Paliament Winter Session

A parliamentary panel has flagged the possibility of individuals operating petrol pumps in the name of SC and ST applicants due to certain changes made in the allocation guidelines and has asked the Centre to direct oil marketing companies to conduct regular "surprise inspections" to check such "benami operations". In its report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, the panel raised questions over the changes made in the guidelines post 2014 and came down heavily on the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for giving its approval. The panel noted that the ministry had itself reduced its stature to that of "a mere rubber stamp" by giving "full autonomy" to public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) in the matter. During the inspection, the committee recommended, the proof of ownership, caste certificate and office accounts/ledgers bearing signature, payment details in account and the owners' name be examined "impromptu" with mandatory presence of the owners to establish authenticity of

The Winter Session of Parliament is likely to conclude on December 23, a week ahead of schedule, official sources said on Tuesday. The decision to recommend early conclusion of the session was taken at a meeting of Lok Sabha's Business Advisory Committee chaired by Speaker Om Birla, they said. The Winter Session began on December 7 and was originally scheduled to end on December 29. Several Opposition leaders had urged the government and Birla to end the session early, citing Christmas and New Year festivities.

The Bill seeks to implement India's obligations under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora

Import of coal by the power sector has increased in ongoing financial year and the sector imported 38.84 million tonne (MT) of the dry fuel in April-October period, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. "...import of coal by the power sector increased during current financial year of 2022-23. As against the total import of 27 MT by power sector in entire year of 2021-22, the import of coal by power sector in first 7 months increased to 38.84 MT," Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi said in a written reply to Lok Sabha. However, much of the rise in import has gone to feed domestic coal-based plants, and the restoration of power generation by imported coal-based plants to its potential level has remained slow. As per the current import policy, coal is kept under open general licence and consumers are free to import coal from the source of their choice as per their contractual prices on payment of applicable duty. The Centre does not interfere in this matter. However, the power ministry had

The Centre's agenda for the winter session of Parliament includes introduction of 16 new bills

The government has planned to introduce 16 new bills, including the one which seeks to increase accountability and reform electoral process in multi-state cooperative societies, in the Winter Session of Parliament beginning December 7. The National Dental Commission Bill, which seeks to set up a National Dental Commission and to repeal the Dentists Act, 1948, is also in the tentative session agenda of the government. The National Nursing and Midwifery Commission Bill, another measure the Health Ministry plans to introduce, seeks to set up a National Nursing and Midwifery Commission (NNMC) and to repeal the Indian Nursing Council Act, 1947. According to a Lok Sabha bulletin issued on Thursday, the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2022, is being introduced with an objective of strengthening governance, enhancing transparency, increasing accountability and reforming electoral process in the multi-state cooperative societies by supplementing existing legislation and .

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Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said the ministry is working on a law to decriminalise certain provisions to promote ease of doing business. A bill in this regard is expected to be introduced in the forthcoming winter session of Parliament, he added. The minister urged the industry to "quickly" give feedback on reducing compliances and decriminalising unnecessary sections. "We have focused on ease of doing business...We continue to reduce the compliance burden for our businesses...Give us, feedback quickly because, in the winter session, we are proposing to come out with a very holistic amendment to the laws related to businesses to ease the burden, and reduce compliances," Goyal said while addressing PHDCCI's Annual Session 2022. He said that the government has decriminalised many laws. "We are working on many many other laws currently... DPIIT (Department for promotion of Industry and Internal Trade) is spearheading this in consultation with other ministrie

All-out efforts are being made to finish the remaining work of the new Parliament building so that the Winter Session is held there, officials have said

In the last 20 years or so, the opposition parties have been more concerned with posturing rather than the national interest.

Currently, there is no regulation or any ban on the use of cryptocurrencies in the country

Till date, a total of 28 patients infected with Omicron have been reported in the state

The broader indices lagged in trade on Monday. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices ended with losses of 0.9 per cent and 1.9 per cent, respectively

At present, bank depositors get an insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh on their amount by the Deposit Insurance and credit Guarantee Corporation

Winter session likely to be a washout

Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia raised serious concern about not being given the chance to raise the issue during Question Hour

Economy, agriculture distress, GST rollout and alleged misuse of enforcement agencies are some of the issues the opposition will rake up to attack the government

The government is expected to table 25 pending bills and 14 new ones

The most important business would be the Supplementary Demands for Grants, which is the first one after the implementation of GST