Parliament: In New India, humans are enemies of each other, says Ghulam Nabi Azad

8.29 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reply in Lok Sabha tomorrow on the Motion of thanks for President’s Address, reports ANI.

7.01 pm: Lok Sabha has been extended till 8 pm and Rajya Sabha till 7.10 pm as Motion of Thanks on President’s Address is under way, reports ANI.

7 pm: In Lok Sabha, NCP legislator Amol Ramsingh Kolhe says the institutions of the country should be independent. He raises the matter of farmers’ suicide in Maharashtra, claiming that at least eight end their lives in the state every day.

6.58 pm: In Rajya Sabha, AIADMK’s SR Balasubramoniyan says he is not convinced that the idea of holding simultaneous elections is feasible in a country like India.

6.51 pm: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh tells the Rajya Sabha that there would be no shortage of funds when it comes to defence preparedness. “We have taken precaution that there is no shortcoming on the country’s defence preparedness in any way by way of budget constraints,” Singh says. “We will not compromise on India’s defence preparedness.” He adds that there is no under-utilisation of funds in the sector.

6.44 pm: Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu asks the concerned ministers to reply to members during Zero Hour as well as through special mentions within 30 days. “You need not give instant replies on the same day,” says Naidu.” But, sometimes when the minister is there and if the matter is so important and the minister is familiar with the matter, I give the permission and the minister responds to that.”

6.41 pm: Minister for Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat tells the Rajya Sabha that the Centre has sanctioned over 298 projects worth Rs 28,000 crore under the Clean Ganga drive, reports PTI. Of these, 98 projects are operational while remaining are at different stages of implementation, he adds.

4.03 pm: Azad says that in the “Old India” there was love and culture. “Hindus used to feel the pain when Muslims and Dalits used to get hurt,” he says. “When something used to get into eyes of Hindus, Muslims and Dalits used to shed tears for them. In Old India there was no hatred, anger or lynching. New India is one where humans are enemies of each other.”

3.58 pm: Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad claims in the Rajya Sabha that Jharkhand has become a “factory of lynching”, ANI reports. “Dalits and Muslims are killed there every week,” he says. “PM, we are with you in the fight of ‘Sabka saath sabka vikas’ but it should be there for people to see it. We can’t see it anywhere.”

3.08 pm: “People who say ‘Bharat ke tukde tukde karne tak jung rahegi’, and ‘Pakistan zindabad, Afzal Guru zindabad’, do they have the right to live in this country?” Sarangi asks, according to ANI.

3 pm: Union minister Pratap Chandra Sarangi, initiating the debate on the president’s address in the Rajya Sabha, says Congress’ “misrule” and corruption scandals during the ten years from 2004-2014 made the BJP realise the importance of strong leadership, PTI reports. “Policy paralysis was a new norm during those ten years,” he says. “And it was Congress which made us realise the importance of strong leadership.” Without naming Manmohan Singh, he says that the Congress’ prime minister was an “Accidental Prime Minister”.

2.51 pm: Ravi Shankar Prasad is scheduled to introduce pieces of legislation to amend the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

2.40 pm: “In one of his speeches, PM Modi said that only after he came into power do people feel proud of their Indian heritage,” Chowdhury says. “Which means that [former Prime Minister Atal Bihari] Vajpayee was not true Indian.”

“Our PM is an excellent salesman, and he should be – after all, that is why he won and Congress lost,” Chowdhury says. “Congress failed in selling the product, but BJP succeeded, regardless of the quality of what is being sold.”

Chowdhury also labels the Centre a “compliment-addicted government”. “The difference between you and me is that you are happy in Modi’s victories, I am happy in India’s victories,” he says.

2.33 pm: Meanwhile, leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury attacks the government, calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “great salesman”, The Hindu reported. “Our President usually leans towards the government of the country, we all know this – it’s a product of the English model of governance that we adopted,” he says in his motion of thanks to the president’s address.

2.22 pm: Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal introduces a bill to allow trusts to set up units in special economic zones, PTI reports.

2.16 pm: Some members of the Opposition want to oppose the introduction of the bill, but speaker Om Birla rejects their demand, on the basis that they had not followed the proper procedure to do so, PTI reports.

2.03 pm: The Centre also tables the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha. It proposes to provide reservation to people living in the areas along the border on par with people living in areas near the Actual Line of Control. It also has provisions for 10% reservation for economically weaker sections in the state. Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy tables the bill on behalf of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

12.15 pm: NK Premachandran, an MP from Kerala belonging to the Revolutionary Socialist Party says reintroducing the Aadhaar Bill would violate the Supreme Court judgement on the right to privacy, The Hindu reported. He expresses his opposition to the introduction of the bill, and advises the government to table the Personal Data Protection Bill.

12 pm: Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad introduces the Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019, in the Lok Sabha on Monday during the Monsoon Session of Parliament.

The amendments will make the Aadhaar Act conform to the Supreme Court judgement on its constitutionality, The Hindu reported. Last September, the top court had struck down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act, which made the use of Aadhaar mandatory for availing various services. President Ram Nath Kovind had introduced an ordinance modifying the Act in February.

11.49 am: Minister of State in the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Pratap Sarangi moves a motion of thanks on President Ram Nath Kovind’s address to both Houses of Parliament on June 20. When he praises Prime Minister Narendra Modi a number of times, the Opposition benches disrupt his speech. The BJP parliamentarian from Odisha calls the Congress anti-women and anti-poor, and claims it was against development.

11.43 am: BJP MP Satyanarayan Jatiya raises the matter during the Zero Hour, saying parts of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Karnataka have traditionally faced water crisis but now the problem had extended to new areas. “There has to be a permanent solution to drinking water crisis,” he says, suggesting five big river inter-linking projects that need to be taken up on priority. His party colleague Ashok Bajpai says that according to a NITI Aayog report there would be a water crisis in parts of the country next year too.

Chairperson M Venkaiah Naidu says he is willing to allow a short discussion on the matter if a notice for a short duration or a call attention is submitted. He advises members to consult each other before submitting the notice.

11.30 am: Rajya Sabha members talk about the water crisis plaguing different parts of the country, and demand immediate measures such as inter-linking of rivers and rain water harvesting to recharge ground water table, PTI reports.