Parliament Winter Session: Day 11, HIGHLIGHTS

Both the houses adjourned till 11 am on Thursday, December 22. 

The Lok Sabha passed a Bill to include Dhanuhar, Dhanuwar, Kisan, Saunra, Saonra and Binjhia communities in the list of Scheduled Tribes in Chhattisgarh. The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Fifth Amendment) Bill, 2022 was passed by Lok Sabha through voice vote. The Bill also seeks to formalise Bhuinya, Bhuiyan and Bhuyan as synonyms of the Bharia Bhumia community. It also includes three Devanagari versions of the name of the Pando community.

The Parliament approved the first batch of supplementary demands for grants, authorising the government to spend additional Rs 3.25 lakh crore in FY23.

The Maritime Anti-Piracy Bill, 2022 passed in both houses of the Parliament. The bill seeks to provide stringent punishment to those convicted of such crimes.

Rajya Sabha returned two Appropriation Bills authorising payment of certain sums from and out of the Consolidated Fund of India for the current financial year. The Bills-Appropriation (No 5) Bill, 2022 and the Appropriation (No 4) Bill, 2022- which Lok Sabha earlier passed, were cleared in the Upper House with a voice vote followed by a detailed discussion held on Monday and Tuesday.

Speaking at the Lok Sabha, Union Home Minister Amit Shah claimed that over 75,000 kgs of drugs were targeted to be destroyed and within 60 days, more than 1,60,000 kgs of illegal drugs have been destroyed.  "We have also formed a committee that analyses this data every 15 days. Drugs are coming from gulf countries, and people involved in it have been arrested while factories have been sealed. On the basis of this, raids were conducted in 12 states & people were arrested there too," Shah added. 

The discussion on the anti-maritime piracy bill is underway in the Rajya Sabha. 

Speaking at the Rajya Sabha, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hailed the PLI scheme, saying private investment capex is happening in India because of favourable policies.  

Home Minister will reply at around 2 PM on discussion in Lok Sabha under rule 193 on the problem of drug abuse in the country and steps taken by the government.

We are proud of our army, Modi government gave free-hand to the armed forces, said BJP on border issue with China. 

BJP hit back at Congress saying the grand old party does not want any discussion and its intention is only to create a ruckus in the House.

"We just want to know what is the level of preparedness, what 16 rounds of talks with Chinese troops PLA achieved, what PM Modi said to Chinese Pres Xi in Bali, if he at all did so," said Congress MP P Chidambaram

"We demand that there be a discussion in House. The House should be given info on Chinese transgression so that the people of the country can be informed of the same. If a discussion is not held and there is just a one-sided response, what meaning does that have?" said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.

Lok Sabha was adjourned till 12 pm after the Opposition created an uproar demanding a debate over the border issue with China.

In Congress parliamentary party meet, former party president Sonia Gandhi expressed concerns over Chinese transgression.

She said, "The government is being adamant and not holding a discussion on it. Public and House are unable to know the real situation. Why is the government not sending out a financial reply to Chinese transgression?"

Congress MP Manickam Tagore gave Adjournment Motion notice in Lok Sabha to discuss the border situation with China.

Congress MP Manish Tewari gave Adjournment Motion notice in Lok Sabha to discuss the border situation with China.