Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the world was seeing prosperity in India's growth story but a few frustrated persons were not ready to accept the achievements of the nation.<br />''<br />''Replying to the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address in Lok Sabha, Mr. Modi said the world was looking at India with hope amid instability in some parts of the globe due to the once-in-a-century pandemic and conflicts.<br />''<br />''The motion was later passed following his reply.<br />''<br />''The Prime Minister said India was emerging as a manufacturing hub and the world now sees its prosperity in the country's growth.<br />''<br />''In a swipe at the Opposition, he said some people who are neck-deep in frustration refuse to accept India's growth story. They cannot see the achievements of 140 crore Indians, Modi said, targeting the Opposition. He said President Droupadi Murmu's address to Parliament was an inspiration for everyone.<br />''<br />''Raising slogans, members of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, Left parties and some members of the Congress walked out of the Lok Sabha in protest as the Prime Minister was speaking.<br />''<br />''The Lok Sabha later took up the discussion on the Budget.<br />''<br />''During the discussion on the motion of thanks, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla warned members against making allegations without evidence after a Congress Member accused the government of favouring industrialist Gautam Adani. The Speaker also said the debate on the President's address should not be centred around one individual.<br />''<br />''As the Lok Sabha debated the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address, N. Uttam Kumar Reddy of Congress mentioned Adani and reiterated the Opposition's demand for a probe following the Hindenburg report on the Adani Group.  He alleged that the Government favoured Adani, prompting the Speaker to say that the member should not make allegations without evidence.<br />''<br />''The Speaker said the member was speaking without facts and evidence and should maintain the decorum of the House. Reddy, however, said he has evidence and will present it to the House.<br />''<br />''Participating in the debate on Tuesday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed that the meteoric rise in Adani's fortunes happened after the BJP came to power in 2014 as he rose in the global rich list from the 609th to the second spot eventually.   The Congress leader's remarks drew a sharp response from the treasury benches, with Law Minister Kiren Rijiju asking him not to level "wild allegations" and furnish proof of his claims.<br />''<br />''Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi demanded that action be taken against Mr. Rahul Gandhi for his certain objectionable comments made in Lok Sabha and that they be expunged from the records. Certain remarks Mr. Gandhi made in the House on Tuesday have already been expunged from the records.<br />'' <br />''As soon as the House met for the day, Mr. Pralhad Joshi raised the issue saying that under Parliamentary rules one should serve a notice beforehand if he or she wants to make allegations against anyone. The Congress leader has made some remarks yesterday. Those were very objectionable and baseless allegations. Those should be expunged and action should be taken against him, he told Speaker Om Birla.<br />''<br />''The Minister said a privilege motion will be moved against Gandhi for his comments. He said a privilege notice has already been served but it was not even authenticated. However, the Speaker did not take any decision immediately but said he would examine the matter and accordingly decide.<br />''<br />''Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad of BJP accused the Gandhi family of being involved in corruption, saying those out on bail were hurling "baseless" accusations against the Government.  Speaking in the Lok Sabha on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address, Mr. Prasad said Rahul Gandhi's remarks on Tuesday were baseless, shameful and full of lies, and came from a feeling of dejection.<br />''<br />''In his reply, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the trust reposed by crores of people was his protective shield which cannot be breached by abuse and allegations from his detractors.<br />''<br />''Citing various welfare measures of his government like providing free grains, housing and cooking gas facility besides piped water supply, he said tens of crores of people have benefitted from them and know Modi has come to their help in times of crisis. How will they agree with your abuses and allegations, he told the Opposition.<br />''       <br />''People trust Modi, not due to newspaper headlines or TV visuals but due to his years of dedication to the service of the people, Modi said. BJP members broke into chants of Modi, Modi' as the Prime Minister listed out the public welfare initiatives of his Government. Opposition members raised the slogan of Adani, Adani' to counter the BJP members.<br />''     <br />''The Prime Minister said when the opposition loses elections, it blames the EVMs, and criticises the Election Commission, and if the Supreme Court does not give a favourable verdict, it criticises the Apex court. If corruption is being probed, it abuses the investigative agencies, he added. If the Army displays valour, it abuses the armed forces, and levels allegations against them, he said. In the past nine years, compulsive criticism has replaced constructive criticism, the Prime Minister said.<br />'' <br />''He described the 10 years of UPA rule as India's "lost decade". The decade before 2014 will always be remembered as 'The Lost Decade', but the decade of 2030 is India's decade," Modi said. No one can forget the attacks of 2008. The lack of courage in acting against terrorism led to a bloodbath and the loss of lives of our innocent citizens. It's synonymous with the UPA's misrule, he said.<br />''<br />''<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">The Prime Minister said India was emerging as a manufacturing hub and the world now sees its prosperity in the country's growth. He said President Droupadi Murmu's address to Parliament was an inspiration for everyone.</span><br />

<span style="color: #222222;">Union Home Minister Amit Shah today said, the battle against drugs was delicately poised and urged States to fight the menace together with the Central government, keeping aside politics.<br />''<br />''Responding to a short-duration discussion in Lok Sabha on the drug-abuse problem in the country and steps taken by the government to control it, Shah said the Modi Government has a zero-tolerance policy towards drugs and vowed to put behind bars drug traders, howsoever big, in the next two years. The Minister said that the Government has mapped the drug network across the States. No matter how big the criminal is, in the next two years there will be a situation that they will be behind bars, he said. The Minister said, the issue of drug menace is a serious one as profits from this trade are also used to finance the terror activities. He said, the presence of dirty money also destroys economy and the Government will leave no stone unturned in achieving the target of a drugs-free India.<br />''<br />''Shah said 97,000 crore rupees worth drugs were destroyed between 2014 and 2022 while 23,000 crore rupees drugs were seized between 2006 and 2013 and the Government will carry forward its campaign against drugs with gusto.<br />''<br />''On the seizure of 3,000 kg drugs in Gujarat, he said it was a reflection of the State government's pro-active action against the menace. He said all those involved in the smuggling of the drugs were arrested. The source of drugs was traced to some Gulf countries and action has been taken to ensure that the factories have been shut down, he said, adding the consignment was seized due to the scientific surveillance mounted by the Customs department and allied agencies.<br />''<br />''Referring to the row over the powers given to the border guarding forces to register cases along the international borders, the Home Minister said those who were making political issues out of it were supporters of drug trade.<br />''<br />''Earlier, Shah took exception to Congress member Gaurav Gogoi's allegation that the Government snoops on politicians with Israeli spyware Pegasus and asked him to give proof of the claim, saying the House was not meant for reckless politics.<br />''<br />''Gogoi, while participating in a discussion on drug menace, sought to know from the Government about the kind of surveillance mechanism it has in place on the country's land and sea borders, as well as international airports, to check the entry of contraband into the country.<br />''<br />''The Congress member also wanted to know from the Home Minister as to what kind of surveillance and intelligence mechanisms are in place to check the arms smuggling, human trafficking, and smuggling of animal parts at the India-Myanmar border.<br />''<br />''Objecting to the Congress member's remarks, Shah asked Gogoi to submit in the House the proof of his accusation. He has levelled a very serious allegation that Pegasus has been installed in his mobile. He must submit the basis of his accusation in the House itself. Either his words are removed or he must submit the basis, Shah said.<br />''<br />''Intervening, the Speaker told the members that it will enhance the dignity of the House if they make their points with facts and proof. This is my request, he said.<br />''<br />''Cutting across party lines, members demanded more action to deal with the rising menace of drug abuse in the country.<br />''<br />''Participating in discussion Sougata Roy of TMC asked whether the Government is thinking of capital punishment in cases of possession of drugs.<br />''He also wondered why there are a lot of drug consignment seizures at Mundra port in Gujarat.<br />''<br />''Rahul Shewale of Shiv Sena suggested the Government to take steps to stop sale of certain cough syrups that are being sold without a doctor's prescription.<br />''<br />''P Ravindranath of AIAXMK asked the Government to make it mandatory for schools to teach children about ill-effects of the drugs. He also asked for amendment in laws and setting up of a national monitoring committee.<br />''<br />''K R Naidu of TDP also demanded more steps to deal with this menace.<br />''<br />''BJP members Dilip Saikia, Som Parkash, Jagdambika Pal and Ratan Lal Kataria stated about steps taken by the Government to contain drug abuse in the country.<br />''<br />''Lok Sabha has passed 'The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Fifth Amendment) Bill, 2022. The Bill will amend the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950, for inclusion of the thirteen communities, in the list of Scheduled Tribes in relation to the State of Chhattisgarh.<br />''<br />''Replying to the discussion, Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda said, the Government has identified 75 particularly vulnerable tribal groups, PVTGs,  across the country. He said, out of these only Nine were listed and the Government is working on the remaining communities. Attacking the Congress party, the Minister said for neglecting the tribals and their welfare.  He said, PM Narendra Modi-led Government has changed the approach towards the tribals and is working with conviction.<br />''<br />''Earlier, Opposition parties walked out of Lok Sabha seeking a discussion on the border issue with China. As soon as the House assembled for the Zero Hour, Congress and DMK members staged the walkout, followed by members from TMC and JDU.<br />''<br />''Congress' Leader of the House Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury urged Speaker Om Birla to allow a discussion on the India-China issue, saying it is the Opposition's right.</span><br />

<span style="color: #222222;">Lok Sabha today passed the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022 to include some tribes in Tamil Nadu in the list of Scheduled Tribes.<br />''<br />''Replying to a discussion on the bill, Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda asserted that the central government is working with spirit of "antyoday" as envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. With several members seeking inclusion of different communities from their respective states in the list of Scheduled Tribes or other backward communities, Munda said there is a procedure for finalising this. The central government has been following this, he said. Munda said the central government refers to state governments these demands and seek their feedback. Our priority is delivering a permanent solution to these demands, he said.<br />''<br />''After the passage of the bill, the House began discussion on the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Third Amendment) Bill, 2022 to include a community from Himachal Pradesh into the list of the Scheduled tribes.<br />''<br />''Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka of the Congress expressed concern about the displacement of a large number of tribals due to development projects and claimed that they are not getting employment and other promised benefits.<br />''<br />''Indra Hang Subba of Sikkim Krantikari Morcha urged the government to work to protect the oral history and dialect of the tribal community.<br />''<br />''Independent member Navneet Rana said, Scheduled Tribes population at times face lot of problems in getting caste certificates and called for bigger compensation to them if they are displaced from forest habitat.<br />''<br />''P Ravindhranath of AIADMK demanded that the government should ensure reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in private sector. He lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for ensuring uplift of the tribal community and noted that India got its first tribal President in Droupadi Murmu.<br />''<br />''Hanuman Beniwal of RLP said the budget allocated to the Scheduled Tribes is often under-utilised. He said, efforts should be made to ensure that it is spent on their development.<br />''<br />''Virendra Singh Mast of BJP praised the government for working towards the welfare of tribal community.<br />''<br />''Earlier, the hooch tragedy in Bihar echoed in Lok Sabha as BJP members termed the deaths as mass murder and urged the Centre to take immediate action against the state government under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, holding it responsible for the incident.  <br />''<br />''Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Sanjay Jaiswal of BJP claimed that spurious liquor sale has been flourishing in Bihar under the protection of police officers despite a prohibition in place. But the chief minister does not take any action against any of them, he said.<br />''<br />''Sushil Kumar Singh of BJP termed the hooch tragedy deaths as "mass murder" and held the Bihar government responsible for it. He said, over 37 people have died and alleged that it is Bihar government-sponsored murder of the people. He alleged that spurious liquor is supplied to every household by the police, with the help and protection of the police in the state despite prohibition in place. He said, more than 15 such incidents have taken place so far. But the chief minister says those who drink liquor would die or go to jail, and those selling the poisonous liquor would become his party's candidate to contest elections on his party ticket.<br />''<br />''Saran Rajiv Pratap Rudy of BJP also hit out at the Bihar government over the issue and demanded that the Union home ministry send a central team without any delay to take stock of the ground situation in the state. After Rudy raised the issue, some opposition members pointed out there have been deaths in hooch tragedy in Uttar Pradesh also in the past, asking the BJP members why these incidents are not being highlighted in the House.<br />'' <br />''Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told the Lok Sabha that six non-BJP ruled states like West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Kerala and Jharkhand have not reduced the VAT on petroleum products, leading to higher prices of petrol and diesel there. He said, the central government has reduced excise duty on petroleum products and some other states and reduced their Value Added Tax. He said, six states have not reduced the VAT. This led to protests by the opposition members.<br />''<br />''The Minister said, currently the petrol price in India is one of the lowest. He said the oil marketing companies together suffered losses of 27,276 crore rupees due to high prices of crude in international markets. The Minister suggested the opposition to impress upon their state governments to reduce the VAT. Puri said India imports more than 85 per cent of its crude oil requirements. Therefore, the prices of petrol and diesel in the country are linked to their respective prices in the international market.<br />''<br />''Following the reductions in central excise duty, some of the States and UTs also reduced the VAT rates on petrol and diesel. The minister said India imports more than 60 percent of its domestic LPG consumption. The price of LPG in the country is based on the Saudi Contract Price (SPC), the benchmark for the international price of LPG.<br />''<br />''However, he said, the government continues to modulate the effective price to consumers for domestic LPG. Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies have suffered huge losses on the sale of domestic LPG and to compensate for these losses, the government has recently approved a one-time compensation of 22,000 crore rupees to Oil Marketing Companies.<br />''<br />''Unsatisfied with the minister's reply, members belonging to Congress, DMK, TMC and NCP staged a walkout of the house<br />''<br />''Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla urged Housing and Urban Development minister Hardeep Singh Puri to speak to states to try to come out with a framework so that homeless could get houses.<br />''<br />''Replying to a question, Puri said the capacity of government shelter homes is 1.25 lakh but occupancy is 50 percent. Puri also said that as per the 2011 census, the total urban houseless population is over 9 lakh. The Centre also asked the states to survey homeless people living on the roadside or in the open who do not have a house.<br />''<br />''Om Birla then urged Hardeep Puri to speak to the state governments and draw up a framework to ensure that the homeless get to live in houses. Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia informed Lok Sabha that the government is concentrating on last-mile connectivity to Tier-III cities to ensure democratisation of civil aviation in the country.<br />''<br />''Replying to a question, Scindia said India has tremendous connectivity between Tier I-II cities. What needs to be strengthened is last-mile connectivity to Tier-III cities. Our government is concentrating on last- mile connectivity to make sure the democratisation of civil aviation does truly take place in the country, Scindia said.<br />''<br />''The Minister said the government is looking at the small aircraft scheme launched last year under which sub-20 seater aircraft are being used to provide last-mile connectivity.<br />''<br />''In the last round of UDAN, 132 routes have been awarded of which in the major sectors, 16 are helicopter routes, and almost 50 are seaplane routes, Scindia said. To another question on aerosports, Scindia said it is a new area and has tremendous future and potential in the country. The Minister said the government has set up an aerosports organisation, which will be decentralised into different state units.</span><br />

The Lok Sabha today passed 'The Supplementary Demands for Grants – First Batch for 2022-23 and Demand for Excess Grants for 2019-20'. The bill authorises the government to spend additional 3.25 lakh crore rupees in Financial Year 2023.  <br />''<br />''Replying to the debate, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asserted that Indian economy is going strong with its highest growth rate among the major economies and inflation going down. She also rejected the opposition's criticism of the economy that it is likely to be hit by stagflation and said India is seeing high growth while inflation has now dipped below the RBI's upper tolerance level of 6 per cent. Retail inflation has moderated to an 11-month low of 5.8 per cent in November from 6.77 per cent in the previous month.<br />''<br />''The government will bring it down further for the sake of common people, she said while replying to a discussion on the first batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants 2022-23. She said, the government is constantly watching the price situation of essential commodities.<br />''<br />''With regard to fiscal deficit, the Finance Minister said the government would be able to meet the fiscal deficit target of 6.4 per cent of the GDP for the current financial year. The government is committed to the path of fiscal consolidation, she said.<br />''<br />''On non-performing assets, Sitharaman said it has come down drastically to 7.28 per cent at the end of March 2022 due to various measures taken by the Modi government.<br />''<br />''On the declining value of the rupee against the US dollar, she said, the domestic unit is appreciating against all other currencies, and the fall against the greenback is lower as compared to other currencies.<br />''<br />''Quoting the World Bank report, she said India's forex reserves is one of the highest in the world and this provides a cushion against the global spill-over.<br />''<br />''Participating in the debate, Supriya Shule of NCP said, the government should not take piecemeal measures and instead table a comprehensive bill to give reservation benefits to different communities in all states.<br />''<br />''Ranjeetsinha Naik Nimbalkar of BJP, Hanuman Beniwal of RLP and P. Ravindhranath of AIADMK demanded reservation benefits for different communities in their states under appropriate categories.<br />'' <br />''Lok Sabha also took up the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022 for consideration and passage.<br />''<br />''Supriya Shule of NCP said, the government should not take piecemeal measures and instead table a comprehensive bill to give reservation benefits to different communities in all states.<br />'' <br />''Ranjeetsinha Naik Nimbalkar of the BJP, Hanuman Beniwal of RLP and P. Ravindhranath of AIADMK demanded reservation benefits for different communities in their states under appropriate categories.<br />'' <br />''Replying to a question, Union Minister Piyush Goyal told Lok Sabha that the success rate of the start-ups in India is higher than the rest of the world and there were 84,012 recognised start-ups in the country at the end of November. He said, to boost the start-up ecosystem, the government launched the Start-up India initiative on January 16, 2016, along with an action plan was also put in place. Start-ups are prone to failures but the success rate of start-ups in India is relatively higher than the rest of the world.  The number of recognised startups has increased from 452 in 2016 to 84,012 as on November 30, 2022, the Minister said.<br />''<br />''Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw took a swipe at opposition parties, saying the BSNL suffered badly due to certain political parties as it was used as a cash cow by some people who are still members of Parliament. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved a huge project worth  1.64 lakh crore rupees for the revival of BSNL, and this will transform the telecom PSU completely. He said, the BSNL will soon launch 4G and 5G networks designed, developed and made in the country as per Modi's 'Make in India' initiative. He said at present, mobile data in India is one of the cheapest in the world as one gigabyte data is available for less than 20 rupees. This was around 200 rupees during the UPA rule, the minister said. He said the revival measures focus on infusing fresh capital for upgrading BSNL services, allocating spectrum, de-stressing its balance sheet and augmenting its fibre network by merging the Bharat Broadband Nigam Limited with the BSNL.<br />''<br />''Earlier, soon after the Question Hour, Congress members led by Sonia Gandhi and Trinamool Congress members walked out of the House, accusing the government of not allowing a discussion on the sensitive India-China border issue.<br />'' <br />''As soon as the Question Hour ended, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of Congress demanded that a discussion on the Indo-China border situation be held, saying the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had allowed a discussion in the Lok Sabha on the India-China war in 1962.<br />''<br />''In 1962, when India-China war took place, Nehru in this House had given 165 MPs chance to speak, and a decision was taken on what to do only after that, Chowdhury said.<br />'' <br />''Responding to the Congress leader's demand, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said a decision will be taken on it in the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee.<br />''<br />''As the Speaker continued with the proceedings of the House, the Congress, as well as the members of TMC, staged a walkout in protest and accused the government of not allowing a discussion on the India-China border issue.<br />'' <br />''Sudip Bandyopadhyay of TMC said, his party members were staging a walkout in protest against the attitude" of the government.<br />'' <br />''Opposition members had walked out of Lok Sabha in protest against various issues soon after the House met as well.<br />'' <br />''As soon as the House met for the day, members from the Congress and the DMK wanted to raise certain issues. One of the members displayed a printout with the words "Justice for Stan Swamy".<br />''<br />''The Speaker told the protesting members that the Question Hour was important. However, they sought to raise various issues.<br />''<br />''Later, members belonging to Congress, DMK, NCP and the NC among others walked out of the House.<br />'' <br />''During the Zero Hour, Janardhan Singh Sigriwal of BJP raised the issue of Bihar hooch tragedy in the Lok Sabha demanding immediate suspension of Superintendent of Police of Saran. He said claimed that people are dying in large numbers consuming illicit liquor in Bihar. About a dozen people have lost their lives in today's hooch tragedy in Saran district of Bihar, he said.  <br />''<br />''His party colleague Ravi Kishan Shukla raised the issue of the death of young actors in gyms. Mr. Shukla expressed concern over such incidents and demanded that the Union Health Ministry set up a committee to look into the matter. The Health Ministry should set up a probe committee to ascertain why such deaths are happening, he said.<br />''<br />''<br />

The Lok Sabha today adopted the Finance Bill, giving effect to new taxation, thus completing the Budgetary exercise for 2022-23 fiscal.<br />''<br />''The Finance Bill was approved by the Lower House after accepting 39 official amendments moved by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and rejecting the oppositon amendments proposed by voice vote.<br />''<br />''<br />''Replying to a discussion on the Finance Bill, Sitharaman said India was probably the only country that did not resort to new taxes to fund the recovery of the economy hit by the COVID pandemic.<br />''<br />''<br />''She said that according to an OECD report, as many as 32 countries have increased the tax rates after the pandemic.<br />''<br />''Instead, the government put more money where multiplier effect would be maximum, she said while referring to the Budget's focus on raising capital expenditure.<br />''<br />''  The Budget 2022-23 raised Capex by 35.4 per cent to 7.5 lakh crore rupees to continue the public investment-led recovery of the pandemic battered economy.  <br />''  Observing that the Modi government believes in lowering taxes, she said the reduction in corporate tax has helped the economy, government and companies, and we are seeing the progress. She said 7.3 lakh crore rupees has been collected as corporate tax so far this fiscal.<br />''<br />''  The number of taxpayers has increased to 9.1 crore from 5 crore a few years back, she said, adding the government is taking steps to widen the tax base and the faceless assessment has been received well by people.<br />''  Responding to the concerns expressed by members on imposing customs duty on umbrella, she said it was done to encourage domestic manufacturing by MSMEs.<br />''<br />''  She further said that IFSC in Gujarat is making steady progress, and several global funds and insurance companies are setting up offices in the International Financial Services Centre at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City.<br />''A bill to merge the three municipal corporations in the national capital into a single entity was introduced in the Lok Sabha today amid opposition claims that the move was beyond the legislative competence of Parliament.<br />''    Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai introduced the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, dismissing the opposition claims.<br />''<br />''    Rai said Article 239AA gave Parliament the right to make laws with respect to any matter of Union Territory.<br />''    N K Premachandran of RSP, Gaurav Gogoi and Manish Tewari, both Congress, Ritesh Pandey of BSP opposed the introduction of the bill contending that Parliament lacked the legislative competence to amend the Bill.<br />''    Premachandran said the Bill to trifurcate the Municipal Corporation of Delhi was passed by the Delhi Assembly and it was beyond the domain of Parliament to pass law to merge the civic bodies.<br />''<br />''    Gogoi claimed that the move by the Centre to merge the three municipal corporations into one through a law of Parliament was an attack on the federal structure of the constitution.<br />''<br />''  He also questioned the rationale behind capping the number of seats in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi at 250, contending that the same should be decided after taking into account the population of the national capital.<br />''  The Bill states that the 2011 trifurcation of the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi was uneven in terms of territorial divisions and revenue generating potential.<br />''<br />''    Opposition members from various parties walked out protesting over rising fuel prices, with a Congress MP questioning the need to hike price of petrol, diesel and cooking gas following a 137 days hiatus after polls in five states concluded.<br />''  During Zero Hour, Gaurav Gogoi of Congress, raised the issue of rise in fuel prices saying after inflation and uneven recovery after the corona virus pandemic, people needed a breathing space.<br />''  He wondered why prices of petrol and diesel were increased three times in a week after a hiatus of 137 days.<br />''  Members, including those from Congress, DMK, NCP, Left, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi and IUML, walked out of the House to register their protest on the issue.<br />''<br />''    Initiating a debate on the Finance Bill, Gaurav Gogoi of Congress, expressed concern over unregulated virtual digital assets such as crypto currencies, and said the government should come out with legislation soon to prevent their misuse for purposes such as terror financing and drug smuggling.<br />''<br />''  Earlier, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman moved the Finance Bill for 2022-23 for consideration. Participating in the discussion, Gaurav Gogoi of Congress said, there are a lot of unregulated commercials on the social media that are luring people to invest in the shares of the stock market. It is another bubble waiting to burst, he said, adding that the government should take this also into account.<br />''<br />''On fuel price hike, Gogoi said it has been increased for the third time in one week and added the government should maintain status quo to provide relief to common people who have just come out from the third wave of COVID-19.<br />''  They need a chance to conduct their businesses in a free and fair atmosphere, not always under the burden of high inflation and high fuel prices.<br />''  Supriya Sule of the NCP demanded a ban on crypto, saying various committees have suggested so.<br />''She questioned the imposition of 30 per cent tax on capital gain out of virtual digital assets even when there is no legislation on that.<br />''  <br />''Law Minister Kiren Rijiju told the House that the government is considering proposals for linking Aadhaar with the electoral rolls to check fraudulent voting and granting of online voting to Indians working abroad.<br />'' <br />''He said electoral fraud is a serious matter and the government is considering at the union law minister's level how to check fraudulent voting. He also said, linking Aadhaar with the electoral roll is one of the ways. As of now linking Aadhaar with electoral rolls is voluntary. The aim of the Government is to ensure 'one nation-one electoral roll' to check double names in electoral rolls and fraudulent voting and ensure a clean voting process, he said.<br />''<br />''<br />''<span style="color: #212529;">Review of proceedings in Rajya Sabha</span><br />''<br />''The Rajya Sabha today witnessed noisy scenes over the developments in West Bengal during Zero Hour. Rupa Ganguly of BJP referred to the violent incidents in Birbhum district and demanded President Rule in the State. Following this, Trinamool Congress members created ruckus as BJP members raised a slogans against them. Responding to this, Deputy Chairman Harivansh, adjourned the House till 12.10 PM.<br />''<br />''Later, the House took up matters of public importance during the Zero Hour. Sushil Kumar Modi of the BJP demanded ending the discretionary quota of MPs in Kendriya Vidyalayas as it was against the principles of transparency.<br />''<br />''Shaktisinh Gohil of Congress raised the issue of the condition of Indian Fishermen in Pakistani jails for straying into Pakistani waters. He said, 580 fishermen from Gujarat are serving their sentences in Islamabad despite completing their sentences.  <br />''Jaya Bachchan of the Samajwadi Party drew the attention of the Government to the issue of arsenic contamination of ground water in the country.<br />''<br />''Vandana Chauhan of the NCP demanded the setting up of a fully dedicated civil airport in Pune.<br />'' Ram Gopal Yadav of the Samajwadi, Tiruchi Siva of DMK, Prashant Nanda of the BJD, Sanjay Singh of the Aam Aadmi Party, Masami Noor of Trinamool Congress, Sonal Mansingh of the BJP and K C Venugopal of Congress also raised various issues during the Zero Hour.<br />''<br />''When the House reassembled, the Deputy Chairman took up Question hour.  In reply to a question, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that the technology driven MSMEs are playing an important role in employment generation.<br />'' <br />''To another question, the Minister said that in what is an offshoot of the technology oriented policy of the government, mobile manufacturers like Apple have plans for large scale exports from India.<br />''<br />''<br />''The Minister said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, wheat exports have increased over ten times in the last two years.<br />''<br />''He congratulated the country's farmers for enhanced mustard crop sowing for this year.  In the coming years, the annadata of India will become a pride of the Nation, 'Goyal said.<br />''<br />''<br />''Referring to the ongoing Russia – Ukraine conflict, the Minister said that in any situation, India's strategic interests will always be supreme.<br />''   <br />''On edible oil prices, Goyal said sunflower oil constitutes only a smaller proportion in India's overall edible oil basket. He said, prices of edible oils have gone up all across the world.<br />''To another question on Indian Business men returning from  Ukraine, Goyal said that no person has approached the ministry complaining about their business dislocation due to the war.<br />''<br />''In reply to a question, Minister of State for Communications Devsinh Chauhan said that 4G service will start in BSNL by end of this year. The Minister said that nearly 90 per cent of the area in the country is under mobile connectivity.<br />''To another question, Minister of State for Railways Danve Raosaheb Dadarao said that there is no move to privatize the Indian Railways.<br />'' <br />''In the post lunch session, the House took up Private members business today being a Friday. Rakesh Sinha of the BJP moved a motion for formation of a civilised cultural cell at the national and state level and providing adequate financial assistance to the group associated with such tradition and micro culture.<br />''<br />''<br />''Speaking on the Motion, Mr Rakesh Sinha said that the proposal is aimed at reviving the golden era of Indian culture.<br />''<br />''Pointing to India's rich cultural heritage which saw great thinkers, he stressed the need to revive the pristine glory of India. He said that there is need to bring back the golden era of Indian culture that symbolized ancient India.<br />''<br />''<br />''Speaking on the Motion, Jawahar Sircar of the Trinamool Congress, said, the proposal by Rakesh Sinha ignored the caste system.<br />''<br />''<br />''T K S Elangovan of the DMK said that he did not subscribe to the concept of Manu Smriti.<br />''  He said that while there is need to preserve Indian culture,'India is a vast country with a huge population.'<br />''There are many languages because every culture has created a language. I don't want to be put into this Man Smriti dharma concept," he said.<br />''<br />''Amar Pattnaik of the BJD, Manoj Kumar Jha of the RJD, Sanjay Singh of Aam Adami Party, Amee Yjnik of the Congress, Prakash Javdekar of BJP, Kumar ketkar of Congress, Vinay Sahasradudhe  and Mahesh Poddar, both BJP raised issues of public importance.<br />''<br />

<span style="color: #222222;">Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said in the Lok Sabha today that rapid strides in technology and green fuel will reduce the cost of electric automobiles, bringing them at par with petrol-run vehicles in the next two years.<br />''<br />''Replying to a discussion on the Demands for Grants for Road Transport and Highways Ministry, 2022-23, Gadkari emphasised the need to shift to cost-effective indigenous fuel and hoped that this will be a reality soon. He said, this will bring the pollution levels down and improve the overall situation in Delhi.<br />''<br />''Urging the members to adopt hydrogen technologies for transport, Gadkari asked them to take initiative in their respective districts for converting sewage water to produce green hydrogen. Hydrogen will soon be the cheapest fuel alternative, he said. Within a maximum of two years, the cost of electric scooter, car, autoricksahw will be same as petrol-driven scooter, car, autorickshaw. Prices of lithium-ion battery are coming down, and India is developing this chemistry of zinc-ion, aluminium-ion, sodium-ion batteries, Gadkari said. If on petrol, you are spending 100 rupees, then on electric vehicle you will spend 10 rupees, Gadkari said. He said road projects worth 62,000 crore rupees have been undertaken in the national capital to ease traffic congestions, and tackle the problem of pollution. He said, the government is trying to reduce pollution, and his ministry is spending 62,000 crore rupees only for tackling Delhi pollution.<br />''<br />''The minister further said it is his endeavour to make the road infrastructure in India at par with the United States by 2040.<br />''Highlighting the improvement in highway connectivity and road infrastructure, Gadkari said that it now takes only 40 minutes to travel to Meerut from Delhi, as against four hours earlier.<br />''<br />''Gadkari said that connectivity between Delhi to Mumbai will be improved such that the travel time is reduced to 12 hours and added that this will be completed within this year. Before the end of this year, the ministry will work to ensure that from Srinagar you are able to reach Mumbai in 20 hours, the minister said.<br />''<br />''Opposition parties protested in the House against the increase in prices of fuel and cooking gas and staged a walkout demanding a rollback.<br />''<br />''Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the opposition parties had been claiming that the prices of diesel and petrol would increase after the election process.<br />''<br />''Members from the Congress, TMC, NCP, DMK and Left parties raised slogans from their seats against the fuel price hike and demanded a rollback.<br />''<br />''Initiating a discussion in Lok Sabha on the demand for grants of the Civil Aviation Ministry, Congress member Ravneet Singh Bittu said only 405 routes out of the 948 awarded by the Airports Authority of India since October 2016 were operational as on December 2021.<br />''<br />''Trinamool member Mahua Moitra also questioned the lower allocation for the UDAN scheme.<br />''<br />''DMK member S R Parthiban wondered how the UDAN scheme would succeed when private airline operators were looking for profitable routes.<br />''<br />''BJP member Mahesh Sharma criticised the previous Congress governments for taking over Air India from Tata Sons in 1953 and later pushing the airline into heavy debts by ordering 111 aircraft. He lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking the initiative for the sale of Air India.<br />''<br />''BJP member Rajiv Pratap Rudy made a strong case for developing 30-40 greenfield airports in the country to cater to the requirement of ever increasing number of air passengers. He said that upgrading existing airports and using defence enclaves for civil aviation is not the future. Former Civil Aviation Minister Rudy said the capacity of existing airports or brown field airports cannot be increased beyond a point even after incurring huge expenditure. He asked the government to expedite development of a new airport at Patna and focus on developing 25, 30 or 40 greenfield airports in the country. Rudy said, the first revolution in the civilian aviation sector was started by the father of current Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Madhavrao Scindia who opened the sector by allowing private airlines. Thereafter, low cost airlines revolutionised this sector in 2003 when Atal Bihari Vajyapee was Prime Minister, he said. Now, it was time to develop large airports and follow the 'hub and spoke' model to take civil aviation to newer heights. He also asked the government to devise a policy to encourage aero sports which has huge potential.<br />''<br />''Mahua Moitra of TMC demanded that the civil aviation ministry be scrapped and merged to create a holistic ministry for transport as it was no longer in the business of running a national airline.<br />''<br />''Sangeeta Azad of BSP urged the government to expedite development of an airport at Azamgarh.<br />''<br />''Sunil Tatkare of NCP said, the government should expand Pune airport to enable landing of large aircraft.<br />''<br />''Dushyant Singh of BJP said, the government should modernise the airports to meet the requirement of increasing number of passengers.<br />''<br />''S T Hasan of Samajwadi Party demanded that an international airport be set up in Moradabad to encourage exports.<br />''Among other M P Abdussamad Samadani of IUML and Hasnain Masoodi of National Conference also participated in the debate.</span>

<span style="color: #222222;">Amid a number of adjournments, protests and sloganeering the Parliament has seen some legislative and scheduled business as well today.<br />''<br />''The Lok Sabha passed electoral reforms bill amid din while the Rajya Sabha has referred the Mediation bill to the Standing Committee.<br />''<br />''The Lok Sabha started proceedings in the morning, by paying tributes to three former members who passed away recently.<br />'' As the House met after the weekend break at 11 am, opposition Congress, DMK and TMC members stormed into the Well and began protesting, displaying placards.  Congress and the TMC members were demanding the removal of Union Minister for Home Affairs Ajay Kumar Mishra in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence as his son Ashish Mishra is one of the accused arrested in the case.<br />''<br />''The DMK members protested against the arrest of 55 Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy.  During the Question Hour, while the protesting members of Congress, DMK and TMC are at the well, the members of NCP, Shiv Sena, BSP and IUML stood near their respective seats in solidarity.  Amid Opposition protests, the House took up several questions.  <br />''<br />''Meanwhile,the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla urged the members to maintain the decorum of the House and go back to their seats. Pointing the protesting members, Mr. Om Birla appealed the members to develop a good tradition in the House as the public have sent them here to raise their problems.<br />''<br />''After the first and brief adjournment, the Lower House met again at 12 noon. Mr. Rajendra Agarwal, who was in the chair, accepted the introduction of the Election Laws (Amendment)Bill 2021, after taking voice votes. Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju introduced the Bill in the House.<br />''<br />''Ministers laid papers of their respective ministries and made the Statements relating to the reports of Standing Committees during the period. However,as opposition continued protests over various issues, including on the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, Mr. Aggarwal adjourned the House till 2 pm.<br />''<br />''In the Post Lunch session, when Lok Sabha met at 2 pm, Supplementary Demands for Grants – Second batch for 2021-22 was passed.<br />''<br />''Similarly, the Appropriation (No.5)Bill, 2021 was introduced and passed by the Lower House. Following this, the House referred the Biological Diversity Bill, moved by Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav to a Joint Committee of both Houses of Parliament.<br />''Earlier, Lok Sabha cleared second batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants amid din, authorising the government to spend an additional 3.73 lakh crore rupees during the current fiscal year amid protest by the opposition over various issues.<br />''<br />''The extra spending include infusing over 62,000 crore rupees into the company that holds residual assets and liabilities of Air India, 58,430 crore rupees by way of additional fertilizer subsidy, 53,123 crore rupees towards payment of pending export incentives and 22,039 crore rupees to rural development ministry for transfer to National Rural Employment Guarantee Fund.<br />''<br />''Replying to a discussion on the demands, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaan assured the House that the government would take action to moderate prices of edible oil and other essential items.<br />''<br />''She said banks have recovered about 13,109 crore rupees from asset sale of fugitives, including Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.<br />''<br />''However,as the protest demanding for sacking of Minister of State Ajay Kumar Mishra continued,the chair adjourned the House for the third time,  till 2.45 pm.  <br />''<br />''When the House met after adjournment, the Chair allowed discussion on the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, amid din.  The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill 2021, piloted by Union Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju, was passed by a voice vote after a brief discussion during which some opposition members demanded that it be referred to a parliamentary panel.<br />''<br />''While moving the Bill for passage, Mr. Rijiju said unlike earlier, now a person could get an opportunity to enroll as a voter four times in a year on the 1st Day of January, April, July and October.<br />''<br />''He said linking of Aadhar number with electoral rolls is not compulsory or mandatory but voluntary.<br />''<br />''He also said the Government has thoroughly discussed the recommendations with ECI and the states as well.<br />''<br />''Congress leader Adhir Rajan Chowdhury, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, Kalyan Banerjee of TMC , NK Premchandran of RSP, Ritesh Pandey of BSP opposed the Bill. The Opposition pointed out that the Government is bringing an important bill in hurry and not allowing a thorough discussion on the contents.<br />''<br />''Later,the house was adjourned for the day amid continuous protest by opposition members. </span><br />

<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Mines and Minerals Minister Pralhad Joshi has said reforms in the mining sector would generate 55 lakh direct and indirect employments besides enhancing the mining activity in the country. He was replying to a three-hour-long debate on the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2021 in the Lok Sabha today. He said the government will allow private sector with enhanced technology in mineral exploration.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">The Minister said India produces 95 minerals and has the potential like South Africa and Australia but still import minerals like gold and coal. Later, the House passed the bill. Mr. Joshi said the changes in the law will help create employment opportunities and allow private sector with enhanced technology in mining activities.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">The bill seeks to bring in mega reforms in the sector with resolution in legacy issues thereby making a large number of mines available for auctions. According to the Minister, the mining sector currently contributes 1.75 per cent to the country's GDP and through the reforms proposed in the bill, the contribution will rise to 2.5 per cent and strengthen the economy.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">The legislation will help strengthen the auction-only regime and boost transparency in the system. The reforms as part of the bill include removing the distinction between captive and non-captive mines and introduction of an index-based mechanism by developing a National Mineral Index for various statutory payments, among others.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">In order to boost exploration, there will be review of functioning of the National Mineral Exploration Trust. The Trust will be made an autonomous body. Private entities will also be engaged in exploration works now. Simplification of exploration regime will also be done to facilitate seamless transition from exploration to production. The major objective of the reforms is to generate huge employment opportunities, reduce imports and increase production by bringing large mineral blocks into auction.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Earlier, participating in the debate, Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka of the Congress asked the government to constitute a Joint Committee for reconsideration and discussion on the bill. He suggested inclusion of tribal MPs and MPs from the mining-affected areas besides representatives from the Ministries of Tribal Affairs, Environment, Forests and Mines in the proposed Committee. He said, they are not against the mining operations but we are against the way the hasty auctions which you are doing.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Vinayak B. Raut of the Shiv Sena said this would be the fourth amendment in this law since 2015. He alleged that the sector has witnessed a lot of irregularities and theft and said there is a need to bring proper control in the mines sector.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Supporting the Bill, Pinaki Misra of the BJD said the Mines, Environment and Forest ministries should work in synergy to promote the growth of the sector as still there are lots of environment-related hurdles impacting the segment.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Nama Nageswara Rao of the TRS said the provision regarding the Centre directing states about utilisation of the District Mineral Foundation fund needs to be changed and should be left to the states.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal said  next week, the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development Bill, 2021 will be introduced in the Lok Sabha.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Also, the Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2021, that seeks to raise the FDI in insurance sector to 74 per cent from the current 49 per cent, will be taken up for discussion. The insurance bill was passed by Rajya Sabha on Thursday.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">A bill to modify the list of Scheduled Castes in Tamil Nadu was passed in the Lok Sabha today. Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot, while replying to a debate on the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2021, said the Tamil Nadu government has proposed certain modifications in the list of Scheduled Castes by way of grouping of seven castes which presently exist as separate castes. The move will benefit a large number of people in Tamil Nadu who have been raising the demand for long, he said. According to the bill, Registrar General of India has conveyed concurrence to the proposed modifications.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">To give effect to the changes, it is necessary to amend the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 by Parliament. Six Presidential Orders were issued specifying Scheduled Castes in respect of various states and Union Territories. These Orders have been amended from time to time by Acts of Parliament.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Participating in the debate, Umesh Jadav of the BJP said the bill will give justice to about 30 to 40 lakh people who have been raising the demand for about last 60 to 70 years. "It is not just a change of name but a significant move to give justice, honour and respect to them," he said. Mr. Jadav said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to fulfil the demands of the communities at a rally in Madurai about a year ago and that promise is now being fulfilled.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Rahul Ramesh Shewale of the Shiv Sena appreciated the central government to give justice to the people of Tamil Nadu and sought similar favour in granting reservation to the Maratha community in Maharashtra. He urged the Centre to support the Maharashtra government's stand in the Supreme Court so that the reservation to the Maratha community could be given.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;">G. Madhavi of YSR Congress party, Vijay Kumar of JD-U, Girish Chandra of the BSP and Virendra Kumar of BJP also took part in the discussion. </span></p>

The Lok Sabha was adjourned for two hours today as a mark of respect to Ram Swaroop Sharma, a BJP Member of Parliament from Mandi Constituency, who passed away. The House also paid tributes to Manoharlal Saini, who died on 8th March.<br />''As soon as the House proceedings resumed, the opposition Congress urged the Centre to resolve the ongoing farmers' protests over three agriculture laws. Raising the issue of the on-going farmers protests in the Capital, Ravneet Singh Bittu of the Congress pleaded with Speaker Om Birla to invite the leaders of all political parties to find a solution. <br />''<br />''Manish Tewari of the Congress claimed that the COVID-19 vaccination drive is not going on properly and alleged that more stress is given on the export rather than inoculation of the country's citizens.<br />''<br />''However, Rajiv Ranjan Singh of the JD-U strongly refuted the charge and commended Prime Minister Narendra Modi for controlling the Covid-19 pandemic.<br />''<br />''External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar made a similar statement on Vaccine Maitri in Lok Sabha also.<br />''Initiating the debate on Demand for Grants for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Mr. Manish Tewari demanded that India must take the initiative as the current head of the executive board of the WHO to hold China responsible for spreading coronavirus across the globe.<br />''<br />''Participating in the debate, Rajiv Ranjan Singh of the JD-U said, the Prime Minister has spoken to all states for their suggestions and tried to solve their problems.<br />''Mr. Singh said Modi government, by running scores of trains, ensured that lakhs of migrant workers reached home within days of declaration of lockdown. He also defended the government's decision to export vaccines to other nations.<br />''<br />''Mr. Singh criticised Congress for allegedly doubting the efficacy of Indian vaccines and spreading rumours about them. He asked Mr. Tiwari not to create panic and said there is no shortage of Indian vaccines and everyone will get the vaccine phase-wise.<br />''<br />''Participating in a discussion on demands for grants of the Health Ministry, YSRCP member Sanjeev Kumar Singari argued that vaccination is a waste of money as universal vaccination is neither possible nor warranted. He also noted that crises like COVID-19 occur once in 100 years, so the government should not give much importance to the coronavirus pandemic.<br />''<br />''The Lok Sabha today passed the Appropriation Bill 2021-22, authorising the government to draw funds from the Consolidated Fund of India for its working as well as implementation of its programmes and schemes. This completes two-thirds of the exercise for approval of the Budget for 2021-22.<br />''The Appropriation Bill authorising payment and appropriation of specified sums from the Consolidated Fund of India for 2021-22 was introduced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The bill was later approved by voice vote.<br />''<br />''The Lok Sabha earlier discussed demands for grants of different ministries, including railways, education and health.<br />''The Appropriation Bill was taken into consideration and passed by the lower house of Parliament. The Lok Sabha will now discuss the Finance Bill, which essentially contains the government's tax proposals. Once the Finance Bill is passed, the budget exercise is complete.<br />''<br />''Both appropriation and finance bills are classified as money bills which do not require the explicit consent of the Rajya Sabha. The upper house only discusses them and returns the bills.<br />''<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">After passing the Finance Bill, it enters the statute as the Finance Act. Thus, the final Budget gets approved.</span><br />

<span style="color: #222222;">Lok Sabha was adjourned for an hour today soon after it met in the afternoon as Congress members demanded that the House proceedings should not take place till the Rajya Sabha galleries are cleared of the agitating members of the Upper House. Due to social-distancing norms necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic, members of Lok Sabha have also been allocated seats in the Rajya Sabha.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Congress and other opposition members of Rajya Sabha were sitting on a dharna inside the Chamber even after the House was adjourned for the day to protest farm sector bills passed by the Upper House earlier.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Rajya Sabha sitting ends at 1 PM every day following which members from Lok Sabha occupy seats there at 3 PM. Proceedings in the Rajya Sabha were extended today for the passage of two bills relating to the farming sector.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">As the Lok Sabha met at 3 PM, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury requested Speaker Om Birla to adjourn the House till the stalemate in the Rajya Sabha ended.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">To this, Mr. Birla said that the Lok Sabha gallery is still empty and the members who have been allotted seats in Rajya Sabha can take the vacant seats in the Lower House. He also said that even if one member of the Lok Sabha is unable to attend, he will adjourn the House. Mr. Birla further said that since COVID issue is listed for discussion in the House, if it is adjourned then it will not give a good signal.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Mr. Chowdhury said, since the members sit in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha galleries to ensure social distancing due to COVID-19, the House should not function as members are not being allowed inside the Upper House.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The Speaker said, it has been a norm that discussion of the happenings in the other House will not be taken up in the Lok Sabha. However, Mr. Chowdhury argued that with members occupying both the Houses for sitting purposes, it has now become — two-in-one. The Congress leader observed that wwo Houses have now become one, hence this rule does not apply.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Kalyan Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress suggested that the Speaker make a request to all the members stuck outside the Rajya Sabha to come and sit in the vacant seats in the Lok Sabha.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Mr. Chowdhury then said that Lok Sabha should be adjourned for two hours. However, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said that as per the Speaker's suggestion, the House should function as members want to discuss the COVID issue.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Following persistent Congress demand, Mr. Birla adjourned the Lok Sabha proceedings till 4 PM.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai introduced the Foreign Contribution Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2020, under which providing the Aadhar numbers of the office-bearers of any NGO will be mandatory for registration and public servants will be barred from receiving funds from abroad. The draft bill proposes that not more than 20 per cent of the total foreign funds received could be spent on administrative expenses. Presently, the limit is 50 per cent.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The Minister said, the bill has been brought in view of Supreme Court directives and aims at ensuring that no organisation poses a threat to India's national security. He also sought to dispel doubts expressed by some opposition members, saying that the bill does not target any particular group of organisations. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Congress said the bill is aimed at suppressing the voice of the government's critics. His party colleague Manish Tewari said, FCRA provisions should be made less stringent.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The Lok Sabha also took up a discussion on the COVID-19 pandemic and opposition parties slammed the government for its handling of the disease. Shashi Tharoor of the Congress said the government was ill-prepared to deal with the crisis and claimed that the Centre is using the pandemic to hide its failures. Kirit Solanki of the BJP lauded the government's handling of the pandemic, saying it ramped up health infrastructure across the country to deal with the situation.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Rajiv Ranjan Singh of JD-U wondered if coronavirus was being pushed into Delhi every time the cases of infection come down in the national capital, as he claimed that the world is still debating if the virus is man-made or natural.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Participating in the discussion on the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Singh said, infections in Delhi go down sometime, and then suddenly the numbers start rising. He asked Is it not the case that the virus is being pushed from outside into places where the numbers are declining.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">There is no finality to the debate over whether the virus is natural or man-made, he claimed, adding that he was not sure if Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, who was sitting in the House, agrees with this contention or not.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The leader of the JD(U) in Lok Sabha, who is better known as Lalan Singh, asked the opposition to give constructive suggestions to the government in dealing with the pandemic instead of wasting time on criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Mr. Singh said the more the opposition leaders criticise Mr. Modi, the more popular he becomes. He appreciated the government's decision to impose a nation-wide lockdown to curb the pandemic. Mr. Singh said India has fared much better than the rest of the world in terms of fatality rate and recovery rate. He also hailed the Bihar government's handling of the disease, saying that the state has 91.7 per cent of recovery rate and only 0.5 per cent fatality rate. He said, it has as of now only 13,000 cases of existing positive cases. </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">During the discussion, N Nageswara Rao of the TRS expressed concern over nearly 90,000 daily cases of COVID-19 across the country and added that the curve continues to rise.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">ST Hassan of the Samajwadi Party criticised the lockdown as unplanned and alleged that the pandemic was communalised. </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Amol Ramsing Kolhe of the NCP alleged that the government was busy welcoming US President Donald Trump and toppling opposition-run state governments when the disease had been spreading in the country.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Ramesh Bidhuri of the BJP hit out at the opposition, saying they wanted the Union government to fail in its efforts to curb the cases and asserted that the decision to impose lockdown played a huge role in dealing with the pandemic. He praised Home Minister Amit Shah, saying he was instrumental in dealing with the pandemic in Delhi when the state government could not tackle the crisis.</span><br />

<span style="color: #222222;">Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has said, India is committed to a peaceful resolution of the on-going border stand-off with China in Ladakh. He made it clear that any attempt to unilaterally alter the status quo on the borders is unacceptable to New Delhi. Making a statement in the Lok Sabha today, the Minister said, the Indian Army has inflicted heavy costs including casualties on the Chinese side during the clash with the PLA at the Galwan valley on 15th of June in which 20 Indian soldiers made the supreme sacrifice.<br />'' <br />'' The Defence Minister said, since April, build-up of troops and armaments by the Chinese side has been witnessed in the border areas adjacent to eastern Ladakh.<br />'' <br />'' He said, in early May, the Chinese side had taken action to hinder the normal, traditional patrolling pattern of the Indian troops in the Galwan Valley area, which resulted in a face-off.<br />'' <br />'' Mr. Singh said, even as the situation was being addressed by the ground commanders as per the provisions of the bilateral agreements and protocol, in mid-May the Chinese side made several attempts to transgress the LAC in other parts of the Western Sector.<br />'' <br />'' This included Kongka La, Gogra and North Bank of Pangong Lake, the Minister said, adding that Indian armed forces detected these attempts early and responded appropriately.<br />'' <br />'' India has made it clear to the Chinese side both through diplomatic and military channels that Beijing was, by such actions, attempting to unilaterally alter the status quo and it was categorically conveyed that this was unacceptable, he said.<br />'' <br />'' After Mr. Singh's statement, the Congress wanted to raise certain issues which was not allowed by Speaker Om Birla. Unhappy with this, Congress walked out of the House.<br />'' The Lok Sabha passed the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament (Amendment) Bill. The bill seeks to replace an ordinance which reduced the salary and allowances of MPs by 30 per cent.<br />'' <br />'' Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said, the measure is for two years as part of the government's efforts to boost finances to deal with the challenges posed by the novel coronavirus pandemic. At a time when the entire nation is contributing to fight the pandemic, Members of Parliament should set ideals, he said.<br />'' <br />'' Members cutting across party lines supported the bill but many opposition members protested the government's decision to scrap MPLAD fund of five crore rupees as well. Bhagwant Mann of Aam Aadmi Party and Independent member Navneet Rana said MPLAD fund is meant for people as it is spent in development projects in their respective Constituencies. The government should restore it, they said.<br />'' <br />'' Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Congress claimed that no BJP member has supported the scrapping of the MPLAD fund and sought its restoration.<br />'' <br />'' The House also took up for consideration and passage of the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to increase competition in the agriculture sector and enhance farmers' income.   It aims to liberalise the regulatory system while protecting the interests of the consumers. The bill seeks to replace an ordinance promulgated by the Centre. BJP's P P Chaudhary described the proposed law and visionary and said it will help farmers as well as consumers. Prof. Sougata Roy of the Trinamool Congress opposed the bill accusing the government of harming the interests of the farmers.      <br />'' <br />'' Participating in the discussion on the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, Dr. Amar Singh of the Congress described it anti-farmers and anti-poor.<br />'' <br />'' Kalyan Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress also opposed the bill and accused the Centre of taking away powers of states. D M Kathir Anand of the DMK also opposed the bill while Kaushalendra Kumar of the JD(U) supported it, saying the proposed legislation will benefit farmers.<br />'' <br />'' Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani presented in the Lok Sabha a Diet Chart for pregnant women and expressed the hope that the  members will ensure that Poshan Abhiyan is implemented in their respective constituencies<br />'' <br />'' In November 2019, Speaker Om Birla has asked the minister to prepare a diet chart for pregnant women and provide it to all members for circulation in their respective constituencies.<br />'' <br />'' Tabling the diet chart in the House, the Minister said it was prepared in deference to the wishes of the Speaker. She said her ministry had constituted a committee, comprising representatives from ICMR, Health Ministry and experts, to prepare the diet chart. This is for the first time that a Diet Chart for pregnant women is being presented in Parliament, she said.<br />'' <br />'' Poshan Abhiyan or National Nutrition Mission was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March as the government's flagship programme to improve nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.<br />'' <br />'' The month of September has been declared as 'Poshan Maah'.<br />'' <br />'' The Minister said, she would request all the members that despite challenges on account of COVID, they should try to implement the Poshan Abhiyan in their constituencies.  <br />'' <br />'' Later the bill was passed by voice vote. </span><br />''