Parliament LIVE Highlights: Rajya Sabha passes National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (Amendment) Bill, 2021

This LIVE blog session has concluded. Stay tuned to Moneycontrol for the latest news, views and updates.

The Central Vigilance Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and The Delhi Police Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Bill, 2021 passed by Lok Sabha.These Bills are aimed at extending the tenure of CBI and ED directors for up to 5 years.

DMK MP Kanimozhi on Thursday raised the issue of providing 33 per cent reservation to women in Lok Sabha and asked the government when will a bill for this be brought in Parliament for its passage. Raising the issue during the Zero Hour in Lok Sabha, the DMK member said it has been 25 years since a bill to reserve one-third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies was brought in Parliament "but nothing has happened so far".

"It was passed by Rajya Sabha. This (BJP-led) government had promised in their election manifesto that it will bring the bill for its passage (in Parliament) but they haven't done anything about it," she added. The BJP in its manifesto for Lok Sabha polls in 2014 and 2019 had stated that it was committed to providing 33 per cent reservation to women in Parliament and state assemblies through a constitutional amendment.

Parliament clears Bill to enhance status of 6 pharma institutes with its passage in Rajya Sabha.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Thursday demanded that a "misleading" personal attack on him by a member of Lok Sabha during a debate earlier this week should be condemned.

He requested Speaker Om Birla during Zero Hour to ensure that such kind of issues are not repeated by any member against other member.

​Claiming that a breach of Parliament procedure and etiquette by the member of the House during the course of his remark on the High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Bill, 2021, was violated, Tharoor said it is clear from the transcript that the member stated: "Aise to inko bahas mein bhag nahi lena chahiye inka bhi ek case pending pada hua hai (he (Tharoor) should not be participating in debate as a case is pending against him)."

Home MinisterAmitShah misled Parliament on Nagaland, claimsAdhirChowdhury

Congress leaderAdhirRanjanChowdhuryon Thursday claimed that Home MinisterAmitShah had “misled” theLokSabhawhen he said that security forces had opened fire on civilians in Nagaland after they tried to flee.

He also said that a Congress delegation on a visit to Nagaland was stopped atJorhatby the district officials.

“Inside the House, the home minister had given a misleading statement when he said those people who were shot dead had tried to flee after beingsignalledto stop,”Chowdhurysaid in theLokSabhaduring Zero Hour.

“Those people who have been admitted to the hospital have said ‘directmarise’. It means they have been shot directly,” he said.

Atotalof 47,984 people died due to road accidents on National Highways, including on expressways, during calendar year 2020, Parliament was informed on Thursday.In a written reply to theLokSabha, Minister of Road Transport and HighwaysNitinGadkarisaid as many as 53,872 persons died due to road accidents on National Highways, including on expressways, in 2019.

Gadkarisaid the major causes of accidents on the National Highways (NHs) are vehicle design and condition, road engineering, over-speeding, drunken driving/ consumption of alcohol & drug, driving on wrong side, jumping the red light, use of mobile phone, etc.

He also said the ministry has issued guidelines for improving the road safety through road safety audits at all stages (design stage, construction stage and O&M stage) by engaging independent road safety experts. Replying to a separate question,Gadkarisaid during the oxygen crisis in March-April 2021, shortage of technically qualified trained drivers to handle Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) Tankers was reported.

''Taking into account the continuous rise in requirement for transportation of liquid oxygen (LOX), extended period of oxygen management, addition to the inventory of cryogenic tankers and high fatigue/ attrition rate due to 24X7 operations, the Ministry issued advisory to states to create a pool of trained drivers for transporting hazardous cargo,'' he said.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Thursday claimed that Home Minister Amit Shah had “misled” the Lok Sabha when he said that security forces had opened fire on civilians in Nagaland after they tried to flee. He also said that a Congress delegation on a visit to Nagaland was stopped at Jorhat by the district officials.

“Inside the House, the home minister had given a misleading statement when he said those people who were shot dead had tried to flee after being signalled to stop,” Chowdhury said in the Lok Sabha during Zero Hour. “Those people who have been admitted to the hospital have said ‘direct marise’. It means they have been shot directly,” he said.

Chowdhury said Congress President Sonia Gandhi had constituted a delegation comprising Lok Sabha members Gaurav Gogoi and Anto Antony to visit Mon village in Nagaland and share the grief of the locals whose family members were killed in the firing by security forces. “The Congress leaders were stopped from visiting Mon district. This government stops us from visiting Lakhimpuri Kheri. This government stops us from visiting Nagaland. The situation is deteriorating in the entire northeast,” Chowdhury said.

in Rajya Sabha makes case for Uniform Civil Code

A BJP Rajya Sabha MP on Thursday urged the government to analyse the best features of all religions, compile and adopt them as a Uniform Civil Code. Making a special mention in the Rajya Sabha, K C Ramamurthy said India has been striving hard for gender equality to provide equal status to women, irrespective of religion or community.

He said that Article 14 of the Constitution says the State shall endeavour to provide for its citizens a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) throughout the territory of India. Ramamurthy said the objectivity of UCC is to unify fragmented personal laws for marriage, divorce, custody, adoption, and inheritance, and also cover civil and human rights issues.

Personal laws of different religions are dissimilar and violate Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law, he said, adding that the US, the UK and many European countries have UCC. Even Goa is implementing a Uniform Civil Code, the BJP MP said.

Stressing that misconceptions about UCC need to be removed, Ramamurthy said, "I appeal to the Government of India to analyse best features from all religions, compile and adopt them in the form of code called Uniform Civil Code, which will be in the public interest." Raising the issue of caste-based panchayats and khap panchayats, NCP member Fauzia Khan said they are taking law into their own hands and "ostracising people", humiliating them, and calling for a social boycott.

"This arbitration...we have to pay attention to because if this is not allowed by law, I think we should come up with the legislation," she said. Khan said such panchayats should be abolished completely because they are going against the Constitution of India.

| MallikarjunKharge sayswe were not allowed topay tribute to CDS GenBipinRawat& others who died in the chopper crash

After Defence Minister's statement in Rajya Sabha, Opposition demanded 1-2 minutes for each MP to pay tribute to CDS Gen Bipin Rawat & others who died in the chopper crash. But we were not allowed. It is unfortunate & we condemn this attitude: LoP in RS Mallikarjun Kharge

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will call on President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday to apprise him about the chopper crash near Coonoor that killed Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika and 11 armed forces personnel. The President is the Supreme Commander of the armed forces.

Official sources said Singh will brief President Kovind about the accident as well as the situation arising out of it. In a statement in Parliament, Singh said a tri-services inquiry led by Air Marshal Manavendra Singh, the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Training Command, has started an investigation into the helicopter crash.

The Defence Minister said Gen Rawat was on a scheduled visit to Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, to interact with the student officers. "The Air Force Mi 17V5 helicopter took off from Sulur airbase at 11:48 am yesterday and was expected to land at Wellington by 12:15 pm. Air Traffic Control at Sulur airbase lost contact with the helicopter approximately 12:08 pm," Singh said.