Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs staged a walkout during Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's speech regarding inflation on the 12th day of the Monsoon Session in Parliament on Tuesday, 2 August.
Meanwhile, the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2021, was passed in Lok Sabha by a voice vote.
The Home Ministry also informed Parliament that as per 2020, there was a total of 3,71,848 undertrial prisoners in Indian prisons, of which the highest (80,557) were in Uttar Pradesh, followed by 44,187 undertrials in Bihar.
Amid barbs exchanged by the Centre and the Opposition regarding price rise, here are the 10 key developments that transpired in Parliament on Tuesday:
10 Key Developments
1. The Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2021, was passed in Lok Sabha by a voice vote, with the Centre asserting that it would enable India to play a leading role in the protection of natural ecosystems.
2. Amid criticism over price rise, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that there had been no collapse of the Indian rupee and that the performance of the currency was far better than its peers.
3. TMC MPs walked out of the Rajya Sabha during Sitharaman's reply on inflation and the rise in Goods and Services Tax (GST).
4. The finance minister also slammed claims by the Opposition that the government was only focused on the financial betterment of "Ambanis and Adanis" and said that the debate was being politicised.
5. The Home Ministry said that around 4,800 people had been arrested in the country for allegedly promoting enmity between groups on the grounds of religion, race, and place of birth from 2018-2020.
6. The government informed Lok Sabha that as many as 330 people had died due to "hazardous cleaning of sewer and septic tanks" from 2017-2022. However, it maintained that there had been no deaths due to manual scavenging in India.
7. The Home Ministry said that as of 2020, there are 3,71,848 undertrial prisoners in Indian prisons. Of these, Uttar Pradesh has nearly 25 percent (80,557) of the total number of undertrials, followed by Bihar with 44,187.
8. Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Kumar Mishra said that a total of 131, 150, and 105 cases were registered in 2018, 2019, and 2020, respectively, over acid attacks on women. However, only 28, 16, and 18 persons were convicted for the same in 2018, 2019, and 2020, respectively.
9. Union Minister Nityanand Rai said that the government had no plans to bring the census in the concurrent list or permit state governments to conduct their own censuses.
10. Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that as of 1 August, eight cases of monkeypox had been reported in the country, with Kerala accounting for five of them and one death and Delhi reporting three cases.
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