Winter session of Parliament: PM Narendra Modi holds meeting with top ministers to discuss House strategy

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New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday (December 10) held a meeting with senior ministers in Parliament to discuss strategy for the ongoing winter session. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal were among the attendees.

Both the Houses of Parliament have witnessed repeated adjournments over the Opposition`s demand for revocation of suspension of 12 MPs from the Rajya Sabha. The MPs were suspended over alleged unruly conduct towards the end of the monsoon session in August.

The suspended members comprise six from the Congress, two each from Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena, and one each from CPI and CPM: Phulo Devi Netam, Chhaya Verma, Ripun Bora, Rajamani Patel, Syed Nasir Hussain and Akhilesh Prasad Singh of Congress; Dola Sen, Shanta Chhetri of Trinamool Congress; Priyanka Chaturvedi, Anil Desai of Shiv Sena; Elamaram Kareem of CPM; and, Binoy Viswam of CPI.

The Opposition leaders called off their sit-in dharna against the suspension of the 12 Rajya Sabha MPs for Thursday as a mark of respect towards Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat and 12 others who lost their lives in a chopper crash in Tamil Nadu.  

Both Houses of the Parliament observed two-minute silence over the demise of General Rawat and others. 

Manish Tewari moves adjournment motion in Lok Sabha over inflation

Congress MP Manish Tewari today gave an adjournment motion notice in Lok Sabha to discuss the issue of rising inflation in the country.

In his letter to the Secretary-General of Lok Sabha, Tewari said, "I hereby give notice of my intention to ask for leave to move a motion for the adjournment of the business of the house for the purpose of discussing a definite matter of urgent importance. The high rate of inflation has hurt the economically weaker sections of the country. Prices of oil and vegetables have skyrocketed and fuel is breaking new price records almost every day with petrol going way beyond the 100-rupee mark and LPG cylinders having more than doubled in price since 2014, now cost more than Rs 900."

Tewari said, "According to data released by RBI, the CPI (combined) inflation rate in Oils and fats for October 2021 on a YoY basis stands at 33.50 per cent while the same numbers for fuel and light and transport and communication are 14.19 and 10.90 respectively." 

The Congress leader further said that this high rate of inflation not only breaks the back of the low-income group of the country but also aggravates the already increasing inequality in income distribution, adding "Thus, I want to raise this urgent issue of Inflation in the house."

The winter session of the Parliament, which commenced on November 29, is scheduled to conclude on December 23.

Manoj Jha moves suspension of business notice in RS over human rights violation

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Kumar Jha today moved a notice for suspension of business under rule 267 in Rajya Sabha to discuss "human rights violation across India".

In his letter to the Chairman of the Upper House, Jha said, "Today being December 10, World Human Rights Day, I request you to kindly suspend all other business for the day and the house must have a wider discussion on the brazen violation of human rights in different parts of India. We must also deliberate upon why student activists and other human rights defenders are made victims of Draconian Laws. It is in this context that I place my request before you under Rule-267."

(With Agency Inputs)