TDP Members Stage Protest
Telugu Desam Party MPs protest in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue inside the Parliament complex, urging the Centre to take steps to fulfil bifurcation promises and pending issues for Andhra Pradesh.
LS, RS Record High Productivity Despite Disruptions
The productivity of the Lok Sabha in terms of utilisation of time was 134.61 percent while that of Rajya Sabha was 96.31 percent in the first half of the Budget session, according to the parliamentary affairs ministry.
The first phase of the session yielded a total of seven sittings of the Lok Sabha and eight sittings of the Rajya Sabha, the ministry said.
Rajya Sabha Adjourned, To Meet on 5 March
After a lot of heated discussions over the Union Budget 2018, the Rajya Sabha was adjourned to meet on 5th of March for second phase of the Budget Session after nearly a month-long recess, reported ANI.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Trains Guns at Congress in Rajya Sabha
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while addressing the Rajya Sabha attacked the Congress and the opposition over questions raised over the Union Budget 2018. Jaitley attacked the Congress saying that the current state of the economy and the country was a cumulative effect of the Congress’ 60-year rule.
Replying to former finance minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram’s 12 questions posed in the session on Thursday, 8 February, he said that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in 2012-13 was 5.3% and 6.3% in 2013-14 under Congress, compared to 5.7% in one quarter under BJP.
He also said that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) always had unacceptable level of current account deficit but under the BJP rule it has been less than 1%. He said that the BJP government covered a journey from policy paralysis to structural reforms and from economy being in fragile five to a bright spot.
He also said that the Congress, before calling Arvind Subramanian , the Chief Economic Advisor, a ‘bad doctor’ should tell the country what their ‘good doctor’ did between 2004-2014.
TMC's Derek O'Brien Attacks Centre Over Railway Budget
Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Derek O'Brien accused the Centre of "politicising" the budgetary allocation for Railways and favouring BJP-ruled states, reported PTI.
He also alleged that the government was deliberately trying to muzzle the voice of the Opposition as the ruling dispensation had no answers to the questions raised by it.
Can the government answer why BJP-ruled states got increased share of budgetary allocation for railways? Uttarakhand got a raise of 165 percent, Rajasthan 30 percent raise and Gujarat 20 percent from last year’s budgetary allocation.Derek O’Brien, TMC leader
Meanwhile, the share for states such as Delhi, Kerala, West Bengal was brought down by 14, 23 and 15 percent respectively, the TMC leader added.
"Safety of railways has been compromised. People can get employment in railways. But this government is not even thinking about it," O'Brien said.