Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya speaks in the Lok Sabha during ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament, in New Delhi, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022. (SANSAD TV/PTI Photo)Parliament Session 2022 Live: Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday informed the Rajya Sabha that the number of MBBS seats doubled from 51,000 to one lakh in 8 years. Mandaviya was replying after the discussion on the private bill ‘The Right to Health Bill, 2021’ was completed. Both the houses adjourned for the day and will reassemble on August 8.
Congress MPs including interim president Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and other leaders staged a protest outside the Parliament on Friday against issues including GST hike, price rise and unemployment. The Congress MPs will begin a march to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Meanwhile, Vice-President and Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu Friday told the House that MPs cannot avoid summons of law enforcement agencies in criminal cases when the session is on or otherwise. “As law-abiding citizens, it’s our duty to respect law & legal procedure,” he said. Venkaiah Naidu’s statement comes a day after the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge raised the issue of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons to Congress leaders in Parliament and accused the central government of trying to demoralise and intimidate the Opposition. Pointing out that he has been summoned by the ED at a time when Parliament is in session, Kharge asked if it was fair on the part of the agency to do so.
Hitting out at the Congress, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Friday said truth will not turn into a lie even if those indulging in corruption hit the streets from Parliament.
Thakur's remarks came on a day when Congress members staged protests across the country against rising inflation and in the wake of the Enforcement Directorate questioning Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge in connection with money laundering allegations in the National Herald case.
“Investigation agencies are impartial. Don't create hurdles in their way. Don't resort to such drama,” he told reporters here. “Those who have indulged in corruption, are out on bail and afraid of going to jail. They are running scared from investigation agencies,” the senior BJP leader told reporters. (PTI)
The government plans to rename the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre as it was felt that the present name gives an impression of it being city-centric whereas it should be reflective of the aspirations to promote India as a hub of institutional arbitration. A bill to this effect was introduced in Lok Sabha on Friday by Law Minister Kiren Rijiju.
According to the statement of objects and reasons of the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre Act, 2019 provides for the establishment of the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre.
"Accordingly, the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre has been established for creating an independent and autonomous regime for institutionalised arbitration in the country. Sub-section (1) of section 4 of the Act declares the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre as an institution of national importance," it read. (PTI)
Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday informed the Rajya Sabha that the number of MBBS seats doubled from 51,000 to one lakh in 8 years. Mandaviya was replying after the discussion on the private bill 'The Right to Health Bill, 2021' was completed.
Developed countries are no match to India in the speed at achieving their pledges for clean energy as it has concern for the environment and is working towards becoming self-reliant in the energy sector, Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy R K Singh said in the Lok Sabha on Friday.
He made the remarks after moving the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill in the House for consideration. The Bill seeks to make it mandatory for buildings with a minimum connected load of 100 kW to meet their energy requirements from renewable sources. Singh said every country wants to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to deal with climate change and global warming, which has led to a campaign towards adopting renewable or clean energy.
At the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21, India had pledged that by 2030, 40 per cent of its energy generation capacity would be met from non-fossil fuel sources such as renewable energy, the minister said, adding that this was achieved in November 2021 itself. (PTI)
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey raised in Lok Sabha on Friday the "very serious" issue of some Urdu-medium schools in Jharkhand observing weekly holiday on Fridays instead of Sundays, and demanded a probe into it by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, the BJP MP from Jharkhand's Godda Lok Sabha constituency termed the change in weekly holiday a move towards "Islamisation" and demanded that the Union government withhold funds released to these schools under the Centre's Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
"All of a sudden, at least 1,800 schools included the word Urdu in their names across Jharkhand.... Now a report of a committee set up by the Jharkhand government has come (which stated) that Sunday is not a weekly holiday in these schools," the BJP MP said. Calling it "a very serious matter", Dubey alleged that the "country is moving towards Islamisation and Jharkhand has shown the way." "It is my humble request to the Centre that an NIA probe be ordered and funding of the schools which have included Urdu in their names and changed the weekly holiday to Friday be withheld,” he said. (PTI)
Rajya Sabha on Friday was adjourned till August 8.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday took a swipe at the opposition in Rajya Sabha saying some members only make announcements while others do real work. Responding to supplementaries during Question Hour, he urged the MPs from West Bengal to impress upon the state government to provide land for pending railway projects there.
He was replying to a question from TMC's Shanta Chhetri, who claimed that 30 railway projects have been stopped in West Bengal in 2021 and the state received only Rs 1,000 crore this year for projects of new lines.
"Some people only make announcements and some only do work, that is the big difference," Vaishnaw said, noting that he will provide data to support this claim, evoking uproar from TMC members. Responding to a separate query on why priority is not being provided to the freight corridor, he said prior to 2014 there was zero kilometre commissioned in the freight corridor, while now 1300 km have been commissioned. (PTI)
More from India
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Friday remembers the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bomb attacks on completion of 77 years of the catastrophe.
Members of Parliament will vote on Saturday to elect the next Vice President of India in an election where NDA candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar is pitted against Opposition pick Margaret Alva. With numbers stacked in favour of the NDA, Dhankhar, former governor of West Bengal, is set for an easy win.
Cracks were visible in opposition unity as Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress decided to abstain from voting alleging lack of consultations while deciding on the name of Alva.
The 80-year-old Alva is a Congress veteran and has served as governor of Rajasthan, while the 71-year-old Dhankhar is a Jat leader from Rajasthan with socialist background. While polling will be held from 10 am to 5 pm on Saturday, the ballots will be counted immediately after that. By late Saturday evening, the returning officer will announce the name of the next vice president. Members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, including nominated members, are eligible to vote in the vice presidential poll. (PTI)
The Indian Railways has provided employment to 3,50,204 people so far between 2014 and 2022 and the process of recruiting 1.4 lakh more people is currently underway, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told Rajya Sabha. Responding to supplementaries during the Question Hour, the minister said Indian Railways has been a major contributor in providing employment to people in the country and in this year alone 18,000 jobs have been provided.
"Between 2014 to 2022, the Indian Railways has provided employment to 3,50,204 people," the minister said. He said as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement of providing 10 lakh jobs, the Railways has a major contribution in that too and it will be providing one lakh and 40,000 jobs under it. In this year alone, as many as 18,000 employment opportunities have been provided so far, he said. (PTI)
Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday clarified that members of Parliament do not enjoy any immunity from arrest in criminal cases when the House is in session and they cannot avoid summons issued by law enforcement agencies.
Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned for almost half an hour till 11.30 am on Friday as Congress members created an uproar alleging misuse of probe agencies by the government. When the Upper House assembled for the morning session, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu proceeded with the scheduled business of laying of the listed papers on the table, but had to adjourn the House within a few minutes.
More than 10 Congress members trooped into the Well of the House, protesting against the alleged misuse of central probe agencies. The Congress members said the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, has been "insulted" as he was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday during the working hours of Parliament. (PTI)
Rajya Sabha on Friday reassembed at 2:30 pm after a break to discuss Private Members' Business.
Members of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Friday walked out of the proceedings of Lok Sabha in protest, claiming that they wanted to raise an issue in the House but they were not being allowed. Soon after the House assembled at 12 noon and some papers and reports were laid on the table, the DMK members rose from their seats and began seeking attention of the Chair Kirit Premjibhai Solanki. The DMK members were heard saying they have been wanting to raise an issue but not being allowed.
The Chair, however, asked Union Minister Kiren Rijiju to introduce a Bill in the House, urging the DMK members to take their seats. As the DMK members refused to relent and continued seeking his attention, the Chair asked the law minister to go head with the introduction of the Bill, saying, "Only that will go on record what the minister (Rijiju) says." The DMK members walked out of the House in protest. (PTI)
Lok Sabha on Friday reassembled at 2 pm to discuss on Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2022.
The Competition (Amendment) Bill, which seeks structural changes in the governing structure of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday. Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Rao Inderjit Singh introduced the Bill seeking substantive provisions to allow the CCI to address the needs of new-age markets. The CCI has in recent times ordered probes as well as passed various orders with respect to alleged unfair business practices in the growing digital market.
The New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (Amendment) Bill was also introduced in the Lower House of Parliament. Law Minister Kiren Rijiju tabled the Bill. (PTI)
Air pollution is primarily an urban phenomenon and the government is focusing on monitoring ambient air quality in urban areas, Parliament has been informed. Of the 1,243 air quality monitoring stations covering 465 cities in the country, only 26 have been installed in rural areas -- 24 in Punjab and two in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu on an experimental basis.
"Air pollution is primarily an urban phenomenon. Therefore, the government is focusing on monitoring ambient air quality in urban areas," Union Minister of State for Environment Ashwini Kumar Choubey told Rajya Sabha on Thursday. In addition, the government has sanctioned 17 monitoring stations in rural areas of Himachal Pradesh (5), Kerala (2), Mizoram (5), Odisha (2), Tripura (1) and Uttar Pradesh (2), the minister said. (PTI)
On Wednesday, the Minister for the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MEITY), Ashwini Vaishnaw, withdrew the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019. The reasons for the withdrawal were circulated in a note to MPs, which stated that,“considering the report of the JPC (Joint Parliamentary Committee), a comprehensive legal framework is being worked upon…”. The decision lays waste years of labour and deliberation on a law essential for the protection of every Indian in a digitised society. Hence, it is important for us to understand its implications by first taking into account why the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 was introduced in Parliament, and second, whether its withdrawal is justified. Apar Gupta , Tejasi Panjiar write
The Rajya Sabha has been adjourned till 2:30 pm on Friday