parliament

The Week in Parliament

THE Budget Session of Parliament began on February 23 with President Pranab Mukherjee’s address to a joint session of both the Houses. After the President's address, Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha met and made obituary references. Both the Houses were adjourned after laying the President's address on the table of the respective House.

The Week in Parliament

THE week started with uproar in both the Houses of Parliament as the opposition united against the government over the exclusion of Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy from a programme attended by Prime Minister Narendra  Modi. In the Lok Sabha, the Left parties along with Congress, the NCP and the RJD, staged walkout. The Rajya Sabha was disrupted over the killing of a Dalit in Punjab and on the encroachment drive by Railways in Shakur Basti, Delhi where 500 slum-dwellings were demolished mindlessly leading to the death of a child and leaving several slum-dwellers roofless in winter.

THE WEEK IN PARLIAMENT

IN Lok Sabha, speaking on the flood situation in various parts of the country, M B Rajesh said that while Karnataka was declared drought hit, Tamil Nadu is facing devastating flood. The whole country has shown the great consideration and solidarity with the people of Tamil Nadu. I was participating in a fund collection in Cochin, within 20 minutes, we could collect more than Rs 1 lakh. As many as 302 districts out of 676 in the country are facing drought. Eight states have already been declared drought hit.

The Week in Parliament

THE monsoon session of Parliament began on a stormy note on July 21. The Rajya Sabha witnessed multiple adjournments with the opposition demanding resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje over the Lalit Modi controversy, and Shivraj Singh Chouhan of Madhya Pradesh over the Vyapam scam, while the Lok Sabha was adjourned for the whole day after making obituary reference on account of a sitting member’s death.

THE WEEK IN PARLIAMENT

THE NDA government, after assuming office, has been constantly trying to bypass well-established parliamentary procedures. To push through crucial legislations without proper scrutiny, the government’s approach is to firstly use its “brute majority” in the Lok Sabha to bulldoze all oppositions to anti-people laws, and secondly, to pass off any legislation that deals with or relates to finance as a ‘Money Bill’, which under our Constitution, does not required approval by the Rajya Sabha, where the ruling dispensation is in minority.

THE WEEK IN PARLIAMENT

HAVING once failed to get the nod of Rajya Sabha for its anti-farmer land bill, the government made another attempt to get it passed by Parliament and introduced the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015, which seeks to replace the re-promulgated ordinance, in the Lower House. In its attempt to push through the land bill and other legislations, the government even extended the Budget Session of Lok Sabha by three days till May 13.

THE WEEK IN PARLIAMENT

THE first day of the week began by observing a minute's silence in memory of those killed in the devastating earthquake in Nepal and parts of India. Speaking on this, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury expressed sympathy with the people of Nepal and parts of our own country devastated by the earthquake and said on behalf of CPI(M) funds will be collected across the country to help the affected people. The government should put in place a structure so that there should be a medium for whatever resources are collected.

THE WEEK IN PARLIAMENT

THE Budget Session of Lok Sabha resumed on April 20. On the very first day, the government tabled the controversial land acquisition bill to replace the ordinance amid vociferous protests by the Opposition and subsequently walk-out.In the afternoon when the house reassembled, the Lok Sabha started with the pending discussion on agrarian crisis, initiated by Leader of CPI(M) in Lok Sabha P Karunakaran. Speaking on the issue, Sankar Prasad Datta said at present a situation like that of mid 60's has arisen in our country. The situation in the countryside has worsened.

THE WEEK IN PARLIAMENT

In Rajya sabha, this week the rail budget was discussed. Lok Sabha discussed the general budget.While discussing the matter regarding the losses of crops due to unprecedented heavy rains and hailstorm, CPI(M) leader in Rajya Sabha,  Sitaram Yechury said the situation of the agricultural farmers is very serious. In this last 20 days, in West Bengal, almost 20 farmers who have been producing potatoes committed suicide as the price of potatoes declined. The government must have to take some concrete measures to protect our agricultural farmers.

THE WEEK IN PARLIAMENT

THE NDA government managed to push through the land acquisition bill in the Lok Sabha this week while a united opposition made it clear that the path of the contentious bills, especially those resulting out of ordinances, would hardly be smooth in the Rajya Sabha and would required to stand the test of parliamentary scrutiny.

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