Parliament Watch: RS bids farewell to some eminent members

Lok Sabha Opposition members in the Lower House today walked out of the proceedings during the morning session in protest against the fuel price rise. Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 80 paise per litre each, taking the total rate increase in the last 10 days to Rs 6.40 per litre. As proceedings resumed, Union Road Transport and Highway Minister, Nitin Gadkari, and Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiradiya Scindia addressed the house. Mr. Gadkari informed that more than 10 lakh electric vehicles have been registered in India as of March 13, 2022, aside from 1,742 operable charging stations. The Union Minister also said that prices of all electric vehicles (EVs) will be equal to the cost of petrol vehicles in the country within two years. Meanwhile, Minister for Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya Scindia informed the house that domestic players are operating 1,465 flights, whilst international players are operating 1,733 flights per week since the Centre opted to resume international flights at full strength on March 27. Talking about losses incurred by Air India and its subsidies, the Minister said that Air India, Air India Express and Alliance Air suffered total losses of Rs 17,032 crore between April 2020 and December 2021. Minister of Power, RK Singh, also informed in a written reply that the Construction of a state-run National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) project in Barh, Bihar, having the involvement of Russian entities, has been affected due to various sanctions imposed on Russia by the West and Europe. After the Union Ministers' address, Congress president Sonia Gandhi spoke in the Zero Hour, about the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme. Ms. Gandhi said though some in the government had ridiculed MGNREGA a few years ago (a reference to an earlier statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi), the rural job guarantee scheme had helped the poor during the COVID pandemic and had come to the government's rescue in the wake of repeated lockdowns. She added, however, that despite this, there has been a 35% reduction in allocation in the current budget compared to the 2020 Budget and several States are left with a negative balance in their MGNREGA accounts to the tune of ₹5,000 crores. She flagged that this has led to delays in payments to workers. This was followed by Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Anurag Thakur rising to state the erstwhile UPA government did not spend the entire allocated budget for MNREGA. He added that the Central Govt led by Prime Minister Modi allocated more than ₹ 1 lakh crore during the pandemic for the scheme. Lok Sabha Members spent the latter half of today's session discussing two other issues- climate change, and the promotion of sports in the country. On the issue of climate change, Congress MP from Assam, Gaurav Gogoi expressed concerns about the coal sector, pointing out that the transition away from coal would be disruptive for the currently engaged low-skilled workers. He proposed the government put forth adult education and skilling schemes to ensure a "just transition". Mr. Gogoi also asked what directions the Environment Ministry was giving to the Railways, Road Construction, Highways, Rural Development, and Shipping departments, so that they keep the emissions as low as possible while carrying out construction and infrastructure building projects. Speaking on climate change, Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav said that India is leading the global dialogue on climate action for developing countries of the world. He also raised the issue of climate justice. "When we talk about climate justice we mean that the developed countries of the world, which have been responsible for historic carbon emissions should accept their responsibility," he remarked. Talking about the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015 and the Cop26 Climate Summit hed last year, the Minister said, "I am happy to declare that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India became one of the select nations of the world who did not just declare their Nationally Declared Contributions (NDCs) but completed them before time, setting a global example." According to the United Nations, NDC "is a climate action plan to cut emissions and adapt to climate impacts. Each Party to the Paris Agreement is required to establish an NDC and update it every five years." DMK MP from Tamil Nadu, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi asked the centre how it planned to deal with the issue of migration hotspots, saying that climate change will badly affect coastal cities in the future, forcing residents to migrate. Meanwhile, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury asked the government about India's designation as 'insufficient' on the World Climate Action Tracker in 2021. Parliamentarians also spoke about the promotion of sports in the country, with Mr. Gogoi calling for funding for individual athletes, better sports infrastructure and NCP's Supriya Sule calling for a rethink of the sports policy to create more career options for athletes. Former Army man and olympian, Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who represents the BJP from Jaipur Rural Constituency praised the Centre's 'Khelo India' games, stating that 1000 athletes are chosen every year to be given funding of Rs. 5 lakh each year for the next eight years so that they can prepare for large scale competitions. Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha convened at 11 a.m. on Thursday (March 31) to bid their farewell to the 72 members of the House set to retire between March and July this year. The retiring members include A.K. Antony, Ambika Soni, P. Chidambaram, Anand Sharma, Jairam Ramesh, Suresh Prabhu, Praful Patel, Subramanian Swamy, Prasanna Acharya, Sanjay Raut, Naresh Gujral, Satish Chandra Mishra, M.C. Mary Kom, Swapan Dasgupta and Narendra Jadhav, among other prominent names. Chairman M. Venakaiah Naidu, during his speech at the start of the session, said that the House would lose "a total parliamentary experience of 181 terms in both the houses" following the retirements. Mr. Naidu also said that chairpersons of the eight Department related Parliamentary Standing Committees of the Rajya Sabha were also among those who retire. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his parting note to the retiring members, said that he wished some of the members would "come back" to the House. Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said that the Upper House of Parliament is a "chamber of ideas". He also said that the Rajya Sabha was a "permanent house" and the members should work efficiently despite the differences in opinion. Mr. Kharge also evoked former PM Jawaharlal Nehru and said he empowered the Rajya Sabha and made its MPs, the members of various committees. Deputy Chairman Harivansh thanked the retiring members and said that their experience helped in the smooth functioning of the House. Mr. Singh also mentioned the retiring co-deputy chairmen Surendra Singh Nagar and Sasmit Patra. Leader of the House Piyush Goyal also thanked all the retiring members and said that all members left their mark in enhancing the dignity of the house, irrespective of the duration of their tenure. Following this, several other members of the house also made their farewell speech on the day. The House adjourned for the day following the speeches and Mr. Naidu said that the Special Mentions for the day would be discussed on the next business day (April 1, 2022). Compiled by Diksha Munjal.

Parliament Watch 31 MARCH 2022

Welcome to Parliament Watch, a newsletter from The Hindu that will be your one-stop guide to the day's developments in the corridors of power.

Open in browser More newsletters

In the Parliament: RS bids farewell to some eminent members Lok Sabha Opposition members in the Lower House today walked out of the proceedings during the morning session in protest against the fuel price rise. Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 80 paise per litre each, taking the total rate increase in the last 10 days to Rs 6.40 per litre. As proceedings resumed, Union Road Transport and Highway Minister, Nitin Gadkari, and Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiradiya Scindia addressed the house. Mr. Gadkari informed that more than 10 lakh electric vehicles have been registered in India as of March 13, 2022, aside from 1,742 operable charging stations. The Union Minister also said that prices of all electric vehicles (EVs) will be equal to the cost of petrol vehicles in the country within two years. Meanwhile, Minister for Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya Scindia informed the house that domestic players are operating 1,465 flights, whilst international players are operating 1,733 flights per week since the Centre opted to resume international flights at full strength on March 27. Talking about losses incurred by Air India and its subsidies, the Minister said that Air India, Air India Express and Alliance Air suffered total losses of Rs 17,032 crore between April 2020 and December 2021. Minister of Power, RK Singh, also informed in a written reply that the Construction of a state-run National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) project in Barh, Bihar, having the involvement of Russian entities, has been affected due to various sanctions imposed on Russia by the West and Europe. After the Union Ministers' address, Congress president Sonia Gandhi spoke in the Zero Hour, about the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme. Ms. Gandhi said though some in the government had ridiculed MGNREGA a few years ago (a reference to an earlier statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi), the rural job guarantee scheme had helped the poor during the COVID pandemic and had come to the government's rescue in the wake of repeated lockdowns. She added, however, that despite this, there has been a 35% reduction in allocation in the current budget compared to the 2020 Budget and several States are left with a negative balance in their MGNREGA accounts to the tune of ₹5,000 crores. She flagged that this has led to delays in payments to workers. This was followed by Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Anurag Thakur rising to state the erstwhile UPA government did not spend the entire allocated budget for MNREGA. He added that the Central Govt led by Prime Minister Modi allocated more than ₹ 1 lakh crore during the pandemic for the scheme. Lok Sabha Members spent the latter half of today's session discussing two other issues- climate change, and the promotion of sports in the country. On the issue of climate change, Congress MP from Assam, Gaurav Gogoi expressed concerns about the coal sector, pointing out that the transition away from coal would be disruptive for the currently engaged low-skilled workers. He proposed the government put forth adult education and skilling schemes to ensure a "just transition". Mr. Gogoi also asked what directions the Environment Ministry was giving to the Railways, Road Construction, Highways, Rural Development, and Shipping departments, so that they keep the emissions as low as possible while carrying out construction and infrastructure building projects. Speaking on climate change, Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav said that India is leading the global dialogue on climate action for developing countries of the world. He also raised the issue of climate justice. "When we talk about climate justice we mean that the developed countries of the world, which have been responsible for historic carbon emissions should accept their responsibility," he remarked. Talking about the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015 and the Cop26 Climate Summit hed last year, the Minister said, "I am happy to declare that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India became one of the select nations of the world who did not just declare their Nationally Declared Contributions (NDCs) but completed them before time, setting a global example." According to the United Nations, NDC "is a climate action plan to cut emissions and adapt to climate impacts. Each Party to the Paris Agreement is required to establish an NDC and update it every five years." DMK MP from Tamil Nadu, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi asked the centre how it planned to deal with the issue of migration hotspots, saying that climate change will badly affect coastal cities in the future, forcing residents to migrate. Meanwhile, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury asked the government about India's designation as 'insufficient' on the World Climate Action Tracker in 2021. Parliamentarians also spoke about the promotion of sports in the country, with Mr. Gogoi calling for funding for individual athletes, better sports infrastructure and NCP's Supriya Sule calling for a rethink of the sports policy to create more career options for athletes. Former Army man and olympian, Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who represents the BJP from Jaipur Rural Constituency praised the Centre's 'Khelo India' games, stating that 1000 athletes are chosen every year to be given funding of Rs. 5 lakh each year for the next eight years so that they can prepare for large scale competitions. Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha convened at 11 a.m. on Thursday (March 31) to bid their farewell to the 72 members of the House set to retire between March and July this year. The retiring members include A.K. Antony, Ambika Soni, P. Chidambaram, Anand Sharma, Jairam Ramesh, Suresh Prabhu, Praful Patel, Subramanian Swamy, Prasanna Acharya, Sanjay Raut, Naresh Gujral, Satish Chandra Mishra, M.C. Mary Kom, Swapan Dasgupta and Narendra Jadhav, among other prominent names. Chairman M. Venakaiah Naidu, during his speech at the start of the session, said that the House would lose "a total parliamentary experience of 181 terms in both the houses" following the retirements. Mr. Naidu also said that chairpersons of the eight Department related Parliamentary Standing Committees of the Rajya Sabha were also among those who retire. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his parting note to the retiring members, said that he wished some of the members would "come back" to the House. Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said that the Upper House of Parliament is a "chamber of ideas". He also said that the Rajya Sabha was a "permanent house" and the members should work efficiently despite the differences in opinion. Mr. Kharge also evoked former PM Jawaharlal Nehru and said he empowered the Rajya Sabha and made its MPs, the members of various committees. Deputy Chairman Harivansh thanked the retiring members and said that their experience helped in the smooth functioning of the House. Mr. Singh also mentioned the retiring co-deputy chairmen Surendra Singh Nagar and Sasmit Patra. Leader of the House Piyush Goyal also thanked all the retiring members and said that all members left their mark in enhancing the dignity of the house, irrespective of the duration of their tenure. Following this, several other members of the house also made their farewell speech on the day. The House adjourned for the day following the speeches and Mr. Naidu said that the Special Mentions for the day would be discussed on the next business day (April 1, 2022). Compiled by Diksha Munjal.

Congress, BJP spar in Lok Sabha over cuts in MGNREGA budgets Prices of electric vehicles to be equal of petrol cars in 2 years, says Nitin Gadkari

Copyright @ 2022, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD.

If you are facing any trouble in viewing this newsletter, please try here If you do not wish to receive such emails go here