Parliament Highlights | Both houses adjourned till tomorrow

This live blog session has been ended, thank you for being with us. For more news, views and updates log in toMoneycontrol.com

It was a meeting about the country. We talked about how we can work together and move forward and how we can take out the country from this difficulty. A good agreement has been formed among us, says NC chief Farooq Abdullah after meeting Sonia Gandhi along with other leaders

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday met a group of opposition leaders and held consultations with them to evolve a joint strategy in Parliament, sources said.NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, J&K National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut and DMK leader T R Baalu were among the leaders who met Gandhi at her 10, Janpath residence.Sources said more such meetings would be held in the next few days, in a bid to bring all opposition forces together.

As many as 123 persons have been arrested so far this year for the misuse of credentials of block and district officials to approve the application of ineligible farmers under the PM-KISAN scheme, Parliament was informed on Tuesday.Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana (PM-KISAN), eligible marginal farmers are electronically given Rs 6,000 annually in three equal instalments."Some district officials have also been arrested along with the contractual workers," Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

There is no official estimation how much worth of black money is lying in foreign accounts over the last five years, however, Rs 2,476 crore has been collected as tax and penalty under the one-time three months compliance window during 2015, government said in Parliament on Tuesday.As many as 648 disclosures involving undisclosed foreign assets worth Rs 4,164 crore were made in the one-time three months' compliance window closed on September 30, 2015 under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.He said the amount collected by way of tax and penalty in such cases was about Rs 2,476 crore. "There is no official estimation regarding the amount of black money in foreign accounts during the last five years. However, the government has taken various steps against the black money abroad which have led to positive results," Chaudhary said.

The current vaccine production capacity of Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, is approximately 250-275 million doses per month while it is about 50-60 million doses per month for Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday. Both companies have achieved close to 90 per cent of present production capacity, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said in a written reply.

Out of the 132 non-attainment cities under the National Clean Air Program (NCAP), the level of pollutant PM10 has decreased in 96 cities in 2020-2021 as compared to 2019-2020, the government told the Parliament. Responding to a query on the increasing pollution level in various urban areas across the country, Minister of State for Environment Ashwini Choubey said on Monday that in the remaining 36 cities, ambient air quality data showed an increasing trend in the level of PM10.He also said the number of cities found to be within the prescribed National Ambient Air Quality Standard (PM10 less than 60 g/m3) has increased from 18 in 2019-20 to 27 in 2020-21. "In the year 2020, in Delhi, the number of 'Good', 'Satisfactory' and 'Moderate' days increased to 227 against 108 in 2016," he said in the written response.

The Bill was passedto extend the tenure of ED Director up to a maximum of five years from the earlier two years.

Women accounted for 48.7 per cent of the beneficiaries who received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in the country till December 8, the government informed Parliament on Tuesday. In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on whether the number of women getting vaccinated against the coronavirus in the country was low due to a lack of awareness, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said at the beginning of the nationwide Covid inoculation programme, pregnancy and lactation were contraindications for vaccination.On the basis of a review of the available scientific evidence, recommendations of domain knowledge experts and stakeholder consultation, the Ministry of Health approved vaccination of lactating women on May 19 and of pregnant women on July 2. "As on December 8, 2021, 48.70 per cent of the total Covid vaccine doses were administered to women, which approximates to the estimated proportion of women in the country's population, which is 48 per cent," the minister said.

Parliament has passed a Bill to extend the tenure of director of the Central Bureau of Investigation to a maximum of five years from the present two years.The Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was passed by Rajya Sabha with a voice vote on Tuesday. The Lok Sabha has already passed the bill on December 9, 2021.Replying to a discussion on the Bill, Minister of Personnel Jitendra Singh observed that methodologies of crime have undergone a change and new technologies have come in."...and the relevance of head of the crime or investigation agency is that many-a-times quite a lot of information is privy only to him in person. So if in the middle of an important case if you change the head of the agency, others may not be able to carry it forward in same tone ...," Singh said.

MoS Home Nityanand Rai in a written reply in Parliament said thatthe security situation in Jammu and Kashmir has improved significantly since August 2019 and there has been a significant decline in terrorist incidents. 206 terrorist incidents took place in this year till 5th December.