Thiruvananthapuram: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the opposition parties for stalling the Food Security Bill in Parliament, and asserted the UPA government was determined to enact the legislation for the benefit of people. "I am sad that the opposition is acting against the interests of the poor Indian...I can understand politics. But I cannot understand political parties hurting the poor of the country," Rahul told a party rally.
"We have been working on the Bill for quite some time. But the opposition does everything that they can do to stall the Bill. It does not matter what they do. The UPA and the Congress are going to give you (people) the right to food to ensure that no single Indian goes to sleep at night hungry," Rahul said at a well-attended rally at Central Stadium here.
Spelling out the salient features of the UPA's economic policies, he said Congress, while pursuing liberalisation, believed in inclusive growth to ensure that every Indian was part of the progress. "We believe in inclusive growth, liberalisation, opening up of business. But every single Indian should become part of the progress," he said.
The Congress Vice-President also took a dig at the Communists in the country for holding on to an ideology that had "failed" all over the world. Even China had changed its old approach towards Communism, he said. "As you know, rest of the world has given up Communism. In fact, tomorrow the
07:14 PM, May 18, 2013
New Delhi: Parliament was adjourned sine die at 12.56 pm on Wednesday, two days before scheduled end of the Budget session. The decision was reportedly taken after the Congress's victory in Karnataka elections. The adjournment would mean that crucial bills like the Food Security Bill and the Land Acquisition Bill won't be passed. It was yet another day of uproar and unruly scenes in Lok Sabha as opposition MPs rushed...
12:56 PM, May 08, 2013
The Samajwadi Party chief slammed the Congress for presenting the Food Security Bill, saying, "The House is not in order. Presenting the Food Security Bill at this time is not appropriate." ...
07:29 PM, May 07, 2013
New Delhi: Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday hugged Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj in the Central Hall of Parliament. The two exchanged pleasantries and spoke for a few minutes. The meeting between the two came days after Sushma had attacked Sonia for destroying spirit of democracy. Last Friday, Swaraj had accused Sonia of instigating her MPs to disrupt her speech in the Lok Sabha. Sonia, who has been under attack from...
06:58 PM, May 07, 2013
New Delhi: Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on Monday sought to blame the opposition for disruption in Parliament, saying they were "bursting debates" and "killing arguments" in the House as he backed the Food Security Bill in its present form. Sen, an eminent economist, said the essence of democracy is to have arguments and there is a need for skillful presentations of what the issues are. At a press conference along...
09:02 AM, May 07, 2013
New Delhi: The Opposition is in no mood to relent saying it will not let Parliament function without the resignations of Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. On Monday, there was uproar in the Lok Sabha with the BJP, its allies and the Left storming the well of the House even as the National Food Security Bill was taken up for discussion....
08:54 AM, May 07, 2013
New Delhi: Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath on Monday told the BJP not to "lecture" the Congress on corruption and said Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Law Minister Ashwani Kumar would not resign. "There is no question of their resignation. Did Nitin Gadkari resign as president of the BJP? The BJP should not give us lectures on such matters. Our government knows what is to be done and if...
07:59 PM, May 06, 2013
New Delhi: The government which introduced amendments to the landmark Food Security Bill in the Lok Sabha on Thursday could not get it passed as opposition stalled proceedings in the House over killing of Sarabjit Singh in Pakistan and other issues. Food Minister KV Thomas moved amendments to the National Food Security Bill, which was originally introduced in Parliament in December 2011, but no discussion on it could take place...
06:42 PM, May 02, 2013
New Delhi: Despite BJP escalating confrontation in Parliament, government has listed two key bills, including the ambitious National Food Security Bill, for consideration and passage in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill piloted by Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh is also on the legislative agenda of the Lok Sabha Thursday. Congress has often dubbed the Food Bill and the Land Bill as "game-changers" as...
09:15 PM, May 01, 2013
New Delhi: The government will enact the proposed right to food bill, covering 67 per cent of the population, in the second half of the budget session from April 22-May 10, 2013, Food Minister KV Thomas said in New Delhi on Wednesday. "We will pass the bill in the second half of the budget session," Thomas told a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) meet on "India's food security and the...
05:33 AM, Apr 04, 2013
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday hoped the landmark Food Security Bill, to ensure the right to highly subsidised foodgrains to poor, would be passed in the ongoing Budget session of Parliament. ...
04:42 PM, Mar 23, 2013
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11:55 PM, Mar 19, 2013
The Cabinet is all set to meet again to consider and possibly clear United Progressive Alliance's ambitious Food Bill. No decision could be passed on Monday since two Cabinet ministers P Chidambaram and AK Antony were not present. ...
09:24 PM, Mar 18, 2013
UPA II's most ambitious bill, the Food Bill, is a step closer to becoming law. The Cabinet is meeting amidst strong hopes that it will clear the Food Bill for passing in Parliament. The Congress believes the Food Bill, which was first tabled in 2011 will be a game changer. ...
07:31 AM, Mar 18, 2013
The union cabinet will take up the revised National Food Security Bill on Monday, Food Minister KV Thmoas said on Friday. "We have circulated the note. The bill will be taken up by the cabinet on Monday," Thomas told IANS. ...
03:50 AM, Mar 16, 2013
Racing against the time, the government will consider major amendments to the Food Security Bill in a special Cabinet meeting likely to be held on Monday next week. "We are trying to bring revised Food Security Bill in the Cabinet on Monday (March 18). The note has been circulated," Food Minister KV Thomas said on the sidelines of an event. ...
10:16 PM, Mar 14, 2013
New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called a meeting on Wednesday to consider uniform legal entitlement of subsidised foodgrains to 67 per cent of the country's population under the National Food Security Bill. The meeting will discuss whether to accept the alternative plan, suggested by over 30 leading experts and economists, for easy and early implementation of Food Bill, a pet project of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, sources said....
02:29 AM, Jul 18, 2012
Kolkata: Raising questions on funding for the National Food Security Bill, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said monetary provision for state governments to fund it should be ensured, failing which it could not be implemented. "In the food security bill there is no monetary provision. We have to arrange the monetary provision, otherwise it cannot be implemented," she said during an interaction with a group of journalists....
12:16 AM, Mar 30, 2012
New Delhi: An additional investment of Rs 1,15,660 crore would be required to revitalise the agriculture sector and boost production to meet the foodgrains demand under the proposed Food law, Parliament was informed on Tuesday. "To effectively implement the proposed Food Security Act, it is estimated that there should be an additional production of about 70-75 million tonnes of foodgrains," Minister of State for Agriculture Harish Rawat said in a...
04:29 AM, Mar 14, 2012
New Delhi: Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, who has been strongly questioning viability of the Food Security Bill, on Monday said the country will have enough wheat and rice stocks to implement the UPA's flagship programme. "This year, we will break last year's record by reaching 250 million tonnes of foodgrains," Pawar said on the sidelines of Kharif Conference 2012. "With this background, to implement the Food Security Bill, I don't...
04:30 AM, Mar 06, 2012
