New Delhi: Holding the opposition's "disruptionary tactics" responsible for not allowing passage of the Food Security and Land Acquisition Bills in Parliament's Budget Session, the Congress on Saturday expressed its willingness for a special session if the other parties were agreed. Congress spokesperson PC Chacko also said that the party will take "disruptionary tactics" of the opposition to the people, alleging they had displayed "least inclination" towards passing pro-people legislations like the two bills.
He said the new Bill on land acquisition provides for better compensation to land owners and has provision for rehabilitation and resettlement. Chacko said Congress president Sonia Gandhi had spoken to Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj as the UPA government wanted the opposition to realise benefits of the bills.
He said the Congress had never closed the option on resignation of union ministers Pawan Kumar Bansal and Ashwani Kumar, a demand vociferously raised by the opposition parties, and the reason for the latter part of the budget session's second half being washed out. Asked about the possibility of a special session to pass the two Bills, Chacko said the Congress was not against it.
"We are not against it and a session means that it should be a unanimous decision. We are ready to give one more opportunity to the opposition and if they are ready, we are ready to discuss," he said. "We believe that bills should have been passed and we want to pass this at the earliest opportunity. We
11:22 PM, May 18, 2013
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...
07:14 PM, May 18, 2013
New Delhi: BJP on Friday made clear its reservation over the Food Security Bill being keenly pushed by the government, saying it is a "half-hearted attempt", and hit back at Rahul Gandhi for saying opposition was stalling it. Till now BJP had said it was disrupting Parliament in the second phase of the Budget session due to more pressing matter of resignation of two Union ministers - PK Bansal and...
10:11 PM, May 17, 2013
New Delhi: With the 2G spectrum issue getting caught in logjam in the JPC, the BJP on Friday sought to bring the matter to the forefront of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee saying the matter is pending and should be disposed of. The demand to settle the pending issue came at the first meeting of the newly-constituted PAC. BJP member Prakash Javadekar raised the issue of PAC's draft report on 2G...
09:35 PM, May 17, 2013
New Delhi: Against the backdrop of recent chit fund controversy in West Bengal, a Parliamentary committee on Friday slammed such schemes with demands for putting in place a single regulator to oversee their functioning or scrapping them altogether. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance closely scrutinised the functioning of such schemes which recently led to a series of suicides in West Bengal. Senior officials from RBI, CBDT, SEBI, Corporate Affairs...
07:40 PM, May 17, 2013
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Thursday gave its nod for the issue of an ordinance to pave the way for an elected body of the apex medical regulator. The term of the Medical Council of India's Board of Governors has ended, rendering the apex medical regulator headless. Sources said the Cabinet gave its approval to the note for the draft ordinance in this regard which is likely to be...
09:40 PM, May 16, 2013
Thrissur: JPC Chairman PC Chacko has said it will be "unconstitutional" to summon former Telecom Minister A Raja, prime accused in the 2G spectrum case, before the Joint Parliamentary Committee to take evidence, as it would be an "infringement" of Article 20 of the Constitution. "Article 20 (iii) of the Constitution clearly states no person accused of any offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself," Chacko said....
01:26 AM, May 16, 2013
New Delhi: "Special session is an option, monsoon session is an option, ordinance is an option - what is not an option is the non-passage of these two bills," Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said while talking about the government's plan of getting its ambitious food and land bills through. Ramesh preferred that the bills should be passed "the democratic way" through debate in Parliament while ordinances should be the...
03:32 PM, May 14, 2013
New Delhi: With the crucial Food Security Bill and Land Acquisition Bill still pending, sources say the government is mulling a Special Session of Parliament to get the bills passed. Reports also say the government is looking at the option of introducing an ordinance instead too. But the government had earlier denied any such move. Sources say that the Food Ministry is opposed to bringing an ordinance. The government may...
11:14 AM, May 14, 2013
Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh will on Monday expand his team with the induction of five chief parliamentary secretaries and one parliamentary secretary, officials said In Shimla. Rohit Thakur, Nand Lal, Jagjivan Pal, Sohan Lal and Rakesh Kalia are likely to be inducted as chief parliamentary secretaries, a government official said on Sunday. The chief minister would administer the oath of office and secrecy to them at a...
04:27 AM, May 13, 2013
In this episode of The Week That Wasn't, Cyrus Broacha talks about Parliament stalemate, Karnataka polls result and much more. ...
12:45 PM, May 12, 2013
New Delhi: The Cabinet on Thursday approved amendments in a law for disqualifying MPs for holding an office of profit to exempt the chairpersons of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from its purview, said official sources. The government will introduce a bill in Parliament to bring about the changes, said the sources. According to sources, Section 3 of the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959, as...
03:46 AM, May 10, 2013
A BSP member on Wednesday left the Lok Sabha as the national song was being played to mark the sine die adjournment of the Budget Session of Parliament. ...
11:57 PM, May 09, 2013
New Delhi: CAG report commands respect and cannot be brushed aside but it cannot be the final word on an issue, the Supreme Court said on Thursday while noting that the auditor's findings cannot be gospel truth as it is subject to scrutiny by Parliament. A bench of justices KS Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra said that CAG's report is always subject to parliamentary debates and it is possible that Public...
10:40 PM, May 09, 2013
New Delhi: The Janata Dal (United)'s Sabir Ali on Thursday sought to defend BSP MP Shafiqur Rahman Burq who had walked out of Lok Sabha while the Vande Mataram was being played, saying that it was his personal opinion. He, however, said that the act was against national integrity and Speaker Meira Kumar would be the best person to decide the course of action against him. "This is his personal...
05:15 PM, May 09, 2013
New Delhi: Controversy over the walkout by BSP MP Shafiqur Rahman Burq from the Lok Sabha took a new turn as he refused to apologise for walking out of the House while national song Vande Mataram was being played. Burq said that as a Muslim he cannot show respect towards the national song. "I won't apologise to anyone. I respect the National Anthem, not the national song Vande Mataram. Vande...
03:05 PM, May 09, 2013
New Delhi: BJP MP Tarun Vijay on Wednesday again accused Google of violating India's mapping laws by showing vital military installations with annotations and asked the government to take steps to access the data the company possessed. Vijay, who raised the issue in a special mention in the Rajya Sabha, called upon the central government to probe the issue. Vijay said the recce of any area was the key to...
04:54 AM, May 09, 2013
New Delhi: A BSP member on Wednesday left the Lok Sabha as the national song was being played to mark the sine die adjournment of the Budget Session of Parliament, prompting an angry rebuke from Speaker Meira Kumar. "One honourable member walked out when Vande Mataram was being played. I take very serious view of this. I would want to know why this was done. This should never be done...
01:20 PM, May 08, 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
Salman Khurshid was all smiles when he requested BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain to let Parliament function. Hussain retorted with an equally winning smile saying protests will stop if ministers Ashwani Kumar and Pawan Kumar Bansal resign. ...
12:08 PM, May 08, 2013
