Parliamentarians in the Rajya Sabha during the second part of Budget Session of Parliament. (PTI)Parliament Budget Session 2022 Live Updates: The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the Demands for Grants and Appropriation Bill 2022, authorising the government to withdraw funds from the Consolidated Fund of India for its working as well as implementation of programmes and schemes for the fiscal beginning April 1. This completes two-thirds of the budgetary exercise by the Lok Sabha.
The BJP on Thursday issued a whip to all of its Lok Sabha MPs mandating their presence in the House. The House is set to take up the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2022 for consideration and passing. Meanwhile, the political controversy in Kerala over the SilverLine semi-speed rail corridor project found an echo in Delhi on Thursday with the police stopping Congress MPs from the state from marching to Parliament. Some leaders even alleged they were manhandled by the police.
United Democratic Front (UDF) MPs from Kerala on Thursday alleged that they were “attacked and manhandled” by Delhi police personnel during their protest here against the proposed semi-high-speed K-Rail-Silverline Project in the state. Raising the issue in Lok Sabha soon after the Question Hour, Congress member K Suresh said a total of 12 MPs, including women parliamentarians, had started their protest march from Vijay Chowk at 10.45 am on Thursday when Delhi police personnel came and “blocked them without any provocation”.
Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari speaks in the Lok Sabha during the second part of Budget Session of Parliament, in New Delhi, Tuesday, March 22, 2022. (SANSAD TV/PTI Photo)
Employment in the country has increased by 22 per cent in the past seven years since 2013-14, as per the survey reports of labour bureau, Union Labour Minister Bhupender Yadav told Parliament on Thursday.
The minister also told the House that according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), unemployment among the graduate level job seekers of 15 to 40 years of age has come down. He told the House that as per PLFS, the rise in employment in IT, healthcare and eduction sectors reflects that employment opportunities were generated through various government programmes.
Replying to a supplementary question in the Rajya Sabha, Yadav said, "employment has increased by 22 per cent in last seven years in comparison to 2013-14. Apart from the farm sector, the other nine sectors like transport, education, hospitality, trade and Information Technology (IT) have witnessed rise in employment." The minister also said that 27 crore informal workers have been enrolled on the e-SHRAM portal during the last six months. (PTI)
As many as 760 women contested the recently-held assembly polls in five states and 76 of them were victorious, Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday. Voters in Uttar Pradesh sent 47 women to the newly-formed legislative assembly. A total of 561 women had contested the polls there.
In a written reply on women reservation in Parliament and legislative assemblies, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju also shared data on the total number of candidates who contested polls in Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Punjab and Uttarakhand, number of women contestants and the number of women who won. According to the data, there were 6,944 contestants in the five states, including 760 women. Seventy-six of them won the polls.
In Goa, of the 301 contestants, 26 were women. Three of them made it to the 40-member assembly. Similarly, in Manipur, out of the 265 contestants, 17 were women. Five won the electoral battle. (PTI)
The AAP on Thursday alleged non-cooperation from the Ministry of Railways over its 'Mukhyamantri Tirth Yatra Yojana', a scheme to enable senior citizens to undertake free pilgrimage.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Member Sanjay Singh alleged that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was not even permitted entry into a railway station to meet seniors citizen going on pilgrimage under the scheme.
"The Railways had not permitted entry to an elected chief minister at a station in Delhi who was supposed to go to meet senior citizens going on a pilgrimage," Singh alleged. He asked Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who was present in the House, not to behave in such a way with an elected chief minister. The Upper House was discussing the working of the Ministry of Railways. According to Singh, this was done despite repeated phone calls from him and the chief minister's residence. (PTI)
Proceedings of both the Houses of Parliament were adjourned till tomorrow 11 am. The Lok Sabha passed the Demands for Grants and Appropriation Bill 2022. While, the Rajya Sabha held discussion on the Working of the Ministry of Railways
People indulging in wrongdoing will be punished as there is no law in the country to protect either big industrialists or politicians, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal told Parliament on Thursday.
Responding to the debate on the Demands for Grants of the Commerce and Industry Ministry in the Lok Sabha, Goyal said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi got huge mandate from people as he does not hesitate to take actions if some big people indulge in wrong practices. The minister said that a member in the House has stated that several raids are happening in the country and due to that the industry is not investing in the country.
"I am amazed...I do not understand the relation between raids and investments...Is there any provision or law in the country that if you are a big politician or a big industrialist, action would not be taken for their wrongdoings...Action will be taken....Jo galat kaam karega wo saja bhugtega uske liye (One who does wrong will be punished for that)," he said. (PTI)
The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the Demands for Grants and Appropriation Bill 2022, authorising the government to withdraw funds from the Consolidated Fund of India for its working as well as implementation of programmes and schemes for the fiscal beginning April 1. This completes two-thirds of the budgetary exercise by the Lok Sabha.
The Appropriation Bill authorising payment and appropriation of specified sums from the Consolidated Fund of India for 2022-23 was introduced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The bill was later approved by voice vote after rejecting several cut motions moved by opposition members. The Lok Sabha earlier discussed demands for grants of different ministries, including railways, road transport and highways, civil aviation, commerce and industry and port, shipping and waterways. (PTI)
Khadi sales stood at Rs 3,030 crore as of December 31, 2021, against Rs 3,527.71 crore in FY21, Parliament was informed on Thursday. In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for MSME Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma said the ministry has taken several steps to boost the sale of traditional Khadi products.
The measures include establishing the Centre of Excellence for Khadi with the technical support of NIFT; organising exhibitions, and providing credit at concessional rates. KVIC has obtained registration of the Trade Mark “KHADI” in 17 countries, including Germany, the UK, Australia, Russia, China, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and the Maldives. (PTI)
The government Thursday said Adani Enterprises Limited and L&T are part of two consortia led by State-run enterprises that have evinced interest in building the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), the ISRO's warhorse rocket to put satellites in orbit.
In a bid to encourage private sector participation in the space sector, New Space India Limited (NSIL), a company under the Department of Space, had invited proposals from the Indian industry to build five PSLVs.
Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh said two consortia, one comprising Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and Larsen & Toubro, and another involving Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL) and Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), have submitted techno-commercial proposals for building PSLV. (PTI)
Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Derek O'Brien on Thursday termed the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train line a "vanity project" of the Centre and accused the government of not addressing the real transportation needs of the common people.
Speaking at a discussion on the working of the Ministry of Railways in the Upper House, O'Brien also sought transparency in the matter regarding the private trains, Tejas, while also criticising the government for lack of "big ideas" to further enhance the national transporter.
"Your outlook on the railways is different from the Trinamool Congress and many other parties... For us, the railways constitutes the infrastructure for the fundamental right of every Indian citizen to travel from point A to point B. It is a fundamental right as far as transport goes. You may look at differently, we do not," he said. (PTI)
External Affairs Minister Dr S jaishankar on Thursday responed to a question on India's stand on Ukraine, put forward by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha, in the Rajya Sabha.
On being asked if the government still belived in old robust policy of territorial integrity of regions under conflict, Jaishankar said, "We are clear on our principles. International order must respect territorial integrity and sovereignty of States."
State-owned Airports Authority of India (AAI) received revenues worth around Rs 13,439 crore from Delhi and Mumbai airports in the last five financial years, according to the civil aviation ministry. Under Public Private Partnership (PPP), Delhi and Mumbai airports were handed over to the private partners in 2006.
"During the last five years i.e. from 2016-17 to 2020-21, AAI has received revenues of approximately Rs 8,093 crore from Delhi airport, Rs 5,346 crore from Mumbai airport," Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh told Lok Sabha.
Besides, three airports -- Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru -- were handed over to the Adani Group in October-November 2020. Three other airports -- Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram -- were given to it in October last year. (PTI)
United Democratic Front (UDF) MPs from Kerala on Thursday alleged that they were "attacked and manhandled" by Delhi police personnel during their protest here against the proposed semi-high-speed K-Rail-Silverline Project in the state. Raising the issue in Lok Sabha soon after the Question Hour, Congress member K Suresh said a total of 12 MPs, including women parliamentarians, had started their protest march from Vijay Chowk at 10.45 am on Thursday when Delhi police personnel came and "blocked them without any provocation".
"We told them we were MPs. They (police) said you (protesting MPs) are shouting slogans. We said it is our right to shout slogans. They assaulted us, manhandled us, pushed us without any provocation," Suresh told Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
The SilverLine project of the CPI(M)-led government in Kerala has been facing massive protests over the survey and marking of the corridor boundary, and is embroiled in a political controversy. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital on Thursday. (PTI)
In today's parliamentary proceeding, discussion on the Demands for Grants under the control of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways for 2022-23 is being discussed in the Lok Sabha. While, the Upper House has taken up discussion on the working of the Ministry of Railways for 2022-23.
Authorities have issued over 1.98 crore challans worth Rs 1,898.73 crore for traffic violations across the country in the 2021 calendar year, Parliament was informed on Thursday. In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said 2,15,328 cases of road rage and rash driving were reported in 2021, as per the government's centralised database.
Authorities have issued over 40 lakh challans worth Rs 417 crore for traffic violations across the country between January 1 to March 15, 2022, Gadkari said.
To improve road safety and tighten traffic regulations such as issuance of driving licences and impose stricter penalties for violations, Parliament on August 5, 2019, had passed the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019. President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to the Bill on August 9, 2019. (PTI)
Addressing the Lok Sabha, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said: "Our Prime Minister does not think about short-term gains, he believes it will lead to long-term pain. We have seen some instances in the past when wrong decisions were taken for short term benefits."
The political controversy in Kerala over the SilverLine semi-speed rail corridor project found an echo in Delhi on Thursday with the police stopping Congress MPs from the state from marching to Parliament. Some leaders even alleged they were manhandled by the police.
The Congress MPs from the state, who were marching to Parliament after addressing a press conference at Vijay Chowk, were stopped by the police, leading to a scuffle. The MPs were pushed around, and at least one of them – Ernakulam MP Hibie Eden – was said to have allegedly suffered blows to his face.
The incident came on the same day Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the project, which has come to be known as the K-rail project. The Congress has been waging an agitation in Kerala against the project. Read more.
The political controversy in Kerala over the SilverLine semi-speed rail corridor project found an echo in Delhi on Thursday with the police stopping Congress MPs from the state from marching to Parliament. Some leaders even alleged they were manhandled by the police.
The Congress MPs from the state, who were marching to Parliament after addressing a press conference at Vijay Chowk, were stopped by the police, leading to a scuffle. The MPs were pushed around, and at least one of them – Ernakulam MP Hibie Eden – was said to have allegedly suffered blows to his face.
The incident came on the same day Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the project, which has come to be known as the K-rail project. The Congress has been waging an agitation in Kerala against the project. Read more.
TRS MP Nama Nageswar Rao moved an adjournment motion notice in Lok Sabha over the employment situation in India. (ANI)