Rajya Sabha

All patients referred to the AIIMS by MPs will be provided due assistance by the Media & Protocol Division, reads a letter from the AIIMS being circulated on social media. "Duty Officers (who are qualified medical professionals) from Deptt. of Hospital Administration will be available in the Control Room AIIMS Hospital round the clock and the Duty Officer on duty will be the Nodal Officer to coordinate & facilitate requisite medical care arrangements for sitting MPs," reads the communication from the AIIMS to Joint Secretary, Lok Sabha Secretariat.

BJP's IT Cell head Amit Malviya praised the decision and tweeted, "The President on recommendation of GoI has appointed Shri Gulam Ali, a Gurjar Muslim, from J&K, to the Rajya Sabha. This is a significant step assuming that prior to abrogation of Article 370, the community was literally not recognised and all social benefits to them were denied."

The House had 16 sittings. However, more than 47 hours were lost due to interruptions, "which is a sad reflection on the functioning of the Upper House of Parliament", "The session was characterised by regular and continuous disruptions, which deprived members of the opportunity to discuss matters of urgent public importance and seek the accountability of the executive through questions," he said. Of the 235 starred questions admitted, only 61 could be answered orally, and the Question Hour could not be taken up on 7 days.

The session, which began on July 18, was slated to go on till August 12. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, before adjourning the ninth session of the 17th LS sine die, said that the house met for 16 days wherein seven bills were passed. Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu adjourned the Upper House sine die, stating that detailed statistics of the session will be circulated during the course by the Secretariat.

Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu on Friday clarified that Members of Parliament do not enjoy any immunity from arrest in criminal cases during the session. Naidu also said that the members cannot avoid summons issued by law enforcement agencies. Naidu made this remark in response to the Congress members saying that the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge has been insulted as he was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning on Thursday during the working hours of the House.

Soon after the Rajya Sabha House reconvened after the first adjournment, the Opposition members trooped to the Well raising slogans and displaying placards. Amid ruckus, it was adjourned for the day to meet on Monday. Earlier, when the House met at 11 a.m., the Opposition members started sloganeering as soon as Deputy Chairman Harivansh started reading out notices received for discussion.

Union Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary said that the ED carried out 3,010 search operations between 2014-2022 (NDA government's tenure) whereas it was only 113 between 2004-2014 (UPA government's tenure). Thus, the ED witnessed a hike of 27-fold increase in its raids.

The government on Tuesday again emphasized that it is ready for discussion and will hold it as soon as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recovers from Covid-19. Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha, Piyush Goyal, said, "We are ready for discussion but despite that the opposition members are repeatedly disrupting the House proceedings.

The suspended members are Sushmita Dev, Mausam Noor, Dola Sen, Shanta Chhetri, Shantanu Sen, Nadimul Haque, M.M. Abdullah, A.A. Rahim, R. Girirajan and V. Sivadasan. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, V. Muraleedharan moved the motion to suspend the MPs under Rule 256. Deputy Chairman Harivansh adopted the motion and the Rajya Sabha approved by voice vote.

External Affairs minister Dr S Jaishankar moved the bill on July 19, as passed by Lok Sabha to be taken into consideration. As members of the BJP continued to participate in discussion on the bill amid sloganeering from opposition members on Monday, the Chair announced that the minister's statement on the bill and its consideration and passing will take place on Tuesday.