Congress, Left parties call for minsters’ resignations
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Monday urged Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to end the logjam in Parliament, even as constant disruptions by Opposition parties led to both Houses being adjourned for the day. Yadav asked Mahajan to call a meeting of all Opposition parties and the government to attempt to break the stalemate. However, at the meeting, both the Congress and the Left bloc demanded that key Union ministers and state Chief Ministers should resign because of the controversies in which they are ensnared. The parties said that they would be open to discussions only when the resignations had been submitted. Later, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley accused the Congress of using the issue of the resignations to stall the passage of several pieces of legislation, including the Goods and Services Tax Bill.
Land Bill committee postpones submission
The Joint Parliamentary Committee examining the Land Acquisition bill on Monday decided to postpone the submission of its report till the Winter session of Parliament. The decision was proposed by Committee Chairperson SS Ahluwalia after the parties present at the meeting failed to reach a consensus on the Bill. The proceedings of the meeting were also stalled after Ahluwalia accused the Congress’ representatives of using “delaying tactics”, following which the representatives staged a walkout.
Manhunt for trader who helped Udhampur gunmen
Central security agencies and the police in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday launched a manhunt for a Srinagar businessman who allegedly paid money to the Lashkar-e-Taiba militants who carried out an ambush on a Border Security Force convoy in Udhampur last week. Officials said that the businessman reportedly paid two of the gunmen Rs five lakh to pass on to their handlers in the LeT. The officials said that they found out about the trader from Mohammed Naveed Yakub, the militant who was captured by security forces after the attack. Eleven people have been arrested by security officials so far based on the information provided by Naveed during his interrogation.
Government says crackdown only on child pornography
The Union government on Monday said that it was only conducting a crackdown on websites containing child pornography and that it supported the right of an individual to “watch porn in private”. Union Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi told the Supreme Court that while banning child pornography was the “standard accepted practice” around the world, the issue of banning adult pornographic websites was a grey area as questions regarding the violation of the rights of free speech and expression would arise from such a ban. Rohatgi said that the entire issue needed a larger debate, adding that the state could not become the moral police. Rohatgi’s clarification came days after the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government ordered a review of a notification banning 857 websites for adult content following intense criticism.
Withdraw notices, broadcasters urge government
The News Broadcasters Association on Monday urged the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry to withdraw the show-cause notices issued to four news-channels for their coverage of the execution of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon. The association called on the ministry to refer the matter to the News Broadcasting Standards Authority, a self-regulatory mechanism set up by broadcasters. The notices to NDTV, NDTV India, Aajtak, and ABP News were issued for programming that the ministry believed would “incite violence and lead to law and order problems”. The ministry asked the channels to explain why their coverage had not violated sections of the Programme Code.
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Monday urged Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to end the logjam in Parliament, even as constant disruptions by Opposition parties led to both Houses being adjourned for the day. Yadav asked Mahajan to call a meeting of all Opposition parties and the government to attempt to break the stalemate. However, at the meeting, both the Congress and the Left bloc demanded that key Union ministers and state Chief Ministers should resign because of the controversies in which they are ensnared. The parties said that they would be open to discussions only when the resignations had been submitted. Later, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley accused the Congress of using the issue of the resignations to stall the passage of several pieces of legislation, including the Goods and Services Tax Bill.
Land Bill committee postpones submission
The Joint Parliamentary Committee examining the Land Acquisition bill on Monday decided to postpone the submission of its report till the Winter session of Parliament. The decision was proposed by Committee Chairperson SS Ahluwalia after the parties present at the meeting failed to reach a consensus on the Bill. The proceedings of the meeting were also stalled after Ahluwalia accused the Congress’ representatives of using “delaying tactics”, following which the representatives staged a walkout.
Manhunt for trader who helped Udhampur gunmen
Central security agencies and the police in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday launched a manhunt for a Srinagar businessman who allegedly paid money to the Lashkar-e-Taiba militants who carried out an ambush on a Border Security Force convoy in Udhampur last week. Officials said that the businessman reportedly paid two of the gunmen Rs five lakh to pass on to their handlers in the LeT. The officials said that they found out about the trader from Mohammed Naveed Yakub, the militant who was captured by security forces after the attack. Eleven people have been arrested by security officials so far based on the information provided by Naveed during his interrogation.
Government says crackdown only on child pornography
The Union government on Monday said that it was only conducting a crackdown on websites containing child pornography and that it supported the right of an individual to “watch porn in private”. Union Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi told the Supreme Court that while banning child pornography was the “standard accepted practice” around the world, the issue of banning adult pornographic websites was a grey area as questions regarding the violation of the rights of free speech and expression would arise from such a ban. Rohatgi said that the entire issue needed a larger debate, adding that the state could not become the moral police. Rohatgi’s clarification came days after the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government ordered a review of a notification banning 857 websites for adult content following intense criticism.
Withdraw notices, broadcasters urge government
The News Broadcasters Association on Monday urged the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry to withdraw the show-cause notices issued to four news-channels for their coverage of the execution of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon. The association called on the ministry to refer the matter to the News Broadcasting Standards Authority, a self-regulatory mechanism set up by broadcasters. The notices to NDTV, NDTV India, Aajtak, and ABP News were issued for programming that the ministry believed would “incite violence and lead to law and order problems”. The ministry asked the channels to explain why their coverage had not violated sections of the Programme Code.
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