Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday took exception to being referred to as ‘maharaj’ by Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and said “my name is Jyotiraditya Scindia”.

This came after Chowdhury addressed the Civil Aviation Minister as ‘maharaj’ twice in the Lok Sabha while asking a question pertaining to some airport projects in West Bengal during the Question Hour.

“The matter is that one ‘maharaj’ is a minister, another ‘maharaj’ Air India, now privatisation is happening,” the Congress leader, subsequently, said taking a dig at Scindia, who joined BJP quitting Congress in 2020. In his reply, Scindia first thanked the Congress leader for asking the question. “And, I want to inform him that my name is Jyotiraditya Scindia. Perhaps, he has some misunderstanding, and keep talking about my past again and again. But I want to inform him,” the minister said. (PTI)

Command and control centres of all 100 smart cities will be operational by August 15 this year, Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday. Responding to supplementaries during Question Hour, he said the command and control centres in 75 smart cities are already operational.

Meanwhile, several members complained about not being invited to meetings of the Smart City Director Board chaired by chief secretaries of the respective states.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla shared the concerns of the members regarding absence of invitations to parliamentarians for meetings related to the development of smart cities. (PTI)

Expressing his displeasure over Union ministers not giving precise replies during the Question Hour, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Thursday suggested they should respond to the queries precisely and come well prepared to the House.

During the Question Hour, while responding to one of the questions, Minister of State for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises B P Verma took some time to find the reply for supplementary questions, so Birla said, "You keep on arranging and looking into your papers, you are done with a reply." 

Similarly, when Union Power Minister R K Singh, while replying to a supplementary question, said the matter has been referred to the government, the speaker instantly pointed to the minister and said, "Who is the government if you are not?" Birla suggested that the ministers should respond to the questions in a precise and appropriate manner, besides coming prepared to the House. He also corrected Union minister Narayan Rane when he started speaking about issues in Tamil Nadu related to his ministry, while the question was about Kerala. (PTI)

Civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday said airfare bands serve the purpose of protecting the interests of airlines as well as passengers.

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the civil aviation ministry introduced airfare bands with upper and lower limits as a temporary measure under the Aircraft Act, 1934, he told Lok Sabha in a written reply. He also emphasised that under normal circumstances, airfares are neither established nor regulated by the government. "The fare bands serve the dual purpose of protecting the interests of the travellers as well as of the airlines, and have been revised from time to time. Fare capping is, presently, applicable on a rolling basis for a 15 days' cycle," the minister said.

With the repeal of Air Corporation Act in March 1994, airlines are free to fix reasonable airfares under Aircraft Rules, 1937. (PTI)

There is no proposal under consideration for giving additional attempts to aspirants of civil services examination for the year 2022, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.

The issue of granting age relaxation and extra attempt to the candidates in civil services examination (CSE) due to the COVID-19 pandemic had been brought before the Supreme Court of India vide writ petitions filed by the aspirants, Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said in a written reply.

Based on the judgements passed by the apex court, the matter has been considered and it has not been found feasible to change the existing provisions regarding number of attempts and age-limit in respect of the civil services examination, he said. (PTI)

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman replying on the Union Budget 2022 in the Lok Sabha on Thursday said that "every village has been electrified in India". Taking a dig at the Opposition Congress, Sitharaman said, "'Andhkaal' (time of darkness) had prevailed during their rule, whereas now, every house has got electricity in every village." (ANI)

Over 19,000 cases are pending in the Delhi High Court for five to 10 years and over 13,000 cases for 10 years and more, the government told Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

Similarly, in the Allahabad High Court, over 1.84 lakh cases are pending for five to 10 years and over 3.20 lakh for 10 years and above. Allahabad High Court is the biggest high court of the country.

In a written reply, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said 19,895 cases are pending with the Delhi High Court which are 5 to 10 year old. A total of 13,263 cases are pending for 10 years and more. Sharing data of pendency, the minister said in Delhi's subordinate and district courts, 1,41,235 cases are pending which are 5 to 10 year old. A total of 13,571 cases are pending for 10 years and above. (PTI)

There is no such proposal under consideration of the government to increase man hour work from eight to 12 hours for its establishments, Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

“No such proposal is under consideration of the government,” he said, responding to a query “whether government is in the process of increasing the man hour work from 8 hours to 12 hours a day in all government establishments?”. (PTI)

Shiv Sena MP Anil Desai on Thursday said it is surprising to see that the government is doing away with its ownership in profitable public sector companies and, at the same time, making a sizable investment in private telecom company Vodafone Idea. 

He said the dismantling of the profit-making public sector will certainly affect the employment scenario badly.

"Disinvestment in LIC, privatisation of nationalised banks, sale of BPCL and Pawan Hans, will have a bad impact on the economy. "It is surprising that on the one side, the government is doing away with its ownership in the public sector and, at the same time, investing sizable capital to support the Vodafone Idea venture in the private sector," Desai said. (PTI)

BJP MP KJ Alphons on Thursday said that the contribution of industrialists and corporate houses that are creating jobs and making large investments in the country must be recognised.

Tearing into opposition's allegations that rich are growing richer and that government policies were benefitting corporate houses, Alphons hit back saying all key economic indicators showed that the Modi-government had steered the country to the path of growth, amid the pandemic.

Participating in the general discussion on Budget, the BJP member informed the Rajya Sabha that the government has spent money in building large infrastructure, toilets, hospitals, roads, houses, and in the process also created jobs. (PTI)

India has about 21 judges per million people, Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday. In a written reply, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said to calculate the judge-population ratio for per million population in a particular year, the Department of Justice in the ministry uses the population as per Census 2011 and as per available information regarding sanctioned strength of judges in Supreme Court, the high court and district and subordinate courts in the particular year.
    
"The judge to population ratio (judge per million population) with respect to sanctioned strength of judges is 21.03 as on December 31 2021," he said. The sanctioned strength of the apex court is 34 while it is 1098 for the 25 high courts.    
     
Responding to a query on pendency of cases, he said setting up of subordinate courts including, fast track courts (FTCs) and its functioning comes within the domain of the state governments in consultation with the respective high courts. (PTI)

The government on Thursday said that efforts have been made to obtain the files and records relating to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose from the UK, the US, Russia, Japan and China. 

V Muraleedharan, the Minister of State for External Affairs, said in Rajya Sabha that the UK has informed that 62 files on Bose are already available on the websites of the National Archives and the British Library. The minister was replying to a question on the government's efforts to seek cooperation relating to the controversy over Netaji's death.

"The Russian government has conveyed that they were unable to find any documents in the Russian archives pertaining to Netaji even after additional investigations made based on request from the Indian side," he said. Muraleedharan said the response of the Chinese government has not been received. (PTI)

The Rajya Sabha has been adjourned till Friday 10 am.

The Centre on Thursday said Rs 6.15 crore has been approved as financial assistance to families of 123 journalists who died due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Replying to supplementary questions in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L Murugan also said it was the responsibility of the state governments to take appropriate action against online harassment of women journalists. (PTI)

TRS MPs in Rajya Sabha walked out of the House until the Chairman accepts the Privilege Motion against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (ANI)

TRS MPs protested in the Well of the Rajya Sabha on Thursday morning over PM Narendra Modi's statement in the House on 8th Feb on the passing of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill. (ANI)

The House convened at 10 am.

TRS MPs on Wednesday moved a Privilege Motion against PM Narendra Modi for his statement in the Rajya Sabha on 8th February on the passing of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill. (ANI)

BJP member Tejasvi Surya on Wednesday said in Lok Sabha that the "mindless obsession" of successive Congress governments with socialism had kept the country poor as a part of a design to continue the dynastic rule.

Participating in the discussion on the general budget, Surya said before the advent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country was under to control of dynasts, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, who deliberately kept the country poor to perpetuate their rule.

"The reason why dynastic politics preferred socialism and kept a closed economy because they did not want challengers to come and challenge their throne," Surya, an MP from Bangalore South, said. The BJP member said the argument of increase in unemployment in the country put forth by the Opposition was "baseless and logicless". (PTI)

The ruling TRS party in Telangana on Wednesday held protests across the State against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remarks made in the Rajya Sabha on the manner adopted in Parliament for bifurcating the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh and the creation of Telangana State. Ministers and partymen wearing black badges and holding black balloons participated in the protest at several places to seek an apology from Modi.

Replying to the motion of thanks to the President's address, Modi in the Rajya Sabha hit out at Congress and said Telangana was created with the doors of Parliament closed without any discussion.
Stating that BJP is not opposed to Telangana, Modi said the NDA government headed by Atal Behari Vajpayee had created three States without any problem.

Home Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali and Animal Husbandry Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav held protests here condemning Modi's remarks. Demanding the apology, TRS Working President and Minister KT Rama Rao in an inauguration programmes alleged that the Modi was trying to spread hatred with his remarks. (PTI)

Rajya Sabha adjourned till 10 am on February 10

Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has given adjournment motion notice to discuss "curb on freedom of Press". (ANI)

As the issue of unemployment is being discussed in Parliament during the debate on Union Budget, the Union government on Wednesday informed the Rajya Sabha that more than 25,000 Indians died by suicide due to either unemployment or indebtedness between 2018 and 2020. As many as 9,140 people died by suicide due to unemployment and 16,091 people due to bankruptcy or indebtedness during the time period, the government told the upper house.

The information was provided by Minister of State (Home) Nityanand Rai in a written reply to a question on the issue in Rajya Sabha. Rai said that the government figures are based on data provided by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

According to the data, suicides among the unemployed have been increasing and touched the highest (3,548) in the pandemic year of 2020. While 2,741 ended life due to unemployment in 2018, 2,851 did so in 2019. Read More

The government has cancelled the FCRA registration of nearly 1,900 NGOs for violating various provisions of law in the last five years, Union Minister Nityanand Rai said in the Rajya Sabha. Rai also said that there is no provision in the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 2010 for blacklisting of NGOs but if any NGO is found violating the provisions of the law and rules, appropriate action is taken.
    
"During the last five years i.e. 2017 to 2021, FCRA registration certificates of 1,898 NGOs or associations registered under 'social' category have been cancelled. These cancellations were done due to violation of provisions of FCRA, 2010," he said in a written reply to a question.
    
The minister also said if any NGO submits an application for consideration against the order of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the same is considered and decided as per the law. (PTI) 

Saying the water of the river Ganga is not even fit for bathing, a Congress MP in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday demanded to know the status of the clean Ganga project. Raising the issue through a Zero Hour mention, Kumar Ketkar of the Congress said it was promised that by 2019, the Ganga will be cleaned up.

"Not only me but the whole nation wants to know the status of the clean Ganga project," he said, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself is the chairman of the Clean Ganga Council. The Central Pollution Board has stated that not only the river is not clean, but it is also unlikely to be cleaned for many years, he said. "And it is not certainly (fit) for bathing purposes." The river, he said, is being primarily used as a 'Shav Vahini'. 

"More dead bodies have been floating in the Ganga than actually for bathing. More money has been spent on 'puja-pat' than on the clean Ganga project," the MP said. The budget has gone from Rs 20,000 crore to Rs 30,000 crore but nothing has happened. "Ganga remains as unclean or more unclean," he alleged. (PTI)

On the issue of rehabilitation of Kashmiri migrants back into the valley, MoS Home Nityanand Rai said: "Government has taken several measures to rehabilitate Kashmiri migrants back into the valley, including the 3,000 State Government jobs created for Kashmiri Migrants under the Prime Minister's Development Package-2015 (PMDP-2015) at an outlay of Rs 1,080 crore."

The government has approved a proposal for setting up a state-of-the-art Greyhound training centre in Andhra Pradesh at a cost of Rs 219.16 crores in April 2018, the Ministry of Home Affairs announced in Rajya Sabha today. 

"Due to difficulties faced by the Andhra Pradesh Govt in getting encumbrance free land for the project, it has been recommended to fund the entire cost of land by the Central Govt on the condition that 50% training slots are provided to agencies of Govt of India," the MHA said.

TRS MPs gathered at the Gandhi statue in Parliament to protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remark on Andhra Pradesh-Telangana bifurcation during his statement in the House.

Delhi: TRS MPs protest at the Gandhi statue in Parliament, over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remark on Andhra Pradesh-Telangana bifurcation during his statement in the House. pic.twitter.com/hg3xKv5Hhb

— ANI (@ANI) February 9, 2022

Accusing PM Modi of misusing his motion of thanks in Rajya Sabha, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said: "If you hate Congress, Gandhi Ji, Nehru Ji,or Rahul Ji, say all that outside Parliament. He (PM Modi) dropped our issues of Pegasus, Covid, inflation, etc...We weren't even born when Congress fought & won independence. He misused his motion of thanks and left his principles."

A group of Kerala MPs gathered outside the Parliament building on Wednesday to protest against alleged driscrimination in budgetary allocations made to their state. 

Delhi: MPs from Kerala protest in Parliament premises, alleging discrimination in Budgetary allocation to their state. pic.twitter.com/3oWT3SUS0b

— ANI (@ANI) February 9, 2022