Budget Session Highlights: ‘Sole aim of Budget 2024 is to strengthen monopoly of big businesses’, says Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday asked Leader of Opposition in the Lower House, Rahul Gandhi, to read the Parliamentary Rules of Procedure, news agency PTI reported. The advice came after Rahul made reference to people who are not members of the Lok Sabha, and sought to show photographs during his speech on the Union Budget.

"You are Leader of the Opposition. I expect you to first read all the rules of procedure at least one more time," Birla said. The Speaker also reminded Rahul of the rules when he refused to yield to Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, who wanted to clarify certain points highlighted by the Rae Bareli MP. " "If the prime minister and the ministers yield to our request when we raise our hand to speak, we will yield every time they ask us to yield," Rahul said.

Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday said that India was the only country where prices for petrol and diesel had declined between the duration November 2021 and April 2024, news agency PTI reported. Puri further stated that petrol and diesel were deregulated during the tenure of the UPA government. "Prices here being high and elsewhere being low. It's exactly the opposite. In India today, the prices are the lowest and is the only country where prices have actually come down," Puri said

Speaking in the Lok Sabha after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's speech, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that there had been attempts made to mislead the people of the country in regards to the Agniveer scheme. "Our jawans protect the country's borders, it is such a sensitive issue of our national security. There are attempts to mislead the nation on the Agniveer issue, I am ready to make a statement whenever you permit," Singh said. The remarks came after Rahul, who is also the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, said that Singh had told the House that the family of an Agniveer martyr had received compensation of Rs 1 crore, but the amount was only insurance payment.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday spoke about the deaths of three students when the basement of a UPSC coaching centre was flooded in Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar. Pradhan, during a discussion in Rajya Sabha, said that there was "negligence", adding that a solution could be reached only when accountability is fixed. "...It is our responsibility to ensure that such an incident is not repeated," Pradhan said.

BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy, while speaking in the Lower House of the Parliament, raised concern about the fact that 50,000 people die of snakebite in India every year, which he said was the highest in the world. During a discussion in Lok Sabha, the Saran MP said that 30-40 lakh people are bitten by snakes every year across the country. "Bihar is the poorest state, enduring both poverty and natural calamities. Across India, 30 to 40 lakh people are bitten by snakes and 50,000 people die, which is the highest in the world," Rudy said.