Parliament session highlights: ‘Why afraid of using Nehru surname’-PM's dig at Gandhi family

Any direction or rule of the House cannot subvert the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech granted to members of Parliament, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said, asserting that any criticism of the government and its policies can never be equated with the "dignity" of the Council of States, reported PTI.

Kharge also asserted that it would be an "inversion of the system of governance" if the opposition members were expected to carry out complete investigation, gather evidence and then raise a matter on the floor of the House.

The remarks in a letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar come after Kharge was asked repeatedly by the Chair to authenticate some allegations he levelled in the House while speaking on the motion of thanks on the President's address on Wednesday.

The parliamentary panel has said that "no significant headway" has been made so far on monetisation of assets of state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), reports PTI.

The Standing Committee on Communications and IT, in its report, has emphasised its earlier recommendation that the matter of reservation/designation of land be taken up at the highest level of government for policy intervention so as to address the issue at the earliest and expedite the monetisation of assets of the telecom PSUs.

Congress party chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday questioned the deletion of remarks made by his party MP Rahul Gandhi in the parliament yesterday.

"Expunging of words should be done after considering all rules. We have also studied the rules as to what words they can't expunge," Kharge told reporters on deletion of some remarks made by Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha.

Charging the Prime Minister with attempting to "mislead the nation" over the Hinderberg-Adani row, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday asked why public financial institutions are providing huge loans to industrialist Gautam Adani when a common man is suffering to get the same sanctioned loan from the banks.

Speaking to reporters outside the parliament, Kharge said that the Prime Minister shrugged off giving a reply on Hindenberg-adani row in the parliament.

"Wealth of one person increased 13 times in 2.5 years. In 2014 it was ₹50,000 crore while in 2019 it became ₹one lakh crore. What magic happened that suddenly in two years wealth rose to ₹12 lakh crore," Kharge said while participating in the debate.

The unemployment rate for the youth in the country has reduced to 12.9 per cent in 2020-21, from 17.8 per cent in 2017-18, Parliament was informed on Thursday.

The official data on employment and unemployment is collected through Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) which is conducted by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation since 2017-18, Minister of State for Labour and Employment Rameswar Teli said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

The opposition on Thursday labelled the Union Budget a missed opportunity to launch a frontal attack on poverty and unemployment in the country.

Resuming the discussion on the Budget in Lok Sabha, YSRCP member Margani Bharat Ram said the budget made no special provisions for Andhra Pradesh, which was bifurcated "like a birthday cake" by the previous Congress-led UPA government.

The three-year term of the 22nd Law Commission ends later this month, Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.

In a written reply, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said the 22nd law panel was constituted for a period of three years on February 21, 2020 and its chairperson assumed office on November 9, 2022.

"The tenure of chairperson of the 22nd Law Commission is co-terminus with term of the Commission," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday shared a personal account of a student from Arunachal Pradesh who had recently visited the national capital and spent a day in the Parliament and prime minister's official residence. Read more

Domestic airlines reported 2,613 significant technical snags in their planes in the last five years, Union minister V K Singh told the Lok Sabha on Thursday, reports PTI.

The Minister of State for Civil Aviation said the regulations require occurrences relating to system and component failure to be reported to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

DMK leader A Raja claimed on Thursday that the opposition's allegations about businessman Gautam Adani stand true as the government has not "refuted" them, reports PTI.

Participating in a discussion on the Union Budget for 2023-24, Raja said the claim of the government that it was the representative of 140 crore people of the country was also not true as the opposition has more than 200 MPs in Lok Sabha.

"The allegations made by the opposition were not refuted at all by the government. Since it was not refuted, it stands true," he said.

Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day on Thursday as sloganeering by MPs from both opposition and treasury benches continued during the discussion on the Union Budget 2023-24.

Vice President appeals to MPs not to disrupt the house amid the BJP MPs sloganeering Modi- Modi in Rajya Sabha.

Rajya Sabha proceedings resume after ruckus in the house.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday amid sloganeering by members of the Parliament. The Opposition parties continued their attack over the Adani controversy, demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the matter. Read more

The Centre has lodged 79 cases from 2020 till now in a bid to take action against private news channels for broadcasting slanderous programmes on news channels by the issuance of advisories, warnings, ‘apology scroll’ and ‘off-air’ orders, Union minister of information and broadcasting Anurag Thakur told Parliament on Thursday. Read more

More than 16 lakh Indians renounced their Indian citizenship since 2011 including 2,25,620 last year, according to data provided by the government in Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar presented the details while replying to a question.

He said the number of Indians who renounced their Indian citizenship in 2015 was 1,31,489, while 1,41,603 people gave it up in 2016 and 1,33,049 in 2017.

Rajya Sabha adjourned again amid ruckus, Chairman calls meeting of House leaders of ruling and opposition parties.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar urges the MPs to maintain the decorum of the house. 

Rajya Sabha proceedings resume amid the sloganeering from the opposition.