advertisement
The Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Bill and Central Vigilance Commission (Amendment) Bill – seeking to maximise the tenures of CBI and ED Director's to five years, respectively – were passed in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, 14 December.
The winter session of Parliament commenced at 11 am, as it entered its 12th day on Tuesday.
Later in the day, Opposition MPs held a march from Parliament to Vijay Chowk demanding that the suspension of 12 Rajya Sabha MPs, who were suspended for the entire winter session for their “unruly” conduct during the monsoon session in August, be revoked.
Opposition floor leaders from the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha had met on Tuesday at 10 am in the chamber of Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, to chalk out the strategy for the ongoing winter session.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP raised the issue of discrimination faced by Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes students in the Jawaharlal Nehru University's admission process
Opposition MPs marched from Parliament to Vijay Chowk against suspension of 12 Opposition MPs from Rajya Sabha
Union Minister Jitendra Singh is expected to move the Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Bill, 2021, and the Central Vigilance Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2021, for consideration and passage in the Rajya Sabha today
The bills seek extension of tenure of directors of Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) up to maximum of five years
Congress MP Manish Tewari gave an adjournment motion notice in Lok Sabha over privatisation in the banking sector.
Congress MP Manickam Tagore gave an adjournment motion notice in Lok Sabha "to discuss the intrusion of Chinese military into the Indian territory and direct the government to take immediate action to prevent intrusion."
Opposition MPs have decided to march from Gandhi Statue, Parliament to Vijay Chowk today against suspension of 12 Opposition MPs from Rajya Sabha.
LoP Mallikarjun Kharge had earlier met with floor leaders of both Houses to strategise further agitations to raise their demand of revoking the suspension of 12 MPs.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) MP Dr V Sivadasan has given Suspension of Business Notice under rule 267 in Rajya Sabha to discuss the issue of rising inflation in the country.
Addressing the Education Minister, BSP MP Ramji Gautam raised the issue of bias and discrimination in the admission process in the JNU, faced by PhD aspirants from marginalised sections.
Further, Gautam also raised the issue of delayed scholarships, and how for many SC/ST students, the scholarships have stopped.
He demanded the scholarships to be released to students and demanded justice for students facing discrimination.
Rajya Sabha was adjourned till 2 pm following sloganeering by Opposition demanding revocation of the suspension of 12 Opposition MPs.
Adjourning the Upper House, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said, "Let's maintain decency and decorum in the House. Unruly and unparliamentary behavior is not going to work at all."
Opposition MPs held a march from Parliament to Vijay Chowk demanding revocation of the suspension of 12 Rajya Sabha MPs.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who had earlier joined the protesting MPs, said, "This (suspension of 12 MPs) is a symbol of the crushing of the voice of people of India. Their voices have been crushed. They have done nothing wrong. We are not allowed to discuss important issues in the Parliament."
The Home Ministry on Tuesday informed the Lok Sabha that no amendments are under consideration for the much-contended Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
"There are adequate Constitutional, institutional and statutory safeguards including inbuilt safeguards in the UAPA itself, to prevent misuse of the law. The UAPA has been amended in the past keeping in view the requirement. Presently no amendments in the UAPA are under consideration," Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said in a written reply.
The central government noted in its response that no data has been maintained about the custodial deaths of persons incarcerated under the UAPA.
"As per available information, there are boundary disputes arising out of demarcation of boundaries and claims and counter claims over territories between Andhra Pradesh-Odisha, Haryana-Himachal Pradesh, UT of Ladakh-Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra-Karnataka, Assam-Arunachal Pradesh, Assam-Nagaland, Assam-Meghalaya, Assam-Mizoram. Some matters related to division of assets are pending between Andhra Pradesh-Telangana and Bihar-Jharkhand," the Home Ministry informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
"The approach of the Central Government has consistently been that inter-state disputes can be resolved only with the cooperation of the State Governments concerned and that the Central Government acts only as a facilitator for amicable settlement of the dispute in the spirit of mutual understanding," it added.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said that the Centre is in talks with the suspended MPs, and indicated that they should apologise.
"Govt is in talks with them (suspended MPs) on an individual level for withdrawal of their suspension. I have made it clear that they should at least express regret," he was quoted as saying by ANI.
"It was asked why Parliament was run in the din. Today, 50 MPs including from Congress and other parties had given notices (for zero hour). The chairman had admitted 26 of them. TMC, BSP, BJD, YSRCP and other parties participated," he further said.
Opposition parties on Tuesday staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha, after their demand to revoke the suspension of 12 MPs was rejected by the House's Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh.
"PM has such great 'respect' for Parliament that he will skip the Dec 13th homage to martyred security staff. He'll skip everything and go to Varanasi. You'll only find him in places like Varanasi and Ayodhya, not in the Parliament," Congress leader P Chidambaram was quoted as saying by ANI.
The 'Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Bill, 2021', a legislation seeking to extend the tenure of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director's up to five years, was passed by voice vote in the Rajya Sabha.
Rajya Sabha passes 'Central Vigilance Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2021' which seeks to extend the tenure of ED Director up to a maximum of five years.
Rajya Sabha was adjourned till 15 December.
Lok Sabha was adjourned till 11 AM, tomorrow.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)