The issue of price rise rocked the Parliament for the fourth day on Friday with an angry Opposition seeking to censure the government in both the Houses.The deadlock remained unresolved as an united Opposition remained adamant on a discussion on price rise under rules which entail voting, despite Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar rejecting notices of adjournment motion on the issue.Virtually no business was transacted during the entire week.
The Lok Sabha on Monday approved the Rail budget for 2011-12 after Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee assured the House of effecting measures to ensure availability of adequate coaches and wagons in the coming years.
Senior Congress member P C Chacko was on Friday made the chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the 2G spectrum issue, setting in motion the probe into what the opposition is alleging as the biggest scam in independent India.
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.
Barack Obama became the second United States president to address the Parliament after Bill Clinton in 2000 on Monday and though the joint session opened to a packed central hall, the buzz, excitement and sheer charisma of Clinton was missing.
In order to ensure that the Lok Sabha is run smoothly during the winter session which will commence from Tuesday, Speaker Meira Kumar will meet leaders of all parties in the Lok Sabha at 0930 hrs on Tuesday in the Speaker's committee room in Parliament house.
Putting aside its winter fiasco, Parliament is all set for a smooth budget session from Monday with government telling the Opposition that an announcement on the constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee into the 2G spectrum will be made on Tuesday.
According to the current plan in Congress party quarters to end the stand-off on a parliamentary probe into the telecom scam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to make a statement in Parliament on Tuesday, a day after it convenes, asking the Speaker to form a Joint Parliamentary Committee on the subject.By the rules, Speaker Meira Kumar will authorise this. A JPC generally has two-thirds of its members from the Lok Sabha and the rest from the Rajya Sabha.
Kumar, who will contest against National Democratic Alliance's Ram Nath Kovind for the post of president, described the presidential poll as a "battle of ideologies" and not a "Dalit versus Dalit" fight as was being out made out by some.
Kovind may bag over 62 per cent votes but fall short of the 69 per cent votes polled by incumbent Pranab Mukherjee in 2012.
Rediff.com rewinds the clock as it struck Noon to unravel how things went awfully wrong in Parliament on Thursday
The Communist Party of India - Marxist on Wednesday threatened to disrupt Parliament proceedings unless Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandopadhyay apologised for shouting at a Member of Parliament of the Left party."Apologise, otherwise the House will not function," CPI-M's Leader in Lok Sabha Basudev Acharia threatened. The Lok Sabha was adjourned for over three hours on Tuesday when the entire Opposition demanded an apology from the Trinamool chief whip.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Friday sought to bring the curtain down on the turf war between the Public Accounts Committee and the Joint Parliamentary Committee, asking the two bodies to work in close cooperation and harmony with each other.
More than 30 legislators of Telangana region belonging to the TRS, Congress, Telugu Desam Party and Praja Rajyam Party have announced their resignation.
Members in the Lok Sabha, on Tuesday, condemned the "forcible" acquisition of land in Uttar Pradesh and firing on protesting farmers prompting the government to state that a comprehensive bill in this regard would be brought in Parliament at the earliest.
National Democratic Alliance Convenor Sharad Yadav, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, BSP member Dara Singh Chauhan and RJD leader Lalu Prasad claimed that the inclusion of caste in census at the biometric stage amounted to befooling the people.
With the deadlock in Parliament continuing, Members of Parliament from non-National Democratic Alliance opposition parties on Friday approached President Pratibha Patil urging her to "advise" the government to accept the demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe into the 2G Spectrum scam.
At a recent meeting of Parliamentary forum on Global Warming and Climate Change under the chairmanship of Speaker Meira Kumar, the idea of battery-operated vehicles was mooted with the aim of curbing vehicular emissions within the premises of Parliament, Lok Sabha sources said.
When the House reassembled at noon after the first adjournment, members of Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal-United and Lok Janshakti Party rushed menacingly to the well shouting 'marshal bulao' (call the marshals), prompting Speaker Meira Kumar to immediately adjourn the House till 1400 hours.
The chairman of the committee on public undertakings, V Kishore Chandra Deo, said in a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar that despite categorical instructions, Goyal did not attend the meeting, sources said.
Describing late Congress leader Jagjivan Ram's life as a "modern epic", Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal has said he fought battles on his own merit and helped others overcome challenges.
The chairmen of the standing committees have a special status. They can summon any senior officer and convene a meeting at his or her will in any part of the country. The chairman can also take the committee to any state with prior intimation to have an on-the-spot study.
BJP deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde has been appointed Chairman of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), a post vacated by expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Thursday said she was considering BJP's breach of privilege notice against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for announcing outside Parliament the rejection of the demand for setting up of JPC in the IPL and phone tapping issues.
Anguished over the stalemate in Parliament over demand of Joint Parliamentary Committee into 2G Spectrum scam, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Friday said she would "do anything" to ensure that it does not spill over to the budget session.
The pandemonium in Parliament over corruption issue continued for the 11th day on Friday disrupting functioning, but members gave a break to their agitation to pay homage to the martyrs of Mumbai terror attacks on its second anniversary.
As the tenth consecutive working day of Parliament was lost amid its standoff with the Opposition on the controversial 2G scam issue, government on Thursday said it did not know how to end the impasse but was trying to find a solution.
The Parliamentary Forum on Children, headed by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, made the recommendations during a recent meeting of the panel and the report will soon be sent to the Ministry of Women and Child Welfare, sources said. During the meeting, Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath and senior Biju Janata Dal leader Bhartruhari Mahtab said "child budgeting" should be done on the lines of gender budgeting, which have provisions for women-specific schemes.
National Democratic Alliance convenor Sharad Yadav on Thursday took a swipe at Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar claiming she was more "affectionate" towards the Treasury Benches, but showed little mercy towards the Opposition.
The issue of price rise stalled proceedings in both Houses of Parliament for the third consecutive day on Thursday with the opposition demanding discussion under a rule that entails voting.
With Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar meeting leaders of political parties in Delhi on Thursday -- a routine drill before commencement of a month-long Lok Sabha session -- hectic political activities have begun behind the scenes.
Besides Mukherjee, who is leader of the Lok Sabha, the committee, headed by Speaker Meira Kumar, will have four other members from the Congress, three from Bharatiya Janata Party each from Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Janata Dal (United), Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Communist Party of India-Marxist.
Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday formally took over as the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, occupying the seat hitherto held by senior BJP leader L K Advani.
Opposition leaders, including Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj, met Speaker Meira Kumar and said if the government does not discuss the issue tomorrow itself, they would move an adjournment motion in the House.
Amid a raging row over the screening of 'My Name is Khan', Shiv Sena Members of Parliament today decided to return their security to protest Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan's threat to remove security cover provided to the party's executive chief Uddhav Thackeray.
Speaker Meira Kumar has referred Congress member L Rajagopal's resignation from the Lok Sabha opposing a separate Telangana state to the Ethics Committee.
Speaker Meira Kumar on Friday expressed "great concern" over the House not functioning due to frequent disruptions, resulting in the loss of nearly 50 hours of sitting and gradually rendering the institution "irrelevant".
Telangana Rasthra Samiti chief K Chandrasekhar Rao said on Sunday that he would stay back in Delhi after the Centre-convened meet on Telangana on Tuesday to meet leaders of political parties in a bid to garner their support for the separate state.
The Opposition's demand to count castes in the just started census forced two adjournments in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Finance ministry sources said Mukherjee merely pointed out to the Lok Sabha Secretariat that any change in salaries has to go through a process under the ministry of finance, while Lok Sabha sources expressed ignorance about the finance ministry raising any objection.
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