Parliament Highlights: Bill to amend Disaster Amendment Act 2005 introduced in Lok Sabha

Congress means 'mehangai', said Nirmala Sitharaman in Rajya Sabha

In a scathing attack in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that Congress means 'mehangai'.

Agniveer scheme will help keep armed forces battle-ready and young, said Nirmala Sitharaman in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday

Manickam Tagore submits adjournment notice in Lok Sabha to discuss water leakage in new Parliament, demanding a committee of MPs to inspect the building

Tagore said, "Paper leakage outside, water leakage inside. The recent water leakage in the Parliament lobby used by the President highlights urgent weather resilience issues in the new building, just a year after completion. Moving Adjournment motion on this issue in Lok Sabha."

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@shemin_joy

Home Minister Amit Shah to introduce bill to amend Disaster Management Act, 2005 in Parliament today

Vijay Vasanth asksif any measures are taken for easy access to jal ministry website

Surveys are being done on water utility in 8000 villages, says C R Patil

Existing sources of water are declining. Water taps provide air not water, says Hibi Eden

Is govt doing anything to provide water sources for villages, says Hibi Eden

PM Modi provided water which wasn't available to villages for 70 years, says C R Patil

15 crore water connections have been provided by the Modi govt, says C R Patil

Does the Punjab government even know what's going in the state, says Harsimrat Kaur Badal

Why no aide has been provided to the victims of flooding other natural disasters, says Harsimrat Kaur Badal

Corruption is being done in waste drains' cleaning, says Harsimrat Kaur Badal

Is there any measure taken by the central government for the embankments around Punjab as the states gets flooded every year, says Harsimrat Kaur Badal

Road construction and works require a bit of time to check efficiency at every point, says Ajay Tamta

Availability of bulbs depends on the states how seriosuly they take up the distribution, says Manohar Lal

Bulbs have star rating, and those with the highest ones, help in energy conservation, says Baijayant Panda

Bulbs with 5 stars are not yet brought in the market, but they can help in electricity conservation, says Manohar Lal

Two years back, what's the update on the survey for the airport in Kargil, Jammu, says Mohmad Haneef

Kargil's terrain is very dicy to get an airport built there and be run, says Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu

We can run 19-seater aircrafts for domestic flights from the defense airport in Kargil, says Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu

Is there any plan to get 50-seater aircrafts from the Kargil airport, asks Mohmad Haneef

We have to follow protocols and dimensions fo the airport to check on which aircrafts can be used at the airport, says Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu

Does Digi app provide with any feedback services, asks Janardan Mishra

Congress, Communist Party leaders protest inside Parliament over Bihar quota issue

What is the mechanism that the govt has put in place to ensure that integrity, privacy of that data is not infringed in Digi App, says Manish Tewari

The data is lost from the system after every check for every passenger, says Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu

Is the Aadhar card necessary or face identity while using Digi App, asks Supriya Sule

The name must correlate with the name on the Aadhar card to check out the identity of the passenger, says Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu

Question Hour ends

Japanese ministers arrived here on Wednesday, says Om Birla

Govt needs to have a proper entry to cover disaster management, says Manish Tewari

Measures to tackle natural disasters should be done by the government with absolute concern, says Nityanand Rai

PM Modi guides, reviews railways issues in a whole way, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

India's economy depends on the Railways, and it needs to be depoliticised, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

There are 3 points - general policy, individual issues of states and how railways can be developed under PM Modi govt, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

The poor use railway in the cheapest fare, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

PM Modi has visualised the best railways with cheap prices, called Amrit Bharat which were launched last year, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

PM Modi had said that our nation's engineers, technicians are talented enough to build the Vande Bharat trains without any foreign help, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

Passenger safety in railways should be dealt with empathy and not politics, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

Trains' protection is called ATP, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

Track failure was the prime reason for rail accidents which has been looked into with great concern, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

We will be all set and ready to do the best we can to develop railways and its safety, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

Congress uses troll army to make fun of nation's smallest issues, thunders Ashwini Vaishnaw in LS

Congress' 'jhoot ki dukaan' will not work anymore, thunders Ashwini Vaishnaw in LS

Railways releases vacancies for youth 4 times a year, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

Women from SC/ST who have been provided with education have increased in the last 10 years, says Tejasvi Surya

Neither Indira nor Rahul Gandhi move, do an inch to work on implementing reforms of Mandal Commission

Only Modi govt gave importance to mother toungue education in last 70 years: Tejasvi Surya

Bangladesh's GDP is better than ours. Our 9,000 students study there whereas only 2,600 students from Bangladeshi study in India, says Mohammad Jawed

Hindi was imposed for the last 67 years, whereas Modi govt introduced NEP giving students choice to learn any 2 Indian languages, says Tejasvi Surya

If there are illegal constructions, there must be a legal way instead of 'bulldozering' the houses. Govt should put an end to the bulldozer raaj', says A A Rahim in RS

TMC leader Derek O'Brien writes to VP Jagdeep Dhankhar seeking discussion on Ministry of Home Affairs

Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O’Brien on Friday shot off a letter to Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar demanding a discussion on the working of Ministry of Home Affairs (as part of the practice of discussing 4 ministries in one House) in Rajya Sabha

JD(S)-BJP bid to iron out differences

In a move aimed at reducing the friction within the Bharatiya Janata Party-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance, H D Kumaraswamy on Thursday met Karnataka BJP leaders,

This was the first major meeting between the two after JD(S) on Wednesday pulled out of the proposed foot march against the alleged irregularities in the distribution of sites in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA).

Sensing the trouble in alliance, Union Home Minister Amit Shah summoned state BJP president B Y Vijayendra to the national capital on Wednesday and sought his explanation about the confusion over the protest march.

Shah on Wednesday asked state BJP president B Y Vijayendra to talk to Kumaraswamy and resolve the matter amicably.

Shah suggested Vijayendra to hold discussion with Kumaraswamy and resolve the issue immediately. The BJP leader also suggested the state leader to take alliance partners into confidence before taking any major political decision on fighting against the Congress government, sources in the BJP said.

Not Railway Minister but 'Reel Minister': Gaurav Gogoi slams Ashwini Vaishnaw

Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Thursday slammed Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw over series of train derailments in the country.

He said, "...BJP ministers do not take moral responsibility for their failures... In the last 2 months, 4 goods trains derailed, 14 people died and many were injured but despite this, the Railway Minister did not take any moral responsibility and tried to intimidate the opposition... Last year about 300 people died in Balasore, the number of train accidents has increased in the last 1-2 years but the Railway Minister is busy making reels, he is not the Railway Minister but a 'Reel Minister', a 'Derailment Minister', based on the accidents that are happening, he should resign but it is the tradition of BJP that no one takes responsibility... His (Ashwini Vaishnaw) entire statement was not satisfactory and he ran away from accountability, this is why the parties of the INDIA alliance walked out."

Lok Sabha approves Demands for Grants of railways

The Lok Sabha on Thursday approved the Demands for Grants of railways to the tune of Rs 7.89 lakh crore with Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw assuring the House that the government will make every effort to implement automatic train-protection system Kavach in the right earnest.

The Lok Sabha on Thursday approved the Demands for Grants of railways to the tune of Rs 7.89 lakh crore with Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw assuring the House that the government will make every effort to implement automatic train-protection system Kavach in the right earnest.

Replying to a debate on the Demand for Grants, Vaishnaw slammed the previous UPA government for allegedly not doing enough for ensuring safety of passengers.

"Unfortunately, during the 58 years of Congress rule, the automatic train-protection system was not implemented on even one km on Indian Railways till 2014. I acknowledge that many experiments were carried out, but there was no focussed approach to take it to fruition," Vaishnaw said. (PTI)

Derek O’Brien writes to Jagdeep Dhankhar, seeks discussion on Ministry of Home Affairs

With a decision pending on the individual ministries to be discussed as part of Budget, Trinamool Congress floor leader Derek O’Brien on Wednesday urged Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar to include the Ministry of Home Affairs as one of the four ministries whose working should be debated in the Upper House, reports Shemin Joy

Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha choose allocations and working of four ministries each to discuss and the the Business Advisory Committee of Rajya Sabha has so far selected only two -- Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

Randeep Singh Surjewala attacks Centre for 'fooling farmers'

Congress MP Randeep Singh Surjewala slammed the NDA government, saying that farmers’ income far from doubling, has come down in many states.

Speaking in Rajya Sabha, he slamming the NDA government for fooling the farmers and accused the government of not buying crop at the decided minimum support price.

JD(S) to participate in anti-Siddaramaiah foot march

BJP leaders on Thursday held talks with Kumaraswamy to sort out differences and communication gap.

Both BJP and JD(S) leaders will participate in the rally.

Speaking to Presspersons in New Delhi, BJP state president B Y Vijayendra said that both JD(S) and BJP leaders have decided to go head with with protest march on Muda scam

"We wanted to take this protest to logical end. All differences have been resolved. August 3, (Saturday) 8 am, protest march will start from Nice Road at Bengaluru."

Kumaraswamy, Senior BJP leader B S Yediyurappa, all MPs from BJP and JD (S) and other leaders will participate, he said.

Bill to amend Disaster Amendment Act 2005 introduced in Lok Sabha

A bill to amend the Disaster Management Act 2005, which was tabled in Lok Sabha on Thursday, seeks to set up a State Disaster Response Force on the lines of National Disaster Response Force, establish Urban Disaster Management Authority for state capitals and large cities and create disaster databases at national and state level.

The Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill, 2024 also seeks to bring more clarity and convergence in the roles of authorities and committees working in the field of disaster management and provide statutory status to certain organisations like the National Crisis Management Committee and the High Level Committee.

In Lok Sabha, the introduction of the Bill ran into objections from senior Congress MP Manish Tewari who said disaster management is not part of the List 1 or List 2 of the Constitution dealing with central and state subjects. He also said any law based on "derived legislative power" may not stand the test of constitutionality.

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Minor leak from glass dome of Parliament building fixed: Lok Sabha Secretariat

The Lok Sabha Secretariat on Thursday said a minor water leak in the new Parliament building was due to displacement of an adhesive material used to fix glass domes over the lobby and corrective measures were taken immediately.

The statement came as several opposition members shared videos of the leaking roof of the new Parliament building and questioned the weather resilience of the structure.

In LS, Kangana Ranaut seeks info on scrutiny of CISF personnel at airports

BJP member Kangana Ranaut, who was allegedly slapped by a woman CISF constable at Chandigarh airport recently, on Thursday sought to know whether the government has any monitoring system for scrutiny of CISF personnel at airports to detect any negative influence on them, resulting in bad behaviour towards passengers.

Ranaut posed the question in the Lok Sabha to the civil aviation ministry.

She wanted to know from the Civil Aviation Ministry "whether the government has any monitoring system for scrutiny of CISF personnel at airports to know about their involvement/influence by some negative elements or activities which results in bad behaviour with passengers".

In a written reply, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said the measures taken to ensure professional conduct of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel deployed at airports include a Personal Information System, a web-based project, where the personal and professional profile of deployed personnel are updated by supervisory officers.

UP govt excluding minorities from welfare scheme: SP MP Javed Ali Khan in Rajya Sabha

Samajwadi Party MP Javed Ali Khan on Thursday accused the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government of "deliberately" excluding minorities from a state scheme extending grants for economically weaker OBCs for their daughter's wedding.

Raising the issue in Rajya Sabha's Zero Hour, he cited a letter from Sambhal district administration inviting him for a meeting to disburse the grant, which said the programme is for “OBCs (excluding minorities)”. The letter was issued by Sambhal's Backward Welfare Department.

“As per the Constitution, we are a welfare state and a secular country. By welfare state, we mean that the state will work for upliftment of Dalit and Backward classes and by secular we mean that the state will not discriminate on the basis of religion,” he said.

15 I.N.D.I.A. parties, BJD demand discussion on MHA in Rajya Sabha

With a decision pending on the individual ministries to be discussed as part of Budget, 15 I.N.D.I.A parties and BJD on Wednesday jointly urged Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar to include the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) as one of the four ministries whose working should be debated in the Upper House.

Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha choose allocations and working of four ministries each to discuss and the the Business Advisory Committee of Rajya Sabha has so far selected only three – Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

While a decision on two ministries were taken earlier, Dhankhar added the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to the list on Thursday with Trinamool Congress as the lead speaker.

As Dhankhar announced the name of the third ministry in Rajya Sabha while keeping the decision on the fourth pending, Trinamool Congress floor leader Derek O’Brien said they must discuss the MHA. “We will discuss (and take a decision),” Dhankhar said.

Later in the day, O’Brien again raised the issue in the Upper House saying Opposition parties are supporting the demand and the government should not “shy away from a discussion”. 

As a follow up to O’Brien’s letter to Dhankhar earlier in the day, a joint letter was submitted to Dhankhar in the afternoon raising the demand. BJD also signed the letter which also saw 15 I.N.D.I.A parties endorsing it.

Lok Sabha to continue till 8pm

The working time in Rajya Sabha has been extended till the ongoing discussion is over.

Rajya Sabha adjourned

Lok Sabha adjourned

The Lok Sabha has been adjourned till tomorrow