New Delhi, Aug 10 (UNI) Taking serious note of Ministers being absent while their names were called, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday pulled up Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Culture Arjun Ram Meghwal for not being present when he was scheduled to place a statement in the House.
"Ministers should not give notice to place their statement and then should not be seen that they are not available in the House as and when called. So, Naqvi Ji (Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi) take note," said Naidu as Meghwal failed to appear.
On finding that Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting and Youth Affairs & Sports Anurag Thakur arrived late for making a statement, he also advised Ministers to be on time or even before time.
The House was adjourned soon after the scheduled papers, statements and reports were laid on the table as many Opposition members again insisted on suspending the business hour and discussing the Pegasus spyware issue instead.
The Chairman, however, disallowed the notice and urged members to allow the House to function given low productivity during the ongoing Monsoon session of Parliament.
He stated that if the House was concerned about the plight of the farmers they must allow the proceedings to go on and discuss their issues. But Opposition members wanted the Pegasus issue to be taken up first leading to protest by them.
As per the Business List of Rajya Sabha for the day, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to move the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021, for consideration and passing by the House. The bill seeks to allow the government to offload its stakes in public sector insurers thus helping it to meet disinvestment targets for FY22.
Two Appropriation bills are also set to be taken up by the Upper House and returned to the Lok Sabha. An Appropriation Bill is a money bill that allows the government to withdraw funds from the Consolidated Fund of India to meet its expenditure.
A Money Bill after having been passed by the Lok Sabha, and sent to Rajya Sabha for its recommendations, has to be returned to Lok Sabha by the Rajya Sabha within a period of 14 days from the date of its receipt, with or without recommendations.
It is open for the Lok Sabha, to either accept or reject all or any of the recommendations of the Upper House.
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