A view of the Rajya Sabha during the Monsoon Session of Parliament, in New Delhi, Wednesday, Aug 11, 2021. (RSTV/PTI) Parliament Monsoon Session Highlights: The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the Constitution amendment bill to restore the powers of states to have their own lists of OBCs for reservation in jobs and educational institutions. The House also cleared the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021.
While moving the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Seventh Amendment) Bill, 2021, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Virendra Kumar said the bill will help restore the powers of states to have their own lists of OBCs which was negated by the Supreme Court.
Earlier today, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla expressed pain that the House did not run smoothly during the Monsoon session. Addressing media after the House was adjourned sine die (for an indefinite period), he said members holding placards, raising slogans in the Well of Lok Sabha was not in accordance with its traditions.
Lok Sabha functioned only 21 hours during the entire Monsoon session and its productivity was at 22 per cent, Birla said.
Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu broke down as he spoke about the ruckus by Opposition MPs in the House the previous day. Even as Naidu was speaking, slogans were continuously raised over various issues. Naidu said the “sacredness” of the House was destroyed by some Opposition MPs, adding he could not sleep last night.
Leaders of Opposition parties during a meeting at Parliament in New Delhi, Wednesday, Aug 11, 2021. (PTI Photo)
Rajya Sabha has been adjourned sine die
Opposition MPs staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha following ruckus in the House.
Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal says that the unruly behavior by the Opposition was "pre-planned".
"Opposition comes to the House with an aim to disrupt the session," he says.
"We are all peace-loving people. So many male & female marshals are here and they have more or less created a fort...Our lady members (in Rajya Sabha) are insulted here. We are not safe. Our lady members are not safe. We protest, this is an insult to democracy," Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge alleged. In reply, BJP leader Pralhad Joshi alleged that Opposition leaders have manhandled the marshals in the House.
Meanwhile, another bill–The National Commission for Homoeopathy (Amendment) Bill, 2021– is cleared by the House.
Ruckus continues in Rajya Sabha. The National Commission for Homoeopathy (Amendment) Bill, 2021 is currently being discussed in the Upper House.
Rajya Sabha proceedings begin again.
The General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill has been passed in Rajya Sabha amid Opposition protest. House adjourned till 7:04 pm.
Opposition MPs gather at the Well of Rajya Sabha in protest over various issues, raise slogans, tear pieces of paper and throw it up in the air.
Rajya Sabha proceedings begin again. Protest by Opposition continues.
Amidst protest by Opposition over the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021, the Upper House has been adjourned till 6:26 PM.
The Constitution (127th Amendment) Bill, 2021 has been passed in the Rajya Sabha.
The Congress asked the government on Wednesday why was it "quiet" and "running away" from a caste-based census, which was mooted by a woman MP of the ruling BJP in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday and even by the chief ministers of Bihar and Odisha.
A caste-based census is required to assess the exact ground situation because in at least 30 states and Union territories, the reservation for backward classes has crossed the upper limit, the opposition party said.
According to PTI, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha while initiating a debate in the Upper House on the Constitution (127th Amendment) Bill, 2021 that seeks to restore the states' power to identify and specify the Socially and Economically Backward Classes (SEBCs), which was lost after the Supreme Court's judgment in the Maratha quota case.
Congress appoints MPs Syed Naseer Hussain and Chhaya Verma as whips of the Congress Parliamentary Party in Rajya Sabha.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, and other MPs including those from TMC, Shiromani Akali Dal, YSRCP, BJD, and others met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla today. Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die today.
Union minister Anurag Thakur has likened the unruly behaviour of Congress MP Pratap Singh Bajwa in the Rajya Sabha to the January 26 vandalism at the Red Fort and said throwing a file at the Chair in the House was a "shameful" incident.
According to PTI, he also lashed out at Congress and other opposition parties over the disruption of the proceedings of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, saying those who have been sent to Parliament by people to raise their issues are resorting to unruly behaviour.
The Rajya Sabha is currently discussing a Constitution amendment bill to restore the powers of states to have their own lists of OBCs for reservation in jobs and educational institutions.
The Constitutional 127th Amendment Bill will amend Articles 342 A — clauses 1 and 2 — and will introduce clause 342 A (3) specifically authorising states to maintain their State List. There will be a consequential amendment in Articles 366(26C) and 338B (9). States will then be able to directly notify OBC and SEBCs without having to refer to the NCBC. More details here.
The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday took up a Constitution amendment bill to restore the powers of states to have their own lists of OBCs for reservation in jobs and educational institutions, ending a three-week deadlock between the government and the opposition in the House over various issues.
Opposition parties disrupted proceedings in the Upper House of Parliament to press their demand for a discussion on the Pegasus snooping controversy and the farmers' agitation ever since the Monsoon session started on July 19.
Moving the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Seventh Amendment) Bill, 2021, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Virendra Kumar said the bill will help restore the powers of states to have their own lists of OBCs which was negated by the Supreme Court.
He thanked the prime minister and various parties and their members for evolving a consensus to take up the important bill that seeks to create history by providing reservation to other backward classes in the country. (PTI)
The government is taking steps to restore ancestral properties of Kashmiri Hindu migrants who had to run away from Kashmir in the wake of terrorist violence there and so far nine properties have been given back to the rightful and original owners, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said under the Jammu and Kashmir Migrant Immovable Property (Preservation, Protection and Restraint on Distress Sales) Act, 1997, District Magistrates (DMs) of concerned districts in Jammu and Kashmir are the legal custodians of the immovable properties of the migrants, who take suo motto action on eviction proceedings in cases of encroachment, while the migrants can also request DMs in such cases. (PTI)
According to information provided by the Govt. of Jammu and Kashmir, a total of 520 migrants have returend to Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 to take up jobs under the Prime Minister's Development Package (of 2015), Minister of State (MoS) Home Nityanand Rai told Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, news agency ANI reported.
Rai also told the Rajya Sabha that the Committee on Subordinate Legislation, Lok Sabha has granted an extension of time up to 9th October to frame the rules under The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA).
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said on Wednesday there have been debates, agreements and disagreements in the House but its dignity has never been lowered, news agency ANI reported. "I always expect the MPs to maintain the dignity of the House. There have been debates, agreements and disagreements in the House but its dignity was never lowered."
"I urge all the MPs, that the House be run in accordance with Parliamentary traditions & its dignity maintained. Sloganeering and raising of banners are not a part of our Parliamentary traditions. They (MPs) should express themselves from their seats," he further said.