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The Rajya Sabha will take up The Appropriation (No.2) Bill, 2021 today, while the Lok Sabha will discuss The Finance Bill, 2021 and The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021. The National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development Bill, 2021 will be introduced in the Lower House.
The first part of the Budget Session of Parliament, which commenced with the address of President Ram Nath Kovind on January 29, concluded on February 29. The second part of the Budget Session began March 7.
Here are the latest updates:
Lok Sabha | 12.25 pm
Nirmala Sitharaman introduces the bill to amend Insurance Bill.
Sloganeering continues in the House.
Ms. Sitharaman says, “insurance sector is a capital-intensive sector and requires long term capital.” She gives the history of raising of FDI stake. “Rs. 26,000 came in after FDI was raised to 49% in 2015. 12 new companies have 26% FDI.”
“Total assets under the management of insurance companies has seen a 76% hike. Whereas GDP grew only by 63%. So, the raising of FDI limits in insurance in 2015 led to much change. Insurance companies are facing capital constraints.”
Lok Sabha | 12.20 pm
Gireesh Bapat of the BJP speaks in Marathi.
Rajya Sabha | 12.10 pm
Rajya Sabha adjourned till 2 p.m.
Congress MP Chaya Verma was trying to ask the Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar about the destruction of crops in various States due to wildlife. Instead of answering her question, Mr. Javdekar tried to speak about the Maharashtra issue. At this, Deputy Chairman Harivansh, who was in the chair, adjourned the House.
The Treasury Benches started protesting at 12 p.m. soon after the Question Hour began.
Lok Sabha | 12.05 pm
Nirmala Sitharaman introduces the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development Bill, 2021.
Zero Hour begins.
Manoj Kotak of the BJP raises the issue of allegations by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Parambir Singh against Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.
“Maharashtra HM should resign. This is a government only to loot the people,” he says. “If in Mumbai the situation is this bad, what about the rest of the State? CBI should probe the allegations.”
Rakesh Singh of BJP says, “When democratic rights become about posting officers only for private profit, it becomes an issue for the whole . The man making the allegations was once hailed as a good officer by the same government. Under what circumstances was the ASI reappointed?”
“NCP leaders, till yesterday, were saying issue was serious. This morning the tune has changed? Is it because of fear of the Maharashtra Home Minister spilling the beans on who all were on the take in that government? A non-partisan enquiry should be held.”
Kapil Patil of BJP says the letter by the former police commissioner makes serious allegations. “A senior leader said the matter was serious. By evening, his tune changed. Maybe because the Maharashtra HM threatened to reveal all.”
Vinayak Raut of Shiv Sena says, “For many months all attempts to destabilise the Maha Vikas Aghadi have not succeeded and the Centre’s plans are clear. Who is this Parambir Singh? I can reveal what all he has been up to. Former commissioner Julio Rebeiro has revealed a lot about him.”
Rajya Sabha | 12 pm
Protests from the Opposition. Chairman Naidu says there were 13 Zero Hour mentions and 6 Special Mentions.
It is not clear what the protest is about, as the Chairman has given clear instructions that the protest not be shown on TV.
Question Hour begins amidst din in Rajya Sabha.
It is the Treasury Benches that are protesting against Congress and Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra, in connection with the letter by former Maharashtra DGP alleging that the State Home Minister was running an extortion racket.
I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar says, “we have seen that so far it was the terrorists who were planting bombs. But in Maharashtra, it is the police doing this.”
The Question Hour continues amidst this din.
Lok Sabha | 12 pm
Ritesh Pandey of BSP says the recent report by IWG states a proposal that corporate houses can get banking licenses. “This is nothing less than a bomb. Money will be diverted to fatten the corporate accounts.”
Mr. Thakur says many suggestions are sent via reports and RBI will take a call. “Secondly, private entities are there in banking sector even now. Before nationalisation too, private interests ran banks. We want competitive banking sector and benefit to customers,” he says.
Question Hour ends, papers being tabled.
Rajya Sabha | 11.45 am
Maharaja Sanajaoba Leishemba of BJP demands that IAS examination be held in Manipur also. “There are no examination centers in Imphal. Our students are facing hardship. The lower middle class students are unable to sit for the exam.”
Sushil Modi of BJP says, “All India Judicial Service has not seen the light of the day despite a 45-years long campaign. There should be reservation for SC/ST/OBC. I urge government of India to take all stakeholders into confidence to make it happen.”
Lok Sabha | 11.45 am
Rahul Shewale of Shiv Sena says, “Corporate Social Responsibility funds are often re-routed back to companies via trusts. How can this be stopped?”
Anurag Thakur, MoS Finance, giving background of the CSR Act, says, “we have clarified where unspent funds are to be lodged. The MP should tell us if he has a specific case in mind.”
Mr. Shewale says, “we always get excuses that CSR funds are being sent to PM National Relief Fund and do not receive it locally.”
Mr. Thakur responds, “Maharashtra has got the largest share of funds, nearly Rs. 12,700 crores out of more than Rs. 72,000 crores. No other State is even close.”
Disturbance in the House as the Minister refers to events in Maharashtra with regard to Parambir Singh’s accusations.
Mr. Thakur continues and says, “The allegations made against Maharashtra government are serious.”
Ravneet Singh Bittu of the Congress says, “After setting up PMCARE funds, everything else saw cuts, and money from CSR only went there. You have diverted funds from everywhere else to PMCARES fund.”
Mr. Thakur responding to Mr. Bittu says, most funds go to three sectors – education, health and rural development projects with livelihood enhancement.
“Schedule 7 clarifies where government funds can go. Non governmental funds should not be confused with it,” he says.
Lok Sabha | 11.30 am
Manish Tewari of the Congress says the ASI has neither capacity nor bandwidth to take care of India’s heritage. “Why can’t you set up a consultative committee in districts with MPs who can raise local resources for preservation,” he asks.
Mr. Patel responds, “The ASI has national and international reputation and I object to this statement. At the district level, there are preservation societies where MPs are members. Maybe at the Honourable Member’s State he is not called for meetings.”
Nihal Singh Chauhan of the BJP says, “Petrol and diesel prices are highest in my district of Sriganganagar. It is over Rs. 100 per litre. Even in the neighbouring Punjab, fuel is Rs. 10 cheaper than at my place.”
Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister for Finance, says, “The original question was about closing of depots, not about pricing due to distance.”
Mr. Chauhan further says, “can you consider joining Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh with Bhatinda or reopen the HPCL depot?”
Ms. Sitharaman says, “These two places maybe closer to Punjab but Rajasthan’s taxes will be applicable. Specifically, the depot was close due to safety related issues. Reconsideration to open is not on.”
Prajjwal Revanna of JDS asks, “Who identifies tourism sites and what is the criterion. Why is Karnataka being ignored?”
Mr. Patel responds, “Hampi is on the list of 21 iconic sites, and no one is ignoring Karnataka . Some funds given to Karnataka was returned unused and with interest. Now, State government has sent some projects for consideration.”
Mr. Revanna says, “As per previous answers on the subject, Karnataka has been ignored. Other than Hampi, there are various other sites that need attention.”
Mr. Patel reads out the quantum of funds given to Karnataka, adding, “but this was returned unused. We are in the process of relisting monuments for providing central support, and many Karnataka monuments will feature there.”
Umesh Jadhav of the BJP says, “There is no information about the proposal for preservation of Gulbarga heritage monuments.”
Mr. Patel says Bidar, Gulbarga and Yadgir proposal has come to us and we have taken it up with the State government.
Rajya Sabha | 11.30 am
Rewati Raman Singh of SP says, “the commercialisation of Himalayas could be disastrous. The government is constructing four new dams, and for the Chaar Dham Yatra, scores of trees are being cut. The Chamoli incident is a result of this uncontrolled construction.”
Shakti Sinh Gohil of Congress says, “there are only 675 Asiatic Lions as per the latest survey. Roughly 300 lions have been killed in accidents while crossing the rail track. I would request the government to look into it.”
Manoj Kumar Jha of RJD says, “In this time of the pandemic, three to four crore ration cards have been cancelled. Initially, it was said that they are bogus cards. But later, it turned out that these have been cancelled because of finger print mismatch. And this has resulted in deaths due to hunger. It is unfortunate that people are dying of hunger in our country. I would urge the government to restore these ration cards.”
Bhagwat Karad of BJP speaks in Marathi. He is the second Member to speak in a regional language during the Zero Hour. The first Member was Sasmit Patra of BJD.
Neeraj Dangi of Congress raises the issue of non-implementation of the reservation qouta in IAS exams. He protests against lateral appointment of director and joint secretaries. “This is another method of bypassing the reservation policy.”
Ramnath Thakur of JD(U) says, “More than half of the posts reserved for the OBC are lying vacant. I would urge the government to hold a special campaign to fill these vacancies for the reserved castes.”
Lok Sabha | 11.20 am
G. Ranjit Reddy of TRS asks for a legal backing for the right to skill development, and also for a skill development Centre in Hyderabad.
Mr. Pandey replies, “We want to encourage States to take this forward and we are also considering the various requests by States.”
Upendra Singh Rawat of BJP asks about preservation and development of heritage properties and monuments by Archaeological Survey of India in Uttar Pradesh. “In Barabanki, there are many Artifacts connected to Mahabharata,” he says, and asks for their preservation by ASI.
Prahlad Patel, Minister for Culture and Tourism, says, “ASI has started a project to relist monuments and increase the number of those registered under Centre’s care.”
Mr. Rawat says access to online ticketing is not widespread and gives opportunity to touts who fool tourists and grab revenue that should have accrued to the government.
Mr. Patel says that instructions to allow both online and physical ticketing have been given.
Rajya Sabha | 11.10 am
Zero Hour Begins in Rajya Sabha.
Dr. Narendra Jhadav raises the issues of cyber attacks on critical infrastructure.
Mr. Jadhav says, “The recent cyber attack on Mumbai power grid shows the vulnerability of the critical infrastructure in India. The Maharashtra Police has found evidence of Trojan invasion. I don’t want to sound like an alarmist but this could escalate into nuclear meltdown.”
Sasmit Patra of BJD speaks in Odia.
Lok Sabha | 11.10 am
Question Hour begins.
Bhagwanth Khuba of BJP asks a question on skill development. “The Minister gives an answer but the answer provides no solutions for skilling of those who belong to economically weaker sections. Departments are unable to fulfil targets.”
Mahendra Pandey, Minister for Skill Development, says, “Our entire system in the Ministry is geared towards EWS only. Even the New Education Policy is geared towards it and our focus is on EWS.”
Supplementary question by Mr. Khuba: “every district should have skilling centres.”
Mr. Pandey says the Ministry has focussed on district skill committees. “Migrants who went home during pandemic also used these facilities.”
Sunil Kumar Singh of BJP says, “Currently there are 248 operative Jan Shikshan Sansthan. The Minister had said 83 more were to be opened. I want to ask specifically about my constituency of Chhatra (Jharkhand ). When will they be set up?”
Mr. Pandey says, “In Jharkhand, currently, 3 JSS are operative and 14 more are planned including in Chhatra.”
Lok Sabha | 11 am
Lok Sabha proceedings begin for the day.
Rajendra Agarwal is presiding over the House as Speaker Om Birla has tested positive for COVID-19.
The House observes two minutes silence and obituary references to Dilip Gandhi and Mohan Bhai Patel are made.
Rakesh Singh says he wants to raise a particular issue, to which, the Chair says it is allowed in the Zero Hour.
“We all know that our respected Speaker is down with COVID-19, we wish him a speedy recovery,” says Rajendra Agarawal.
Rajya Sabha | 11 am
Rajya Sabha proceedings begin.
Chairman Venkaiah Naidu says, “Today, March 22, is World Water Day. This year, the UN theme for the day is ‘valuing water’. With the ever-growing population, demand for water has increased manifold. The situation has been further exacerbated by reckless use of water. Our country has 16% of the world’s population but only 4% of fresh water.”
The Chairman makes an appeal to all Members: “Whatever you want to talk about, you can talk outside the House. Particularly when the Chair is making an observation, it is not fair to cause distraction.”
Rajya Sabha
Legislative business
Bill for consideration and return
The Appropriation (No.2) Bill, 2021
Lok Sabha
Obituary references
Obituary references to the passing away of Mohanbhai Patel (Member, Seventh and Eighth Lok Sabhas); and Dilipkumar Mansukhlal Gandhi (Member, Thirteenth, Fifteenth and Sixteenth Lok Sabhas) to be made in the House.
Legislative business
Bill to be introduced
The National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development Bill, 2021
Bills for consideration and passing
The Finance Bill, 2021
The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021
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