Parliament Budget Session 2024 Live Updates: Opposition targets Dharmendra Pradhan over NEET row, ‘students convinced Indian education system a fraud,’ says Rahul Gandhi

CPI MP Sandosh Kumar, in a special mention, spoke about the move to change name of Kerala to Keralam.

Kerala Assembly on Monday (June 24) unanimously passed a resolution urging the Centre to rename the state as “Keralam’’ in the Constitution. This is the second time in the past year that such a resolution has been passed.

The resolution

The resolution, moved by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan states: “The name of our state in Malayalam is Keralam… However, the name of our state in the first Schedule of the Constitution has been written as Kerala. This Assembly is unanimously requesting the Union Government to take immediate steps under Article 3 of the Constitution to change the name of the state to Keralam.”

After a break, Rajya Sabha resumes proceedings with Special Mentions by the Members of the House

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Monday tabled the Economic Survey 2023-24, which projects a real GDP growth of 6.5 to 7 per cent. It adds that the Reserve Bank of India expects inflation to be 4.5 per cent in FY 25 and 4.1 per cent in FY26.

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The Lok Sabha has been adjourned till 2.30 pm. It was being chaired by Sandhya Ray.

Earlier in the morning, the House also paid tributes to Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party, who passed away on July 19. As a mark of respect for the departed soul, the members also stood in silence for a brief while

Rajya Sabha adjourned till 2 pm.

Earlier this morning, Vice-President of India and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar expressed condolences in the on the demise of HE Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

“There is no bounded rule/regulation that a personal letter has to be replied. It is courtesy to respond to it, yes,” says Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju.

He was responding to Gujarat MP Shaktisinh Gohil.

“If the concerned minister is unable to fulfill the assurance. Is there any mechanism to write to the member within 3 months?” Kerala MP Dr John Brittas.

To which Rijiju responded: “About special mentions or calling attentions, I also personally feel and as a minister assure that it must be repsonded to well in time. Extension is always a provision.”

It was also a matter raised in the all-party meet on Sunday, he added.

Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi arrives at the Parliament for the Monsoon Session.

#watch | Delhi: Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi arrived at the Parliament for the #monsoonsession2024 pic.twitter.com/Mz0n0NtRkk
— ANI (@ANI) July 22, 2024

“It’s obvious to the whole country that there is a very serious problem with our examination system. This is not just the question of the NEET but major examinations.

Now, the minister has blamed everybody except himself. I don’t think he understands the fundamentals of what’s going on here.

The issue is that there are millions of students in this country who are extremely concerned about what is going on and who are convinced that the Indian examination system is a fraud.

Millions of people believe that if you’re rich, you can buy the Indian examination system, and this is the same feeling we as the Opposition have. This is why we are asking some very simple questions to the Hon. Minister.

👉As this is a systemic issue, what exactly are you doing to fix the issue at a systemic level?”

Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar on Monday rejected notices from opposition MPs calling for discussion on an Uttar Pradesh government order asking shops along the Kanwar Yatra route to display names of their owners and staff.

Opposition MPs had given notices under rule 267 seeking suspension of the business of the day to take up discussion on the issue.

Dhankar said the notices were “neither in conformity to requirements of rule 267 nor to directions given by the chair… And so the same are not accepted”.

Ahead of presenting the Union Budget tomorrow, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tables the Economic Survey 2023-24.

The survey typically comes out on January 31, a day before the Finance Minister presents the Union Budget for the next financial year.

However, in election years like 2024, the government takes a different route and presents a shorter report titled “The Indian Economy – A Review” and tables an interim budget in February. After the dissolution of the parliament and the conclusion of elections, the newly-elected government presents a comprehensive Economic Survey and Budget for the financial year.

Shatrughan Sinha won the Lok Sabha elections from West Bengal’s Asansol constituency by 59,564 votes. Asansol constituency voted in Phase 4 of the 2024 Lok Sabha election on May 13, 2024. He took oath as the Member of the House this morning.

In the Question Hour, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman speaks on steps taken to reduce burden on courts regarding pending cases.

Congress’ Kerala MP Shashi Tharoor flags the staffing issues in the NCTs and NCLATs, especially in southern states.

“It is being addressed with a sense of urgency,” she responded talking about increased number of recruitments.

“Of the 4,700 centres where the NEET exam took place, only one centre in Bihar in Patna region faced the issue. It is being investigated by the Bihar police and other investigative agencies.”

Dharmendra Pradhan also hit out the Congress government’s “track record”. He also provided a background of the centralised examination.

Responding to Akhilesh Yadav, he says: “I don’t want to bring politics here, but how many paper leaks have happened in Uttar Pradesh?”

“Better to wait and watch what the Supreme Court says and follow the directions. The government has nothing to hide and has put out all facts,” he adds.

In the ongoing Question Hour in the Lower House, the ongoing NEET-UG paper leak issue is brought up with Opposition leaders hitting out Education Minsiter Dharmendra Pradhan and asking some tough questions.

The leaders who spoke were Manickam Tagore, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi.

Tagore asked if the education minister will resign over the matter and take responsibility. Akhilesh Yadav stood up to say that if the minister continues, there will be no justice to the students who are bearing the brunt of the alleged irregularities.

“If you are rich and have money, you can buy the education system. That is the feeling in the country and is same for the Opposition,” says Rahul Gandhi asking about the change in the system now.

Rajasthan’s Churu MP Rahul Kaswan begins speaking in the Question Hour.

It is the first Hour of every sitting of the Parliament during which the MPs can ask questions to Ministers on matters related to their ministries. The purpose of Question Hour is to elicit information from the government on various issues.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chair Jagdeep Dhankar start the proceedings in both the Lower and Upper House.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a customary press statement ahead of the Budget Session, appealed to the Opposition to participate in the Parliament for the “nation and not individual parties”

“Some parties’ misused the Parliament for their unsuccessful politics,” he said, in reference to the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha earlier in June.

He appealed for the first-time MPs to be given a chance to put their points across during discussions of the House.

– “Some parties misused the Parliament for their unsuccessful politics in the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha.

– “Give chance to first-time MPs to put their points across during discussion,” Modi said in an appeal to the Opposition ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament scheduled to go on till August 12.

– “In first session, there was an attempt to suppress voice of elected govt, strangulate the PM’s voice in an undemocratic manner.”

P Chidambaram writes on why he leaves Parliament House often disappointed on Budget day.

“…Afterwards, I go back to the people and speak to persons from different walks of life including MLAs, economists, businesspersons, farmers, women, youth and, above all, party activists. The last-named give me feedback from the ground, especially the chatter in the local markets. In practically every year during the last 10 years, I found that the Budget ‘announcements’ vanished without a trace in 48 hours, and the chatter ceased. The main reasons for the disappointing outcome are because the Budget makers lose touch with reality and fail to make an objective assessment of the economic situation,” he says.

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Ahead of the commencement of the Budget Session of Parliament this morning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s will give a customary press statement, while Opposition leaders will meet to discuss coordination during the session.

The session is expected to be a stormy one with a resurgent Opposition set to corner the Modi government on issues ranging from the NEET paper leaks to railway safety, to unemployment and price rise.

With the Opposition having not got a chance to raise the issue of the alleged irregularities and leaks in the NEET exams as well as the Manipur crisis in the first session after the Lok Sabha polls, its expected to be focused upon this time as well.

KANWAR YATRA ROW

At the all-party meeting held on Sunday on the eve of the session, the Opposition leaders were united in raising their concerns over the ADG, Meerut Zone’s contentious directive asking the eateries and carts on the Kanwar Yatra route to display the names of their owners and employees, ostensibly clarifying their religion, as reported by Liz Mathew. They asked the Centre to intervene, calling the directive “divisive”.

Even before the Parliament convenes for the Budget Session today, Congress MP Manickam Tagore has given an adjournment motion notice in Lok Sabha, demanding a discussion on the ongoing issue of alleged irregularities in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) and University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).

In his notice, Manickam Tagore urged the House to suspend all listed business of the day to discuss the “unprecedented cases of paper leaks in conduct of exams including NEET-UG and UGC NET and the failure of National Testing Agency (NTA).”

Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha witnessed several adjournments in the last session which was also the first session for the 18th Lok Sabha, with Congress and other opposition parties pressing for a “dedicated discussion” on the row.

The highly-anticipated Union Budget will be presented tomorrow. The Budget Session of the Parliament (also the Monsoon session this year) begins with the tabling of the economic survey today.

The government is expected to bring at least six Bills in Parliament over the course of the session scheduled to go on till August 12. The session is expected to be a stormy one with a resurgent Opposition likely to continue its aggressive approach from the first session in June. From the all-party meet on Sunday, it’s gathered that the opposition leaders are looking to corner the NDA-led BJP government on issues ranging from the NEET paper leaks to railway safety, to unemployment and price rise.

Sitharaman will release the Economic Survey 2023-24 today, just a day before the Union Budget 2024 is presented.

Now, the survey typically comes out on January 31, a day before the Finance Minister presents the Union Budget for the next financial year.

So, why is it on a different date this year?

In election years like 2024, the government takes a different route and presents a shorter report titled “The Indian Economy – A Review” and tables an interim budget in February. After the dissolution of the parliament and the conclusion of elections, the newly-elected government presents a comprehensive Economic Survey and Budget for the financial year.