Page 8 - Parliament

Parl panel calls Sebi chief Buch on Oct 24 amid Adani-Hindenburg row

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has decided to review the functioning of top regulatory authorities in the country and has called heads of SEBI and TRAI for deposition on October 24. Top officials of the Ministry of Finance, (Department of Economic Affairs) and Ministry of Communications have also been asked to appear before the key parliamentary panel, with sources saying representatives of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairperson Badhabi Puri Buch and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairperson Anil Kumar Lahoti are likely to appear before the panel. Sources said the unstated convention in parliamentary practice is that chiefs of institutions have to attend parliamentary panel briefings whenever summoned. The meeting of the key parliamentary panel comes amid a major row over allegations made by US research body Hindenburg against SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Much and her husband Dhaval Buch over her alleged links with the Adani

Only two of 24 parliamentary panels headed by women: Derek O'Brien

Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien on Friday said only two of the newly-constituted parliamentary panels are headed by women -- the Commerce Committee headed by the TMC's Dola Sen and the Consumer Affairs Committee headed by the DMK's Kanimozhi. In a post on X, O'Brien said only two parties, the TMC and the DMK, have "walked the talk". "At long last. Chairpersons for 24 Parliamentary Standing Committees announced," the Parliamentary Party leader of the TMC in the Rajya Sabha said. "Just two of these are headed by women. TMC and DMK walk the talk. The others? Only talk!" he said. "Bravo TMC Dola Sen heading Commerce and DMK Kanimozhi heading Consumer Affairs," O'Brien added. The parliamentary standing committees were constituted on Thursday. The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Bhartruhari Mahtab will head the key panel on finance and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor will head the panel on external affairs. The committee on defence will be chaired by former Union minister Radha Mohan

Parliamentary standing committees constituted, Congress to head four panels

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi is a member of the standing committee on Defence

Bill to decriminalise minor biz offences may be tabled in Budget 2025

To further decriminalise minor offences, Jan Vishwas Bill 2.0 is expected to be tabled in the next Budget session, says Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal

Parl's joint committee on Waqf Bill will complete work on time: Rijiju

Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju Wednesday expressed confidence the Parliament's joint committee on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill will submit its report within the stipulated time, even as he asserted the consultation process is the most extensive in the history of the country's parliamentary democracy. Rijiju said the committee would fulfil the mandate of submitting its report before the last day of the first week of Parliament's Winter Session. "I feel the way and at the speed at which Parliament's joint committee is functioning, they should be able to table the report of the joint parliamentary committee as stipulated in the rule in the terms of reference...the committee has to submit the report before the last day of the first week of the Winter Session. They will fulfil it," Rijiju told a press conference on the first 100 days of the ministry. The dates for the Winter Session have not been announced yet. Asked about BJP MP Nishikant Dubey raising concerns over the nearly 1.2

Parl using AI, ML to make proceedings available in many languages: Om Birla

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday said artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies were put to use to make available House proceedings in different regional languages to members of Parliament. Addressing a press conference here after the two-day meeting of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association India Region, Birla said the Lok Sabha Secretariat was also sharing its expertise in technology with legislatures of states and Union territories to speed up the process of digitisation. Birla said during the two-day conference, presiding officers of state legislatures from across the country also deliberated on the agenda of the upcoming 67th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPC) in Sydney from November 3-8. The CPC has short-listed eight topics including support of legislatures to promote LGBTQ+ participation, use of artificial learning (AI) in parliamentary proceedings, violence and abuse of parliamentarians, human trafficking, refugees and immigration across ..

IMF to start talks with new Lanka government led by President Dissanayake

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday said it will discuss the timing of the next review of Sri Lanka's loan programme and looks forward to working with the new government headed by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. We look forward to working together with President Dissanayake and his team towards building on the hard-won gains that have helped put Sri Lanka on a path to economic recovery since entering one of its worst economic crises in 2022," the Washington-based lender said in a statement. Former president Ranil Wickremesinghe-led government was negotiating with the IMF for the release of the third tranche of the USD 2.9 billion facility when the presidential election was announced in July. The disbursement of around USD 360 million was anticipated after the third review which the IMF put on hold until the end of the election held last weekend. We will discuss the timing of the third review of the IMF-supported programme with the new administration as soon as ...

Parliament being turned into 'deep, dark chamber': TMC MP Derek O'Brien

TMC leader Derek O'Brien on Sunday alleged parliamentary standing committees had not been formed despite the 18th Lok Sabha completing 100 days since its constitution and said Parliament was being turned into a "deep, dark chamber". In a post on X, the Trinamool Congress' (TMC) leader in the Rajya Sabha said seven out of 10 Bills were sent to department-related standing committees of Parliament in the 15th Lok Sabha while only two out of 10 Bills were sent to the panels in the last Lok Sabha. "Parliamentary standing committees have not yet been formed. In the 15th Lok Sabha, seven out of 10 Bills were sent to committees for scrutiny. In the last Lok Sabha, only two out of 10 Bills got scrutinised ," O'Brien said. "Parliament is being turned into a deep, dark chamber," he added. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said on September 11 that department-related standing committees and consultative committees of Parliament would be constituted shortly. According to data compile

Joint Parliamentary Committee on Waqf Bill to hold discussion across cities

These consultations aim to refine the proposed amendments to the Waqf Act

Congress to get Chair of 4 standing committees in the 18th Lok Sabha

Parliament has 24 standing committees, 16 of which are served by the Lok Sabha and eight by the Rajya Sabha

Pak govt delays tabling of controversial constitutional amendment Bill

Pakistan's coalition government was on Monday forced to once again delay the tabling of a controversial constitutional amendment bill in the parliament, apparently due to a lack of required numbers to pass it. The details of the amendments are still a mystery as the government has not officially shared it with the media or discussed it publically. What has been reported so far shows that the government plans to increase the retirement age of judges and fix the tenure of the chief justice of the Supreme Court. Senator Irfan Siddiqui of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) told the media that the amendment bill would not be tabled in the parliament on Monday. Speaking to Geo News, Siddiqui said sessions of both houses on Monday were to be "prorogued and would next be called when we would be prepared from all angles to introduce a constitutional amendment. Asked if it was possible for the matter to be delayed for months, the PML-N senator replied in the negative. He added t

Sri Lanka's JVP vows to cancel Adani wind energy project if elected

The Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) on Monday vowed to cancel the Adani Group's wind power project in Sri Lanka if it gets elected in the presidential election scheduled for the weekend. JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the presidential candidate from the broader front National People's Power (NPP), told a political chat show here that they would annul the project. Asked if the project posed a threat to the island nation's energy sector sovereignty, Dissanayake said: Yes. We will definitely cancel it as it threatens our energy sovereignty." The JVP, which led a bloody anti-India rebellion in the island nation between 1987 and 1990 following India's direct intervention in the Lankan civil war through the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord, is believed to be leading in the unofficial polls ahead of the September 21 election. The JVP dubbed the Indo-Lanka Accord a betrayal of the nation and killed the then-ruling party members, supporters and other political activists who supported t

Joint Parliamentary Committee to meet on Waqf Amendment Bill on Sept 18-20

During the meeting on September 18, representatives from the Ministry of Minority Affairs will record oral evidence before the committee

Standing, consultative committees of Parl to be constituted soon: Rijiju

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday asserted that department-related standing committees and consultative committees of Parliament will be constituted soon. His remarks come against the backdrop of certain opposition leaders questioning the delay in constituting standing committees, which scrutinise the functioning of Union ministries. Addressing an event of his ministry here, he said in the past too, the standing committees and consultative committees have been formed around September 15 and there was no delay. While a majority of the standing committees come under the Lok Sabha Secretariat, some are serviced by the Rajya Sabha. Department-related standing committees deal with various Union ministries and scrutinise their budgetary allocations and bills introduced in Parliament. They also recommend the government to bring bills and make policies on important issues. The consultative committees are chaired by the ministers in charge of their respective ministr

Parl panel issues summons ministry officials over rules of 2013 Waqf law

A parliamentary committee has summoned officials of the Minority Affairs Ministry to explain reasons for the delay in completing the process for framing subordinate legislation under the 2013 Waqf law. The decision of the Rajya Sabha Committee on Subordinate Legislation to call the secretary and representatives of the ministry next week comes at a time when a Joint Committee of Parliament is scrutinising the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 which seeks to amend the Waqf (Amendment) Act of 2013. The Rajya Sabha panel has also summoned officials of the Ministry of Defence on the reasons for delay in completing the process for framing of subordinate legislation under the Cantonment Act, 2006 on the same day. Both Houses of Parliament have their own committees on subordinate legislation which examine whether rules and by-laws related to a law are framed in time and are in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. The 2013 Act had given certain powers to Waqf Boards. The 2024 bill

Opposition at its heart is voice of people, says Rahul Gandhi in US

Opposition is the voice of the people, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said in Dallas, Texas, underscoring that its main focus is to raise issues concerning the people after understanding their perspectives "carefully" and "sensitively". Gandhi, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, is on a four-day unofficial trip to the US. During an interaction with students at the University of Texas in Dallas on Sunday, Gandhi said, "Opposition at its heart is the voice of people, there is a whole sequence of events that go on, but what you generally think about is where and how can I raise the issues of the people of India." "You are thinking from an individual perspective, and also from (a) group perspective, industry perspective, farmer perspective, the important thing is you do it sensitively and after listening and understanding carefully," he added. Talking about Parliamentary proceedings, Gandhi described them as a "pleasant war" of ideas and words. "You go to the ...

Waqf committee meetings become site of contesting claims from govt bodies

The Joint Committee of Parliament meetings on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill have turned out to be a battleground for contesting claims, as several government bodies have accused Waqf boards in the country of laying ownership on properties belonging to them and drawn sharp counterclaims. Opposition members in the committee have claimed that a large number of Waqf properties have been in fact in "unauthorised" possession of government bodies, including the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi, one of the more vocal and articulate opposition voices in the meetings, submitted a list of 172 Waqf properties in Delhi alone, which, he said, were in the unauthorised possession of the ASI, sources said. His submission to the committee's chairperson and BJP member Jagdambika Pal came following the country's premier archaeology body's assertion that over 120 of its protected monuments are claimed by different Waqf boards. The ASI also accused them of unauthorised ...

From Jal Jeevan mission to OBC policy, Parliamentary panels begin work

Weeks after being constituted, key parliamentary committees have started meeting over issues, including reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in public sector undertakings and audit of Jal Jeevan Mission. Panels, including the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), and the one on welfare of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) are meeting this week to take up subjects decided by them. Officials of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) will brief members of the committee on the welfare of OBCs on Monday on the "formulation and implementation" of reservation policy for the community in the posts and services under the Central government and union territories. On Tuesday, the PAC will take up the performance audit of the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (Jal Jeevan Mission) under the Jal Shakti Ministry. On Thursday, the Committee on Welfare of SCs and STs will take up the issue of the statu

Parl security breach chargesheet: Accused wanted to discredit democracy

The December 13, 2023 Parliament security breach accused wanted to discredit India's democracy, gain instant global fame, usurp power and achieve "richness and glory" by targeting the "very symbol of democracy", according to the chargesheet filed in the court by Delhi Police. The accused first met on social media and planned their move for nearly two years before executing it last year on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament attack. According to the chargesheet, a source said, their first in-person meeting was held in February, 2022 at Mysuru. Citing from the chargesheet, sources told PTI, that in total they held five meetings in Mysuru, Gurugram and Delhi to decided finalise their plan and arrive at a modus operandi. The chargesheet, spread over 1,000 pages, was filed before the Patiala House Court in June and the court took its cognisance last month. A supplementary was filed in July. The chargesheet mentioned that the group of young people, led by Manoranjan D, a resident of .

Waqf Bill necessary, ASI tells Joint Parliamentary Committee in meet

Opposition parties have been continuously opposing the Waqf Board Amendment Bill in JPC meetings