The Rajya Sabha was adjourned on Tuesday afternoon after Trinamool Congress members stormed the Well of the House protesting about the National Register of Citizens and the detention of its leaders in Assam, reported the Hindustan Times. The matter is scheduled for discussion on Wednesday.
The Trinamool leaders had started protesting as Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah told Rajya Sabha that farmers’ income will be doubled by 2022. “Budget allocation for agriculture sector was increased by 75%,” the Hindustan Times quoted him as saying. “The prime minister had said that this government will be for the poor and weaker sections of the society and so we are continuously working for them.”
Opposition members continued to shout in the Upper House when Shah discussed the higher support price for crops, saying “democratic issues” should be discussed instead, The Indian Express reported.
Rajya Sabha chairperson M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday rebuked members for poor attendance when the legislation to provide constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes was passed on Monday evening, PTI reported.
Naidu said that only 156 members of the total strength of 245 were present when the House passed The Constitution Amendment Bill. “We just scraped through,” he said.
He said on such matters, political parties should issue whips to their members to ensure their presence. Naidu also asked ministers to give advance notice of leave of absence when papers listed against their name are to be taken up.
In the Lok Sabha
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said two senior officials of the Uttar Pradesh government will investigate allegations of trafficking of girls at a shelter home in Deoria city.
“No culprit will escape action,” Singh said in the Lok Sabha. He described such incidents as unfortunate, sad and shameful, PTI reported. The additional chief secretary and a director general-level officer will investigate the case, Singh said.
The home minister also said that he would ask the ministries concerned to send out advisories to states to ensure that such incidents are not repeated.
Opposition members, including those from the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal, raised the issue in the Lok Sabha and referred to an incident at a shelter home in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur where at least 34 girls were sexually assaulted. Members of the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress and Trinamool Congress staged a walk out from the House after Singh’s comments.
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan urged MPs not “to play politics” with such incidents. She suggested that all members keep a tab in their constituencies to prevent such incidents.
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge asked the Speaker to set up a House Committee to probe both the case. He said the committee should visit all states to investigate the reasons behind such cases.
Meanwhile, the government withdrew the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill nearly a year after introducing it in Lok Sabha following concerns over certain provisions, like the “bail-in” clause to resolve a failing bank and insurance cover on bank deposits, Hindustan Times reported.
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