Review of Parliament Proceedings

The Lok Sabha could not transact any business today as the House was adjourned due to continuous protests by opposition members seeking a reply from the Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the Parliament security breach. ”     ” At 11 am, when the House met for the day, presiding officer Rajendra Aggarwal adjourned the proceedings till 2 pm in less than a minute, amid slogan-shouting by opposition members who displayed placards and rushed to the Well of the House. ”     ” As soon as the House reassembled at 2 pm after an earlier adjournment, Kirit Solanki, who was in the Chair, adjourned the proceedings for the day. ”     ” Opposition members were demanding the resignation of the Union Home Minister as well as his presence in the House. ”     ” The opposition was also demanding action against BJP MP Pratap Simha, who had authorised the visitor passes for the two men who on Wednesday jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the visitors' gallery with smoke canisters. ”     ” The usual laying of papers as well as standing committee reports could not be taken up yesterday and today. ”     ” The three bills that seek to replace the criminal laws were listed on the agenda in these two days. They could not be taken up for consideration. ”     ” The government has made it clear that it is the Lok Sabha Speaker who is the guardian of security matters in Parliament and it will follow whatever directives are given by him. ”     ” It has accused the opposition of politicising the security breach issue, noting that a number of similar incidents had happened over the decades when other parties, mostly the Congress, were in power. ”     ” Deputy Leader of the House in the Lok Sabha Rajnath Singh had said in the Lok Sabha yesterday that everyone should come together and condemn the incident and there is no point in protesting in the House. ”     ” Speaker Om Birla has said that all are concerned about what happened in the House on Wednesday and asserted that Parliament complex security is the responsibility of the Lok Sabha Secretariat. ”     ” Though the Question Hour could not be taken up in the House, all the questions and replies listed for Friday were considered laid on the table.  ”     ” In a written reply to a question, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya cited the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Cancer Registry Programme to say that the estimated incidence of cancer cases has increased in the country for the period between 2020-2022. ”     ” Their numbers were 13,92,179; 14,26,447; and 14,61,427 in 2020, 2021 and 2022 respectively. The incidence of cancer cases is projected to increase from 14.61 lakhs in 2022 to 15.7 lakhs in 2025, he said. ”     ” He said the Indian Council of Medical Research has identified measures like accelerating cancer screening, early diagnosis and treatment as a National Health Research Priority and initiated research in these topics. It is aimed to improve coverage and quality of cancer screening through existing health care systems using accepted and validated methods, he said. ”     ” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in a written reply that the average time taken for issuance of passports excluding Police Verification time is seven-ten days for a normal passport and one to three days for Tatkaal passport. ”     ” The police verification of applicants particulars plays an important role in a timely dispatch of passports and the all India average for police verification is 14 days, he said. ”     ” Police App has been launched, the average police verification time is within five days. ”     ” The demand for passport services across India, including Punjab, has increased significantly due to a backlog caused by the Covid pandemic, he said. ”     ” Jaishankar said this has created some challenges in the appointment cycle and the ministry has taken many measures to address this, including opening of Passport Seva Kendras, Post Office Passport Seva Kendras on Saturdays, creating additional passport processing counters at Passport Offices, deploying mobile vans for attending to the passport applicants, and releasing additional appointments daily. ”     ” Deployment of additional personnel and cross-granting practices have also been used to expedite passport issuance, he said. ”     ” Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha that the government has reviewed the progress of various projects undertaken as part of Sagarmala programme on a periodic basis. ”     ” His Ministry interacts with State Maritime Boards and state and Union Territories administrations regularly by organizing project based and state level meetings to understand their concerns and aiding to resolve the issues concerning the Government of India in a timely manner, he said. ”   ” Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani said in a written reply to a question that her ministry in collaboration with the Ministry of Home Affairs implemented the Mahila Police Volunteers scheme in the states and Union Territories. ”     ” They act as a link between police and community and help women in distress. She said based on the proposals received from states and Union Territories, the scheme was initially approved for 13 states and UTs, out of which it was operationalised by seven of them namely, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Mizoram and Tripura. ”     ” The Lok Sabha was informed today that 81 of the 123 proposals sent by high court collegiums for appointment of judges are at various stages of processing with the government. ”     ” The remaining 42 proposals are under the consideration of the Supreme Court Collegium, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha. ”     ” He also said recommendations are yet to be received from the high court collegiums regarding the remaining 201 vacancies. ”     ” As on December 12, 123 proposals are at various stages of processing and out of these 81 proposals are at various stages of processing in the government. Forty-two proposals are under consideration with the SC collegium, Meghwal said. ”     ” According to the law ministry's website, as on December 1, of the sanctioned strength of 1,114 judges for the 25 high courts, there were 324 vacancies. ”     ” According to the established mechanism, the chief justice of a high court initiates a proposal to fill vacancies of judges. All the names recommended by the high court collegiums are sent with the views of the central government to the Supreme Court Collegium. ”     ” The apex court collegium recommends some of the names while the others are sent back to the high court collegiums. ”     ” The government then acts on the recommendations, with the president appointing judges. Some recommendations are returned to the Supreme Court Collegium for reconsideration. ”     ” The government appoints only those who are recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium. ”     ” Replying to another question, the Law Minister said over five crore cases are pending in various courts of the country, including 80,000 in the Supreme Court, the Lok Sabha was informed today. ”     ” In a written reply, he said as of December 1, out of the 5,08,85,856 pending cases, over 61 lakh were at the level of the 25 high courts. ”     ” The district and subordinate courts accounted for over 4.46 crore cases, he said. ”     ” The Minister also noted that the overall sanctioned strength of the Indian judiciary was 26,568 judges. While the sanctioned strength of the top court is 34 judges, 1,114 is the sanctioned strength of the high courts. ”     ” The district and subordinate courts have a sanctioned strength of 25,420 judges. ”   ” For the second day today, the Rajya Sabha witnessed uproar by the Opposition on the security breach in Parliament on December 13 with members of the Opposition parties demanding a discussion on the issue after suspension of the business of the House. ”     ” The uproar by the Opposition led to repeated adjournments of the House, which was finally adjourned for the day. ”     ” It led to disruption of the Zero Hour and the Question Hour for the second day. Because of the Opposition uproar, the Private Members business could not be taken up. ”     ” Soon after the laying of papers, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said that he has received 23 notices under Rule 267 for suspension of business for discussion on the situation arising out of the serious breach in Parliament on December 13. ”     ” The Chairman said that investigation in the matter is underway and would be taken to its logical conclusion. He said that he is unable to allow the notices received from the members. ”     ” Soon after, members of the Opposition parties were on their feet, demanding a discussion on the issue of security breach in Parliament and a statement by the Home Minister in the matter. ”     ” Amid the uproar by the Opposition, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar adjourned the House till 1400 Hours. ”     ” Meanwhile in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha by Jawahar Sircar of the All India Trinamool Congress, Railway Minister Ashwani Vaishnav said that replacement of railway assets like railway track, bridges, locomotives, wagons and signaling equipments is a continuous process, which is taken up on age-cum-condition basis under codal life provisions. ”     ” 'Regular inspection of railway assets is carried out to ensure their fitness for service. Obsolete railway assets are condemned and replaced with new technology on age-cum-condition basis, Vaishnav said in his reply. ”     ” The Minister said that 1,22,865 crore rupees has been spent on replacement/up gradation of assets over the last 5 years. The total expenditure of 1,22,865 crore rupees is funded to the extent of 78,501 crore rupees from Gross Budgetary Support and balance from Internal Generation and Extra Budgetary Resources of the Ministry of Railways. ”     ” The Minister said that Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh was introduced in 2017-18 for renewal, replacement and upgradation of critical safety assets with a corpus of 1 lakh crore rupees for a five year period. ”     ” The Currency of the Fund has been extended for another five year term from 2022-23 with Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) of 45000 crore rupees. ”   ” 'In the last five years- from 2018-19 to 2022-23, a gross expenditure of 1,05,378 crore rupees has been incurred on Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha works. ”     ” Replying to another question, Ashwini Vaishnaw said that an amount of 51.37 crores rupees has been paid as ex-gratia and compensation to the victims and the next of kin of victims of the Balasore tragedy. ”     ” In a written reply to another question on the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, launched for the development of Railway stations Ashwani Vaishnaw said that during the year 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 total 6737.97 crore rupees expenditure has been incurred under Plan Head over Indian Railways and the allocation for the current year is  13355 crore rupees. ”     ” Speaking about the scheme, the Minister said that the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme envisages development of stations on a continuous basis with a long-term approach. ”     ” ''It involves preparation of Master Plans and their implementation in phases to improve the amenities at the stations like improvement of station access, circulating areas, waiting halls, toilets, lifts/escalators as necessary, cleanliness, free Wi-Fi, kiosks for local products through schemes like ‘One Station One Product’, better passenger information systems, Executive Lounges, nominated spaces for business meetings, landscaping etc. keeping in view the necessity at each station. ”     ” The scheme also envisages improvement of building, integrating the station with both sides of the city, multimodal integration, amenities for Divyangjans, sustainable and environment friendly solutions, provision of ballastless tracks, ‘Roof Plazas’ as per necessity, phasing and feasibility and creation of city centres at the station in the long term, 'he said. ”     ” The Minister informed that so far 1309 Railway Stations have been identified under this scheme including 75 numbers of stations in the State of Tamil Nadu. The list of 75 stations identified to be taken up under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme in the State of Tamil Nadu includes Ambasamudram, Ambattur, Arakkonam Jn, Ariyalur, Avadi, Bommidi, Chengalpattu Jn, Chennai Beach, Chennai Egmore, Chennai Park, Chidambaram, Chinna Salem, Coimbatore Jn, Coimbatore North, Coonoor, Dharmapuri, Dindigul, Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central, Erode Jn, Guduvancheri, Guindy, Gummidipundi, Hosur, Jolarpettai Jn, Kanniya kumari Terminus, Karaikkudi Jn, KarurJn, Katpadi Jn and Kovilpatti, Kulitturai. ”     ” Kumbakonam, Lalgudi, Madurai Junction, Mambalam, Manaparai, Mannargudi, Mayiladuturai Junction, Mettupalayam, Morappur, Nagercoil Junction, Namakkal, Palani, Paramakkudi, Perambur, Podanur Junction, Pollachi Junction, Polur, Pudukkottai, Rajapalayam, Ramanathapuram, Rameswaram, Salem, Samalpatti, Sholavandan, Srirangam, Srivilliputtur, St. Thomas Mount, Tambaram, Tenkasi, Thanjavur Junction, Thiruvarur Junction, Tiruchendur, Tirunelveli Junction, Tirupadripulyur, Tirupattur, Tiruppur, Tiruttani, Tiruvallur, Tiruvannamalai, Tuticorin, Udagamandalam, Vellore Cantt., VillupuramJn, Virudhunagar, and Vriddhachalam Junction. ”     ” When the House resumed at 1400 hours, the members of the Opposition continued with their uproar on the demand for a discussion on the issue of security breach in Parliament. Amid the uproar, the Chairman adjourned the House for the day. ”   ” This is the second day in succession that proceedings in the Rajya Sabha have been disrupted due to noisy scenes by the opposition on the issue. Yesterday also, members of the Opposition parties had raised to demand a discussion on the issue of security Breach in Parliament and demanded a statement by the Home Minister on the matter. The opposition uproar led to repeated adjournments of the House. ”     ” The uproar by the opposition also led to disruption of Zero Hour and the Question Hour. It also led to the House not being able to transact any legislative business including the Appropriation (No 3) Bill, 2023 and The Appropriation (No 4) Bill, 2023. The House was also scheduled to take up the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Second Amendment) Bill 2023. ”     ” Yesterday's disruption by the Opposition also led to Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar suspending Derek O Brien of the All India Trinamool Congress for the remainder of the winter session of Parliament. ”     ” After Derek O Brien's refusal to withdraw from the House despite suspension, the Leader of the House Piyush Goyal moved a resolution against the member for breach of privilege of members of the House. The matter was referred to the Committee of Privileges.

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Review of Parliament Proceedings