New Delhi: The winter session of the Parliament has started today. There will be a total of 17 working days in this session. The BJP-led central government’s agenda for the winter session of Parliament includes 16 new bills. On the first day of the Lok Sabha, tributes were paid to those members who passed away during the session.
Some important announcements were made by the Members of Parliament which include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai, and Vice President of India Jagdeep Dhankar among others.
The important excerpts from the Day 1 of the parliamentary session are:
- PM Modi praised Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar and President Draupadi Murmu at the beginning of the session.
- NCP MP Supriya Sule spoke on the Karnataka-Maharashtra border dispute.
- External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar highlighted India’s relations with other countries and expressed his happiness over naming Kashi as SCO cultural and tourism capital for 2022-23.
- Jaishankar also expressed happiness over India assuming the chairmanship of the G20 summit and said that the G20 meetings have already started in the country.
- India will host the 17th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Indore from January 8-10, 2023 after 2 years. Guyana’s President Irfan Ali will be the chief guest at the conference.
- Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said that the government is giving an ex-gratia of Rs 50,000 to the next of kin of those who lost their lives due to COVID-19.
- Nityanand Rai further said that till November 2022, 123 terrorist incidents took place in Jammu and Kashmir. Of these, 31 security forces personnel lost their lives in the line of duty, while 31 civilians also lost their lives. Whereas this year (till November 2022), 180 terrorists have been killed in Jammu and Kashmir in encounters with security personnel.
- Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Kumar Mishra clarified that there is no proposal from the government to conduct Staff Selection Commission (SSC) examinations only in Hindi.
- Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said that the Parliament had passed the 99th Constitutional Amendment Bill as a much-needed historical step, paving the way for the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC).
- The Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was introduced in the Lok Sabha. Minister of State (MoS) for Cooperation BL Verma introduced the bill.
- Earth Sciences Minister Jitendra Singh told the Lok Sabha in a written reply that 2,183 deaths have occurred this year due to devastating weather events across the country.
- Nityanand Rai said the FCRA license of 6,677 NGOs has been canceled by the central government between 2017 and 2021. The registration of these NGOs was canceled under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 for violation of various provisions of the law.
- Union Minister Jitendra Singh said India has taken appropriate measures to manage the growing space debris caused by defunct satellites, abandoned rockets, and other orbital debris in low Earth orbit. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has been an active member of the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) and has worked closely with the IADC and the United Nations for safe and sustainable space operations.
- A bill to provide for a law to deal with piracy in international waters was introduced in the Lok Sabha.
These were all the important updates from the Day 1 of the Parliament’s winter session. The Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha proceedings have been adjourned till 11 am tomorrow.