NCP will vote against land ordinance in Rajya Sabha: Sharad Pawar

"I have spoken to a number of political parties who are opposed to the ordinance. The government may bulldoze it in the Lok Sabha based on its majority in the Lower House. But the picture will be different in the Rajya Sabha.

The NCP will vote against the ordinance in the Upper House," Pawar told reporters here. He said the Government has appointed Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari as the pointsman to hold dialogue with the Opposition to support the ordinance's passage in the Parliament.
  
"I have known Gadkari to be polite and open for dialogue. But the language of the letter he has written to all Opposition members asking whether they don't want development and water to farmers as well as defence projects smacks of arrogance of power. It is not the language of dialogue," Pawar said.

The letter is based on the brief he has got from his political bosses, Pawar charged, adding that he has not replied to the letter.
  
Pawar recalled that the Land Acquisition Bill passed in 2013 was drafted by a committee headed by him. "All suggestions by the then Leaders of Opposition Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley were incorporated and the Bill was passed unanimously. Why was a decision made to scrap the Act and bring amendments," he asked.

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Government not averse to more amendments to Land Bill: Nitin Gadkari

"We are not averse to more amendments to the Land Bill provided they are good and substantial in nature. There is no restriction on fresh changes," Road Transport and Highways Minister Gadkari said.

But at the same time, he cautioned that amendments aimed at delaying the measure and scoring political points against the government would certainly not be considered.
  
"We accepted nine amendments to the bill after discussion in the Lok Sabha. We are obviously open to new changes," he said.

Asked about NDA government's lack of numbers in the Rajya Sabha, Gadkari said that he is hopeful of getting support from the Upper House.
  
"I believe members will support the Bill in Rajya Sabha. Let us hope positively. We are confident," he said. Amendments to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2014 have been approved by the Lok Sabha but could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha as the ruling NDA government is short of numbers in the Upper House.
  
However, pending the passage of the amendment bill by Parliament, the Ordinance was re-promulgated to ensure continuity in legislation.
    

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Had raised concern in Rajya Sabha three years back over misuse of IT Act: Jaitley

"Powers are, normally, assumed under these rules on the assumption that they won't be misused. We feel the pinch only when they are misused. Therefore, I would urge the (IT) Minister to kindly reconsider the language of the kind of restraints that he wants to bring as a result of this notification," read Jaitley's post on the social media website quoting from the said speech.

Jaitley had made the remarks while participating in a debate on Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011, under the Information Technology Act, 2000, in the Upper House on May 17, 2012.

The guidelines were introduced by the previous UPA government to fix accountability of websites, internet and other companies for hosting information that may be found to be offensive.

Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down Section 66A of IT Act saying it was "unconstitutional" and could have a "chilling effect" on freedom of speech and expression.

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Mines Bill passed by Parliament despite protests

The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2015, was passed by the Rajya Sabha earlier on Friday and later approved by the Lok Sabha within 20 minutes.
   
The Bill was cleared by the Lok Sabha but was referred to a Select Committee in Rajya Sabha by a united Opposition. After a day of high drama on Thursday, the Bill was cleared by the upper house as the government agreed to the amendment recommended by the Select Committee on March 18.

The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, seeking to hike FDI in insurance sector was the first reform measure passed by Parliament.
   
Government had promulgated ordinances on insurance and mines and minerals in December last and January, which were converted to bills.
   
In the upper house all parties, barring Congress and the Left, supported it. JD-U members walked out before the voting saying they did not want to be part of the procedure.

The Bill was passed in Rajya Sabha by 117 members voting in favour and 69 against it, after Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar moved it for passage.
   
The House earlier saw a lot of discussion on a motion moved by P Rajeeve of CPI(M), which sought that the measure be re-sent to the Select Committee as it had not taken the views of all stakeholders including state governments.
   
This amendment was voted out after a division, with parties like TMC, NCP, SP, BSP, BJD, AIADMK, DMK and JMM, besides allies Shiv Sena and SAD supporting the government.

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Rajya Sabha passes Mines and Minerals Bill

JD-U members walked out before the voting saying they did not want to be part of the procedure.

The Bill was passed by 117 members voting in favour and 69 against it, after Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar moved it for passage.

The House earlier saw a lot of discussion on a motion moved by P Rajeeve of CPI(M), which sought that the measure be re-sent to the Select Committee as it had not taken the views of all stakeholders including state governments.

This amendment was voted out after a division, with parties like TMC, NCP, SP, BSP, BJD, AIADMK, DMK and JMM, besides allies Shiv Sena and SAD supporting the government.

The rejection of the motion by 112 votes against and 68 in favour, paved the way for the House to take up the Bill for voting.

During the short debate on Rajeeve's motion, members voiced concern over the plight of tribals living in the mining areas and issues relating to their rehabilitation.

The bill further to amend the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, as passed by Lok Sabha and as reported by the Select Committee of Rajya Sabha, would now be sent back to Lok Sabha before it becomes a law.

 

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Government mulls scheme to promote BPOs across country

A policy on Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) operations in the country "is in the final stages of finalisation," Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in reply to a  supplementary during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha.

"The proposed scheme would lay down the appropriate guidelines in regard to eligibility, location, nature of support to the industry and other related aspects and would be operationalised after obtaining necessary approvals of the competent authority," he said.
   
Stating that the policy was aimed at creating employment opportunities and growth of the IT-ITES industry, Prasad said  the Centre and states must work together to make the scheme successful, as the success of BPO industries called for a lot of infrastructural support like land and electricity.
   
"BPO is going to generate employment in all small cities ... BPO is a game changer in small cities," he said appealing to all Members of Parliament and state governments to chip in with their support for the plan.

The minister said all states would have to participate actively to make the scheme a success, particularly on issues like land allocation for setting up BPOs and providing them with power connectivity.

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Atrocities against women on the rise: Government in Rajya Sabha

In 2011, cases of atrocities reported against women were 2,28,650, going up to 2,44,270 in 2012 and 3,09,546 in 2013, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said in a written reply, citing National Crime Records Bureau data.

"...the figures shows an increasing trend (of crime against women)," she said.

To a related question on plans to build residential hostels for working women who in particular are victims of such atrocities, the Minister informed the House that her Ministry was financially supporting a scheme for construction and running of hostel in rented premises for the working women who may be single, widowed, divorced or separated or married.
  
Since the inception of the programme in 1972-73, 916 hostels have been sanctioned under the scheme across the country, she said.

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Government assures relief for rain hit farmers

Acknowledging the unanimous voice on the issue, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government would act "with  compassion and without going into technicalities" of the matter.

Jaitley added the government has full sympathy with the farmers in this hour of natural crisis and the Centre would take all possible steps.

Finance Minister informed the House that the Agriculture Minister has constituted separate teams for each state to assess the losses and all the three Ministers have started visiting the affected states from Thursday.

His remarks came after Opposition Congress, BSP, JD-U and CPI(M) demanded that the Centre should immediately announce financial assistance, assess the extent of damage to crops and
wave interest on loans of distressed farmers.

K C Tyagi (JD-U), who initiated the discussion, said though crops worth Rs 22,000 crore has been lost in the natural fury, the insurance companies were assessing crop loss at no more than Rs 1,000 crore.

Former Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar (NCP) spoke at length on the damage to crops from drought, unseasonal rain and hailstorm and asked Centre to chip in with more help and waive short-term loans particularly crop loan as well as the interest on loans for purchase of agriculture equipments.

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Salman Khan's father Salim Khan, four others declined to accept Padma awards

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said in Rajya Sabha that in accordance with the normal practice, willingness of the person proposed to be conferred Padma awards is informally  ascertained to the extent possible before the announcement of the award.

"Five persons, including Salim Khan, declined to accept the Padma awards in 2015," he said, in reply to a written question.
  
This year the President has approved conferment of Padma awards to 104 persons -- nine Padma Vibhushan, 20 Padma Bhushan and 75 Padma Shri awardees.
  
As many as 17 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 17 persons from the category of foreigners, NRIs, PIOs and four posthumous awardees.
  
Padma Awards, one of the highest civilian awards of the country, are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.
  
The awards are given in various disciplines or fields of activities, viz. art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc.

Padma Vibhushan is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; Padma Bhushan for distinguished service of high order and Padma Shri for distinguished service in any field. The awards are announced on the eve of Republic Day every year.

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Congress protests over Rajya Sabha select panel reports on Coal and Mines Bills

The protests also led to a brief adjournment of the house.As the reports were tabled in the upper house, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said "We want to register our protest against the manner in which mines and coal bills are being rushed for passing."

"The bill was not referred to the Standing Committee, after being referred to the Select Committee. My party said we wanted report on first week of next session. Concerns of members of our party have not been taken on board, other stakeholders have also not been taken on board," he said.

This was followed by noisy protests from Congress members who trooped near the chairman's podium, raising slogans. Amid the ruckus, the house was adjourned for ten minutes.

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Raj Babbar, two others take oath in Rajya Sabha

Chairman Hamid Ansari greeted the members with a "welcome" note.

Babbar, who was elected to the Upper House from Uttarakhand, took oath in Hindi and was warmly greeted by members from across the political spectrum.

With his family including brother watching from the Visitors' Gallery, Babbar was greeted with warm hugs from several leaders during a brief adjournment.

Sable, who was elected from Maharashtra, took oath in Marathi while Dola Sen (TMC), elected from West Bengal, took oath in Bengali.

 

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US, UK hacking of SIM manufacturer's data, a security threat: K C Tyagi

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, K C Tyagi (JD-U) said American and British spy agencies have hacked into the data base of Dutch company Gemalto, one of the largest SIM card manufacturers.

Gemalto's SIM cards are widely used in India including by bureaucrats and the defence establishment, he alarmed, adding that the government's decision to link Aadhaar data base with SIM cards could potentially compromise strategic information. The issue poses a major national security threat.

Raising another issue, M P Achuthan (CPI) said demanded setting up a Rs 1,000 crore fund for rehabilitation of workers returning from the Middle East.

He cited while the popular perception of NRIs is of wealthy Indian living abroad, majority of those residing in the Middle Eastern countries were low-income labourers who are forced to return to their homeland because of localisation policy of the Gulf nations.

But there was no rehabilitation programme for them, either of the Centre or of state governments, Achuthan said.

In Kerala, 40,000 applications were received for receiving government support but only 200 could get subsidy, he claimed and demanded that Rs 1,000 crore be allocated for rehabilitation of the workers returning to the country.

He also demanded that Air India should reduce its exorbitant fares particularly during holiday season to make air travel affordable.

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Tough way ahead for Congress to make way to RS from Rajasthan

Two more elections are set to be held in the next four years of BJP government in the state wherein seven members will be elected for the Upper House.

If the BJP shows some generosity towards Congress and gives away one seat in 2016 as well as 2018, the Opposition may stand some chance or else all 10 members will be from saffron camp in the Rajya Sabha. 

The biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha have been held recently for three seats. After the recently held polls, the BJP has six members and their tenure will end in 2018.

According to senior officials of the Assembly, 40.2 percent first priority votes will be required for ensuring victory of four candidates, while 50.2 percent of first priority votes will be required to send three MPs to the Rajya Sabha.

The BJP also enjoys support of four independent MLAs in the assembly, ensuring victory of its seven candidates.

(Agencies)

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