upon the rights of states.
Under the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Ordinance, 2019, divorcing through instant triple talaq is illegal, void and will attract a jail term of three years for the husband.
The Uttarakhand assembly on Wednesday passed a stricter anti-conversion Bill making unlawful conversion a cognisable and non-bailable offence punishable with imprisonment for a term of at least three to a maximum of 10 years.
A united Opposition in the Lok Sabha on Thursday pitched for referring the triple talaq bill to a 'joint select committee' of Parliament, claiming its provisions were unconstitutional.
President Pranab Mukherjee, the former trouble-shooter of the Congress party, may informally 'guide' the Union government in drafting the bill on the creation of Telangana.
'The PM says he believes in discussion and debate, then why are discussions and debates not being allowed in Parliament?'
The President said there will be occasional doubters and baiters who will continue to complain, to demand, to rebel.
The bill was introduced following a division of votes, with 186 members supporting and 74 opposing it.
The Opposition parties need to spell out how exactly they will protect the citizen from government excess, asserts T N Ninan.
