New Delhi, The government on Wednesday claimed that political parties were in the know of the move to refer the Lokpal bill to a select committee and that leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley was consulted on its composition. "The committee was drawn up after consultation," parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Bansal said. The government claimed that there might have been a gap in communication within BJP as party MPs protested the move while Jaitley sat without intervening. Jaitley contested the government's suggestion that he was on board, saying that he had only been informed about the move to refer the bill to a select committee. "I was not consulted, the ministers merely told me about the government's plan," he said. He also said that when Bansal met him, he had told the minister that he intended to "raise objections with relation to the incompetent amendment to refer the bill to a select committee". He pointed out that in the House, he had asked the government to be upfront about its intent rather than getting a Samajwadi Party MP to move the amendment. Speaking to the media, Bansal said all parties were consulted over the composition of the ...
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New Delhi, With the government sending the controversial Lokpal Bill to a Rajya Sabha select committee for further scrutiny and discussion on Monday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has accused the former of not being sincere in its efforts to pass anti-graft proposal. "This has become quiet clear, that the intentions of the government over bringing the Ombudsman (Bill) were not correct since the very beginning. The government has once again exposed its corrupt face protecting corrupt people," Naqvi told media here. Expressing displeasure over sending the bill to a select committee, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said: "Any search proposal for select committee can come only and only by the minister in charge who is in possession of the entire proposal. It could not have come from anyone else." "This kind of procedure was most unwarranted. We deeply regret it, and also condemn it. The present consideration is also permissible in terms of Article 252 of the Constitution, where such considerations are permissible only when two state assemblies empower the Rajya Sabha to consider such a proposal," he added. Communist Party of India (CPI) ...
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New Delhi, In yet another twist, the controversial Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill was on Monday referred to the select committee of Rajya Sabha, further delaying the setting up of the anti-graft ombudsman which has been hanging fire for 42 years. The bill, on which debate had remained inconclusive in the Rajya Sabha during the last winter session, was referred to the select committee through a motion soon after minister of state for personnel V Narayanasamy moved it for consideration and passage. Interestingly, the motion for referring the bill to the select committee was moved initially by Samajwadi Party member Naresh Agrawal. This was strongly objected to by BJP, Left parties and BSP, with their members arguing that only the minister concerned could move such a motion and accusing the ruling coalition of "using the shoulder" of "friendly opposition" party. After high drama marked by arguments and counter-arguments over whether rules permitted any other member to move such a motion, the government yielded and the motion was moved by Narayanasamy which was immediately passed by voice vote. He said the 15-member committee would have to submit its report by the first day of ...
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New Delhi, The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing the complaints of money laundering against Indian Premier League (IPL), Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the Rajya Sabha Monday. Speaking during question hour, Mukherjee said: "There are certain irregularities which are being looked into, particularly relating to some complaints received that there are foreign investments in IPL." "Those are being looked into by the Enforcement Directorate because those are the criminal activities like money laundering," he said. Mukherjee said the IPL is a body of the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) and till 2006, the BCCI enjoyed income tax exemptions. He said the BCCI lost exemption registration in 2006 following the verdict of the Allahabad High Court and since then, it is subject to tax. "Tax demands were raised for the assessment years 2007-08 and 2008-09 amounting to Rs.118 crore and Rs.257 crore respectively. As much as Rs.249 crore has already been recovered from the BCCI," he said. The matter was also raised in the Lok Sabha and replying to queries, Sports Minister Ajay Maken said that the ministry has written to the ED to look into the money ...
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New Delhi, The government Monday released the much-awaited white paper on black money, which makes a strong pitch for setting up the Lokpal and Lokayuktas but carries no official estimate of the illicit money stashed by Indians abroad. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee tabled the white paper in the Lok Sabha. The paper carries no estimates on the quantum of money stashed abroad, but quotes figures released by different agencies. "There are no reliable estimates of black money generation or accumulation, neither is there an accurate well-accepted methodology for making such estimation," the paper said. It pointed out that among the estimates made so far, there is no uniformity, unanimity, or consensus about the best methodology or approach to be used for this purpose. "There have also been wide variations in the figures reported, which further serves to highlight the limitations of the different methods adopted." The paper made a strong pitch for setting up the Lokpal and Lokayuktas to effectively deal with the menace of black money and other corrupt practices. In the foreword to the report, Mukherjee pointed out that in this past year the government has ...
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New Delhi, Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday tabled a White Paper on black money in Parliament, providing information on black money parked abroad, as promised to the House during a debate on the Finance Bill last week. "I will try to give all the relevant and possible information," Mukherjee had said in the Lok Sabha, while promising to bring the White Paper in the on-going Budget Session. The Opposition, led by the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has been accusing the government of going slow on the black money probe. However, there are indications that the White Paper might not carry all the information about the unaccounted for money lying overseas, as the government appointed expert committees are expected to submit their reports in July or August. "In respect of estimates of black money, three institutions are studying it independently and they will give their reports at the end of an 18-month period, and that period is coming to a close around July or August," Mukherjee had said, while replying to the argument raised by senior BJP leader L K Advani the Lok Sabha last Tuesday. The White Paper, however, is likely to contain the report of an official ...
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New Delhi, With the Budget session set to conclude on Tuesday, the much-debated Lokpal Bill, instead of being brought in the Rajya Sabha, could be referred to a Joint Select Committee amid lack of consensus on its key provisions. "A decision will be taken tomorrow", a Union minister involved in the process said when asked whether the bill would go to a Joint Select Committee or Select Committee. When a Bill comes up before a House for discussion, it may be referred to a Select Committee of the House or a Joint Committee of the two Houses. The Select or the Joint Select Committee considers the Bill clause by clause just as the two Houses do. A senior Congress leader, who declined to be identified, said the possibility of the bill being referred to a Joint Select Committee, cannot be ruled out. Reports said that in the absence of consensus on key provisions of the legislation including the one dealing with Lokpal's superintendence over CBI appears to be deterring the government from bringing the bill in the Rajya Sabha this week. The bill has already been passed by the Lok Sabha. Uncertainty hung over the bill coming up in the Upper House in the current session with ...
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New Delhi, The Telangana issue rocked Rajya Sabha on Friday with political parties laming each other for delay in granting separate statehood to the region. The commotion started with Congress MP Hanumantha Rao alleging that home minister P Chidambaram's statement on creation of a separate Telangana state was given in 2010 after TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu pledged his support for it. Soon Rao, participating in a debate on private member's resolution, made the statement, the members from TDP and BJP sought a clarification from the home minister on the issue. Congress MP said Chidambaram had made the statement about starting the process of creation of Telangana on December 9, 2010, after Naidu said on December 7 that he will support it. Rao's comment attracted the ire of TDP member Devendra Goud T who said that Congress was trying to blame his party for the home minister's statement, demanding clarification from Chidambaram. BJP member Prakash Javadekar (BJP) said Congress was seeking opinion of other parties on the Telangana issue but its own stand was not clear. "All parties are present here and let everyone, including Congress, make its stand clear," he ...
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New Delhi, Had internet been there, the Emergency of 1975 would have been a "fiasco", said Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley Thursday as the upper house of parliament took up a debate on a motion to annul a set of government's rules on internet. A motion to annul the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011, moved by P. Rajeeve of the Communist Party of India-Marxist was taken up by the Rajya Sabha in the morning. The rules, enforced in April 2011, have been perceived largely as an indirect censorship of internet content. The set of rules require that all intermediaries, which includes all those who provide internet, telecom, e-mail or blogging services, and cyber cafes, have to remove content that is "grossly harmful, harassing, blasphemous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, libellous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically objectionable, disparaging, relating or encouraging money laundering or gambling, or otherwise unlawful in any manner whatever". Participating in the debate, Jaitley pointed out that the 1975 Emergency would have failed if internet had been there. "If internet had been ...
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New Delhi, Union Environment and Forests Minister Jayanthi Natarajan on Monday said that there are 668 Protected Areas (including 102 National Parks, 515 Wildlife Sanctuaries, 47 Conservation Reserves, 4 Community Reserves) and 198 Zoos including 23 circuses in the country. In Lok Sabha, the Minister said that the financial assistance for development and upkeep of Protected Areas is provided under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes of ‘Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats’ and ‘Project Tiger’. Briefing the members further the Minister added that the Ministry has modified the existing Centrally Sponsored Schemes by adding more components and activities for providing better protection and conservation to wildlife and its habitats. For the protection and improvement of zoos across the country, the Central Zoo Authority has formulated detailed guidelines for the scientific management of zoos for adoption and implementation by the zoo ...
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New Delhi, Members in the Lok Sabha Monday united in criticising cartoons in NCERT books allegedly denigrating political leaders, particularly the one on B.R. Ambedkar, with the government promising that all objectionable material would be removed and the role of NCERT advisers probed. "We ordered withdrawal of the Ambedkar cartoon April 26... the role of the NCERT advisers would be probed," Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal told the Lok Sabha after the members expressed their concern over the issue during zero hour. "The government appreciates the concern of the house... I have reviewed the class XI book on political science and found many cartoons in it were offensive... we will ensure that only educationally appropriate material goes into NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) books," he said, adding that distribution of the books has been stopped. Sibal also said NCERT advisers Suhas Palshikar and Yogendra Yadav had resigned over the issue. Earlier, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) used the opportunity to demand Sibal's removal. "Of late, I have noticed a tendency among some people to denigrate politicians, ...
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Kolkata, Nearly 48 hours after the Bengal chief minister dropped hint that the Lok Sabha polls may be advanced, her party colleagues on Sunday went into damage control mode, saying they were confident that the UPA-II would complete its full term. After Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Derek O Brien, party leader in the Lok Sabha Sudip Bandopadhyay on Sunday said the Trinamool would want the Centre to complete its five-year term in office. Mamata had told partymen in Kolkata on Friday that she knew that a political party in Delhi had held a meeting discussing the possibility of preponing the Lok Sabha polls. "There was deliberation (in Delhi) on advancing the LS election to 2013. Anyday, we can face election. We have to remain ready," she had said. Derek had tweeted on Saturday, : "Let me clear the half truths being reported... I would be happy to see UPA 2 last its full term." Sudip said in Delhi on Sunday, "Parliament should continue for the full five-year term. We should ensure it is not dissolved in 13 days or 13 months as in the past. It leads to huge financial losses to the nation." A Trinamool MP said, "The CM's statement was aimed at rejuvenating her party ...
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New Delhi, A cartoon on Dalit icon B.R. Ambedkar reportedly printed in an NCERT textbook set off a storm in both houses of parliament Friday, with some members saying it was insulting and should be withdrawn. The issue led to both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha being adjourned repeatedly. The uproar in the Lok Sabha began soon after the house met in the morning. The issue of the cartoon, which also features Jawaharlal Nehru and was published in the textbook for Class 11, was raised by Thol. Thirumavalavan of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal, a Tamil Nadu-based party. He was supported by members cutting across party lines. As the house met for the day, Thirumavalavan raised a placard highlighting the issue and walked towards Speaker Meira Kumar's podium. The speaker had called for the scheduled question hour to be taken up, and asked Thirumavalavan to return to his seat, promising she would allow him time to raise the issue later. Thirumavalavan told the house that the cartoon was "insulting to Ambedkar, Nehru and the whole nation". He wanted the book withdrawn immediately and Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal to come to the house and make a ...
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New Delhi, Parliament Wednesday passed the Medical Council of India (MCI) amendment bill after the Rajya Sabha adopted the motion for its passage following Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad promising to consult various stakeholders on a crucial legislation that seeks to create an overarching body for health institutions in the country. "I have said that before we come to this house for a discussion on the overarching body, we will have a threadbare discussion with all political parties and will try to reach a consensus," Azad said in his reply to the debate on the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2012. The bill, already passed by the Lok Sabha, was passed by voice vote in the upper house. United Progressive Alliance (UPA) constituent Trinamool Congress sought to embarrass the government by slamming some provisions of the legislation in the Rajya Sabha. The bill seeks to further extend the tenure of the board of governors, which replaced the elected body of MCI in May 2010, following its president Ketan Desai being arrested in a graft case. It seeks to increase the period of reconstitution of council from two years to three years and automatically increasing the ...
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New Delhi, There were no plans to review laws on death sentence, home minister P Chidambaram clarified on Wednesday and said the present government had disposed of a large number of mercy petitions. Replying to questions in the Rajya Sabha, Chidambaram said there were different views pertaining to capital punishment, but none of the commissions were in favour of abolishing the death sentence. "There are two views on death sentence, some countries have totally abolished it, some countries have kept it for certain cases... In India, death sentence is awarded in rarest of rare cases," Chidambaram said. "None of the reports have favoured abolition of death sentence," he said, adding that the government was presently not taking any view on whether or not the time had come to reconsider abolishing death sentence. The minister also added that there are windows for those awarded death sentence through the mercy petition, which either the state governor or the president can consider. "In the last three-and-a-half years we have disposed of 16 mercy petitions," Chidambaram said, adding that the procedure was faster than ...
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New Delhi, The Lok Sabha was briefly adjourned Tuesday with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seeking a reply from the government on the role of Home Minister P. Chidambaram, who is alleged to have helped his son get financial benefits in a telecom deal when he was the finance minister in 2006. As soon as members assembled in the morning, some BJP frontbenchers rose to protest, demanding suspension of question hour to discuss the issue. Some BJP MPs staged protests near Speaker Meira Kumar's podium and disrupted the crucial question hour. The speaker first tried to restore peace in the house asking protesting MPs to go back to their seats. As the MPs intensified their protests, Meira Kumar adjourned the house till noon. Opposition MPs cited Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy's allegations that Chidambaram had delayed permission for the sale of Aircel to Malaysia-based Maxis in 2006 when he was finance minister so that his son, Karthi, was financially benefited. "The BJP is going to raise the matter very seriously in both the houses. The government is not coming with true facts pertaining to the deliberate delays in the Aircel-Mexis deal because of the interest of ...
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New Delhi, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar today directed Ministers to be concise in their answers to the queries raised in the House. The instruction came during the Question Hour when Members were asking supplementaries to the various questions relating to the Ministries of Health and Finance. One of the Members wanted to know whether the Government was going to put a ban on tobacco product gutka in view of its cancer causing effects. Another wanted to know why the Kalazar drugs were so much in shortage in Bihar and other states. Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad though expressed concern over the harmful effect of Gutka and said there should be a ban but could not give a categorical assurance. He rather recounted the various kinds of assistance given to the states for the prevention of tobacco related disease, cardiac diseases and ...
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New Delhi, Defence Minister A.K Antony on Wednesday said the government would take stringent action against those involved in corruption in acquisition of equipment for the army. Clarifying the government's stand in the Rajya Sabha, Antony said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is probing the matter and the perpetrators would be brought to book. "We have already referred the matter for extensive, comprehensive enquiry by the CBI and we hope CBI will complete the enquiry as quickly as possible. My understanding is that the enquiry is going on fast. While misconception is there about the procurement of equipment for the armed forces; every procurement of this vehicle, hitherto from 1986 onwards, by the ministry is as per the General Staff Qualitative Requirements (GSQR) report prepared by the army and as per their requirements only," he said. "Government is not imposing the army to take this vehicle, the requirement is coming from their side only, and government side is not imposing," he added. Antony further said that the government has taken a serious note on the procurement issues and during investigation, the CBI has recommended to blacklist six companies, ...
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New Delhi, A day after cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar was nominated to the Rajya Sabha, CPI on Friday demanded that former Indian cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly's name should also be considered for the Upper House. "I welcome the decision to nominate Tendulkar to the Rajya Sabha. But at the same time when Sourav is in his top form, his name too should have been considered (for the Rajya Sabha)," CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta told reporter outside Parliament. He also said that besides film stars, writers, people associated with culture and poets should also be sent to the Upper House. The communist leader said that since India "is a country of workers" industrialists should not be brought to the Rajya Sabha. The government yesterday nominated Tendulkar to the Upper House along with actress of yesteryear Rekha and industrialist Anu ...
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New Delhi, Sachin Tendulkar, who turned 39 yesterday, will now become a parliamentarian with the government nominating him to the House of Elders, Rajya Sabha, along with actress of yesteryear Rekha and industrialist Anu Aga. The nomination of the three eminent personalities was tonight approved by President Pratibha Patil under Article 80 of the Constitution that allows the President to nominate 12 members to the 250-member Upper House. The names of Tendulkar, who has brought many a laurel to the country through his exploits in the game, Rekha, known for her brilliant and emotional portrayals in Hindi cinema in the 80s, and industrialist and social worker Aga were sent by the Prime Minister to the home ministry yesterday for approval by the President. 70-year-old Aga, former chairperson of Thermax Industries and a member of the Sonia Gandhi led National Advisory Council, is a social worker who had figured among the richest Indians in the list by Forbes. Article 80 of the Constitution provides for nomination of persons having special knowledge or practical experience in matters such as literature, science, art and social service. 57-year-old Rekha was one of the top heroines ...
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