Budget session highlights: Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha adjourned till Wednesday 11 am

BRS Rajya Sabha MP K Keshav Rao has given a suspension of business notice under rule 267 and demanded JPC probe into Hindenburg report, ANI reported.

A discussion will be held on the working of Skill development and entrepreneurship and the textile ministry in the Upper House of the Parliament on Tuesday.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will pass a motion for election of the Post graduate institute of Medical institution and research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, which seeks to elect one Member from among the Members of the House, to be a member of the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh.

Union Parliamentary Affairs minister Pralhad Joshi and Trinamool Congress MLA Sudip Bandopadhyay will move a motion to ascertain that the Lower House agrees with the Fortieth Report of the Business Advisory Committee.

Twenty-three of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)’s 55 high-priority projects could not meet the deadlines, the government has said in Parliament. 

In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, minister of state for defence Ajay Bhatt said nine of the 23 projects have undergone cost overruns. “However, not all cost overruns were necessitated due to time overruns.” Read more

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on Monday told Parliament that it had no record of the number of people injured or worse, killed due to monkey bites in the country. The issue over the matter of monkey attacks has previously too, been raised in the Lok Sabha, seeking the government's action to deal with the menace.

The government informed the Rajya Sabha on Monday that over 1 lakh posts in the Indian army were still vacant even after the recruitment of over 19000 officers since the beginning of this year.

Union Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt informed the same while replying to a written question in the Upper House of the Parliament while adding that a total of 1,35,743 posts, including 8,070 at the level of officers, were lying vacant in the Indian Army as on March 10.

Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari gives adjournment motion notice to hold a discussion on "the essence, substance and spirit of Freedom of Speech accorded to Members of Parliament under Article 105 of the Constitution", reported ANI.

Congress Parliamentary party strategy group meeting will happen today at 9:30am in parliament building. This will be followed by an urgent meeting of opposition leaders at 10 am called by Mallikarjun Kharge. Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, however, will not participate in the meeting.

Some significant matters are scheduled to be taken under discussion on Tuesday, with the most important being the introduction of the Jammu and Kashmir budget which will be undertaken by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and the demand for grants and voting concerning the Union Territory of J&K in both Houses of Parliament.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge came down heavily on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday for demanding an apology from his party leader Rahul Gandhi for his recent remarks in London. Read more

The BJP-Congress slugfest escalated on the first day of the second part of the Budget Session with the BJP MPs seeking an apology from Rahul Gandhi over his remarks on Indian democracy in London.

The central government has proposed to regulate online pharmacies, which has proliferated in recent times in India, through a fresh draft of the New Drugs, Medical Devices, and Cosmetics Bill, which has been released for discussions, according to people familiar with the matter. Read more

The second leg of the Budget session of Parliament began with uproar on Monday as Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday demanded Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's apology for allegedly insulting Indian Parliament and democracy on foreign soil, days after his speech in London. Read more