Parliament LIVE | Mulayam backs Modi as PM, praises his work

It is this Lok Sabha that passed the GST. The GST process revealed the spirit of cooperation and bipartisanship: PM

. The world is discussing global warming and India made an effort in the form of the International Solar Alliance to mitigate this menace: PM

. India's self-confidence is at an all-time high. I consider this to be a very positive sign because such confidence gives an impetus to development: PM

. Several sessions in this Lok Sabha had good productivity. This is a very good sign. I appreciate M VenkaiahNaidu Ji, Late Ananth Kumar Ji for their service as Ministers for Parliamentary Affairs: PM Modi in the Lok Sabha

. Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said the lies of the Congress and opposition parties stand exposed by the CAG report on Rafale, which reaffirms the dictum that truth shall prevail.

. The Delhi government is playing "politics of deception" on the issue of electoral rolls and action needs to be taken, BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi said in the Lok Sabha Tuesday.

. The Congress Tuesday staged a walkout in the Lok Sabha after its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on theRafaledeal was rejected. Read more

. Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of acting as a middleman of Anil Ambani in the Rafale jet deal, as he cited an e-mail to claim the businessman was aware of the MoU before India and France signed it. Read more

. The proceedings of Lok Sabha on Tuesday were adjourned for nearly 20 minutes during Question Hour amid slogan shouting by Congress members over the Rafale issue. Read more

. "PM has compromised national security, he has given defence secret to a person who should not have it...What PM has done is criminal and that itself puts him in jail," alleges Rahul Gandhi.

. Anil Ambani knew he was going to getRafaledeal, what PM has done is treason and in violation of Official Secrets Act: Rahul Gandhi

. As many as 29 private member bills were introduced in Lok Sabha on Friday including one seeking steps to check 'fake news'.

. The BJP on Friday described Rahul Gandhi's allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Rafale deal as "yet another lie from his lie-manufacturing factory" and accused the Congress president of working at the behest of foreign forces.

. CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury alleged on Friday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had consistently undermined the Air Force and the Defence Ministry to benefit his "cronies" in the Rafale deal.

. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Friday said he has no problem if the government investigates his brother-in-law Robert Vadra or senior party leader P Chidambaram as long as it also answers questions on the Rafale jet deal.

. National Conference leader Omar Abdullah Friday said he would like to see how those aligned with the BJP would explain reports that the Defence Ministry had protested over the mechanism being adopted by the PMO for the Rafale deal.

. # Uproar in Lok Sabha by opposition members over MoD dissent note on #Rafale negotiations. TMC MP Saugata Roy says 'Modi-Shah duo is destroying defence backbone of the country'

# Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress in Lok Sabha on MoD dissent note on #Rafale negotiations: We demand a joint parliamentary committee, everything will be revealed then, we don't want any explanation now, have heard many explanations, from PM also.

# Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Lok Sabha: Then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar ji replied to that MoD note that remain calm, nothing to worry, everything is going alright. Now, what do you call the NAC led by Sonia Gandhi's interference in earlier PMO? What was that?

. MA Naqvi, Union Minister: Sometimes it looks like some people especially senior leaders of Congress have got 'supari' to defame and misguide on the sensitive issue of national security. Congress situation is-Na izzat ki chinta na fikar kisi apmaan ki, jai bolo beimaan ki Rafale

. PM Modi in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh: When new Govt was formed in Chhattisgarh, we also congratulated them that maybe they will implement some new approach for the development of the state. But what they have only done is try to stop the ongoing schemes.

The first two decisions that the Congress govt took, you must think about them. The first thing they did was to remove Chhattisgarh from 'Modicare' and second decision was to not let the CBI enter the state, Why? What are you afraid of?

Agar kisi ne kuch kiya nahi hai to kya kisi jaanch se darega? Kya koi bhi agency bina kisi kaaran se poochtach kar sakti hai?

. Rajya Sabha Friday witnessed opposition uproar over the Rafale jet deal issue, leading to adjournment of the proceedings for the day.

The Congress sought to raise the Rafale controversy, citing a news report which claimed the Defence Ministry had raised strong objections to "parallel negotiations" conducted by the PMO with France, which "weakened negotiating position of the Ministry of Defence and Indian Negotiating Team".

Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad sought to raise the issue but Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu disallowed him, saying he has reserved a final judgement on the notice by Congress members under Rule 267 on the issue.

Rule 267 provide for setting aside the business of the day to discuss the issue being raised.

Naidu said nobody can speak on the issue that has been reserved by the chair. He ordered that nothing will go on record.

. The Government Friday said it will bring an ordinance or a Bill if the Supreme Court reject its review petition on reservation mechanism for faculties in universities.

With Rajya Sabha proceedings being washed away earlier this week over protests from opposition parties over the issue, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar made a brief statement in the House saying till such time no recruitment will be allowed in universities.

Soon after listed official papers were presented to the House, Javadekar rose to say that a study has been conducted on how department-wise reservations to faculties will affect SC, ST and OBCs in 30 universities.

. Finance Minister Piyush Goyal Friday said the government may provide more funds for the world's biggest health care scheme -- Ayushman Bharat -- next year.

In the last four months of its launch, the scheme has already benefited over 10 lakh people, he said while speaking at the sixth Global Fund Replenishment organised by Ministry of Health here.

"The government has already provided half a billion dollar funding for the programme. We expect to provide much more funds in the next year," he said.

The interim Budget presented last week has raised the allocation for Ayushman Bharat scheme to Rs 6,400 crore for 2019-2020.

. #I did met Manohar Parrikar ji, but there was no discussion on Rafale Deal. It was just a courtesy visit to inquire about his health.

# Hollande (Former President of France) too had earlier claimed PM Modi’s interference. PM stole Rs 30,000 crore of public money.

# Defence ministry note claims parallel negotiations by PMO. It proves PM bypassed negotiations with France on Rafale Deal.

# We have been saying for over a year that the Prime Minister is involved in the Rafale scam.

# I hate to use strong words, but can't help telling the truth. It is now the duty to tell the country that the PM is a thief.

. Lok Sabha adjourned till noon amid slogan shouting by opposition over Rafale deal.

. It (MoD dissent note on Rafale negotiations) had nothing to do with price. It was about sovereign guarantees and general terms and conditions. Whatever has been brought out (recent media report on Rafale by the Hindu) has nothing to do with pricing: G Mohan Kumar, Defence Secretary at the time of Rafale negotiations to ANI

. # Use law against everyone, including Robert Vadra and P Chidambaram, but govt must answer questions on Rafale: Rahul Gandhi.

# Defence Ministry was involved in Rafale negotiation, it is open and shut case: Rahul Gandhi.

# PM was guilty in Rafale deal, says Cong chief Rahul Gandhi.

. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday dismissed the idea of a grand alliance to challenge him in the Lok Sabha elections as 'grand adulteration' (maha-milavat) and sought to establish the superiority of his 55-month rule over the 55-year reign of the Congress.

. At 2PM, Rajya Sabha may witness further trouble as SP, BSP, RJD say they will raise issues related to roster system. Otherwise, motion of thanks to President's Speech to begin @DeccanHerald

— Shemin (@shemin_joy) February 6, 2019

. Members of the Opposition and the treasury benches almost came to blows in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday as BJP member Hukum Dev Narayan Yadav made an oblique reference to the Opposition coalition as a gathering of “terrorists and extremists”.

. The proceedings of Lok Sabha were adjourned for nearly 45 minutes on Tuesday morning amid noisy protests by Trinamool Congress members over the CBI versus Kolkata Police issue.

. JD(S) state vice president H H Devaraj said that the Union budget has neglected coffee, arecanut, coconut and horticulture crops. By announcing financial assistance of Rs 6,000 per farmer, the Centre has insulted the farming community.

. Dalit organisations on Saturday questioned this claim from the final budget of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government

. Home Minister Rajnath Singh Monday said there may be a constitutional breakdown in West Bengal in the wake of the Kolkata Police-CBI face-off and asserted that the Centre has power to take action.

. Lok Sabha adjourned till 2 PM amid noisy protests by TMC over alleged misuse of CBI.

. "This is not Modi's emergency but Mamata Banerjee's emergency in Bengal. She is on a dharna to save herself."

. # Stopping CBI from performing duty unprecedented

# Face-off between Kolkata Police and CBI unfortunate

# There may be a constitutional breakdown in West Bengal

# Centre has the power to maintain normalcy in any part of the country

# The incident in Kolkata is a threat to the federal political system of the country

. The incident in Kolkata is a threat to the federal political system of the country: HM Rajnath Singh in LS

. Support from opposition leaders poured in for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee whose sit-in over the CBI's attempt to question the Kolkata Police commissioner in connection with chit fund scams continued on Monday.

. The Supreme Court on Monday refused to give an immediate hearing to the CBI on its plea for contempt actions against Kolkata police commissioner and others for putting up a strong resistance before the CBI sleuths in its probe into the Saradha Chit fund scam.

. Finance Minister Piyush Goyal may claim that "job seekers have become job creators" but a government scheme to provide loans for small and micro enterprises is unlikely to meet the target it set this fiscal.

. Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday promised to waive loans of marginal farmers if the party came to power in May 2019, as he launched a vitriolic attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for doling out peanuts to farmers in the interim Budget presented on February 1.

. In a typical election-year giveaway Budget, the Narendra Modi government tried to woo all sections of voters from farmers and tax payers to the unorganised sector with Finance Minister Piyush Goyal promising to implement most of the monetary benefits with retrospective effect from December 2018.

. A combination of handouts and slick political footwork, the interim Budget of 2019-20 didn’t receive a ringing endorsement from economists polled by DH.

. Piyush Goyal’s move to raise the income tax exemption limit to Rs 5 lakh, which is calculated to win over middle-class voters, could theoretically mean that somebody earning Rs 9.75 lakh per annum need pay no tax.

. The Centre breached its fiscal deficit target for the second year in a row to settle at 3.4% in 2018-19, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal’s interim Budget showed Friday.

. Farmers owing upto 2 hectares will get Rs 6,000 per year. This will be directly credited to bank accounts of farmers. 12 crore farmer families to benefit. Allocated Rs 75,000 crore for the project.

. The BSE benchmark Sensex jumped over 100 points ahead of the Budget presentation by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal amid heavy buying by foreign portfolio investors.

. Catch the latest updates here Watch live speech

. In a few hours from now, Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal will be presenting the last Budget of Narendra Modi-led government.

. The markets would be keenly watching the government's plans for banking issues, divestment plans and fiscal prudence, according to analysts.

The mood in thecorporate sector is that there would be nothing in store for them, but then they aren't expecting any negative news for them in the budget. This is the primary reason for markets rallying yesterday, according to Rahul Shah of Motilal Oswal. . Under the Udan Yojana, 19 new airports are being built in Eastern India and of these 5 are coming up in the North East. The construction of Pakyong airport in Sikkim and Veer Surendra Sai Airport at Jharsuguda in Odisha has been completed.

Almost all the railway lines of the North-East have been converted to broad gauge. Efforts are underway to provide rail connectivity to the capital cities of all North-East states. For this, work on 15 new rail lines is under progress at a cost of approximately Rs. 50,000 crores.

. Work is being carried out to provide farmers with fair prices for their crops. The Minimum Support Price (MSP) of 22 crops has been fixed at a price one and a half times higher than the production cost of the crop.

Crop insurance is being provided to farmers at low premiums under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana to safeguard them from potential crisis due to crop damage.

Under the ‘Namami Gange Mission’, projects worth Rs 25,500 crore have been approved so far. The government has initiated the cleaning up of the river Ganga by diverting dozens of major drains, stopping flow of industrial effluents, and by setting up several sewage treatment plants in the cities.

. In the last four-and-a-half years, 1.3 crore homes have been constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. In 2014, only 25 lakh houses had been constructed.

The government has enacted the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 to ensure that construction of houses is completed on time. Since then, about 35,000 real estate projects have been registered.

Six crore LPG connections have been provided under the Ujjwala Yojana. In the last four years, the number of families with gas connections has risen from 12 to 13 crore.

In 2014, there were more than 18,000 villages which had no electricity connection. Today every village has been electrified. Under the Pradhan Mantri Saubhagya Yojana, 2.4 crore homes have been provided electricity.

. Under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, a target to provide road connectivity to every village by 2019 has been set. More than 82% villages have been connected by roads, as compared to 56% villages in 2014.

Under the ‘Udan scheme’, 12 lakh seats have been made available to people at lower tariffs. This has provided the common person with an opportunity of air travel.

. India’s position has improved by 65 places in the Ease of Doing Business ranking, from 142 in 2014 to 77 now.

As a part of the Make in India initiative, Asia’s largest MedTech Zone is being established in Andhra Pradesh. Defence Corridors are being established in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

. The Citizenship Amendment Bill has been passed. This bill will help victims who were persecuted and were compelled to seek refuge in India to secure citizenship in India.

The government has created a provision for capital punishment in case of heinous crimes like rape of minors.

The government is also working on passing the Triple Talaq Bill in the Parliament.

. Under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, maximum benefit has been availed by women. Out of the 15 crore Mudra loans, 73% of these have been disbursed to women entrepreneurs.

In order to ensure the participation of women entrepreneurs in small and medium enterprises, it has been made mandatory for major government companies to buy at least 3% of their material from women-owned enterprises.

The government has enhanced maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks.

. New educational institutions to provide professional education of the highest standard have been established. Seven IITs, seven IIMs, fourteen IIITs, one NIT, and four NIDs are being established.

Efforts are being made to strengthen the education system by opening 103 Kendriya Vidyalayas and 62 new Navodaya Vidyalayas.

. In the past four-and-a-half years, 140 camps have been organised where disabled individuals can receive equipment. During this period, equipment worth Rs 700 crore has been distributed to about 12 lakh individuals.

To alleviate the problems faced by the disabled at railway stations and bus stations, the government has made about 1,000 government buildings and 650 railway stations fully accessible under the Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan.

. To reduce out-of-pocket expenses on medical care for the poor, the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Aushadi Yojana has been launched. 4,900 Jan Aushadhi Centres have been opened in more than 600 districts.

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana has been launched. Under this scheme , 50 crore poor people are eligible for availing treatment of up to five lakh rupees per year per family in case of a serious illness. More than 10 lakh people have availed free treatment from hospitals under the scheme.

Mission Indradhanush has been launched to provide immunisation to children and pregnant women living in remote and tribal areas. As a result, the country has moved rapidly towards the target of “Universal Immunisation”.

Under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, more than 9 crore toilets have been constructed. The coverage of rural sanitation, which was less than 40% in 2014, has increased to 98%.

. The Kaushal Vikas Abhiyan has been launched. In the coming days, more than 15,000 ITIs, 10,000 Kaushal Vikas Kendras and more than 600 Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Kendras will play a critical role in developing the skill-set of the country’s youth.

The creation of jobs with tax incentives under Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana has been undertaken. Under this scheme, the EPS and EPF contribution of 12% payable by the employer is being paid by the Government for the first three years. More than one crore youth have benefitted from this scheme.

. To address corruption, a Special Investigative Team on black money has been established.

Through demonetization, the registration of 3.3 lakh shell companies responsible for flow of black money have been annulled.

Assets worth more than Rs 50,000 crore are being confiscated under the Benami Property Act, Prevention of Money Laundering Act and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act

. Under the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, 21 crore individuals belonging to low-income groups have been provided with insurance coverage. More than Rs 3,100 crore has been disbursed under these schemes.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, which facilitates credit for professional and business requirements, loans of more than Rs 7 lakh crore have been disbursed to the youth.

So far, 34 crore bank accounts have been opened under the Jan Dhan Yojana. Of all the bank accounts opened in the world from 2014 to 2017, 55% were opened in India alone.

As a result of the expansion in Direct Benefit Transfer in the last four and a half years, more than Rs 6.05 lakh crore have been directly transferred to the bank accounts of beneficiaries. Because of this, about Rs. 1.1 lakh crore have been saved.

. During the last four and a half years, the economy of the country has been growing at a rate of 7.3% on average. India has emerged as the 6th largest economy in the world. While India’s contribution to the world GDP was 2.6% in 2014, it has increased to 3.3% in 2017 as per latest reports. By decreasing the burden of income tax and keeping rate of inflation under control, the government has created new opportunities for expanding the savings of the middle class. . Total 1.16 lakh village panchayats have connected with optical fibre and about 40 thousand village panchayats have been provided with wi-fi hotspots, said President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday.

Addressing the joint sitting of Parliament at the start of the Budget Session, he said, “in 2014, only 59 village panchayats in the country had digital connectivity. Today, 1 lakh 16 thousand village panchayats are connected with optical fibre and about 40 thousand village panchayats have been provided with wi-fi hotspots.”

. The Railways has eliminated almost all unmanned railway crossings and this will help to reduce the accidents at level crossings, said PresidentRam Nath Kovind said on Thursday.

Addressing the joint sitting of Parliament at the start of the Budget Session, he said, “Tragic accidents at unmanned railway crossings have for years been a subject of discussion in our country. This subject has also been raised many times in the Parliament. In 2014, unmanned crossings in the country numbered 8,300. My Government undertook a mission to eliminate unmanned railway crossings, which have now almost been done away with.”

. With government lacking numbers in Rajya Sabha to push key and Opposition determined to stall some of them, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday reminded that this session is the last before the coming general elections and hence political considerations should not be allowed to derail the proceedings of the House.

. Compromising with security needs is not in the interest of present and future of country. New deals in last year, purchase of defence equipment raised morale of defence. After decades, Indian Air Force will use ultramodern Rafale aircraft in coming months&strengthen itself: President Kovind

. Our forces and their morale are a symbol of India's strength in the 21st century. My Government has not only fulfilled the demand for a pending One Rank One Pensionfor four decades but also paid arrears of over Rs 10,700 crore to 20 lakh ex-servicemen: President Kovind

. India was going through "uncertain times" ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and the Narendra Modi government after assuming power resolved to work towards a 'New India', giving hope to the people, President Ram Nath Kovind said Thursday.

. Under Jan Dhan Yojana, 34 crore people have opened a bank account and almost every family in the country is connected to the banking system. According to an international agency, 55% of the total bank accounts opened between 2014-2017 were opened in India itself: President Ram Nath Kovind

. All eyes will be on Parliament from Thursday with Budget session kicking off amid anticipation of the Narendra Modi government doling out promises ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

. The Budget session will witness high-decibel political rhetoric ahead of the elections with BJP and a united Opposition expected to lock horns over every issue on the table. The session is expected to set the tone for the campaign.

. The Centre is all set to breach its promise to keep the Budget size smaller as a percentage of GDP. Bucking the trend, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal’s interim Budget may be bigger in size than last year’s general Budget (FY19) which was a little below Rs 24.5 lakh crore.

. The new and aspiring India had voted Narendra Modi-led government to power in 2014. Modi with his track record of a successful chief minister of Gujarat fired the imagination of common man resulting in an absolute mandate to run the country. The whole world was looking at India with huge expectations and hope.

. As it regularly happens at this time of the year, the media is abuzz with Budget expectations and taxpayers – salaried and entrepreneurial - have high hopes that the new Budget will help them save on their income taxes. Here are some of the expectations regarding the same.

. A short, crisp and restricted interim Budget, but demands aplenty! It will be interesting to see how much the finance minister can stretch himself, given that largesse can put undue pressure on the fisc and may be unsustainable for any government that comes after general elections.

. Since four years thrust has been assigned to housing / real estate and infrastructure to propel economic growth. It will be interesting to evaluate, assess and take stock on the actual performance of these two key sectors especially keeping in view the dream mission of the Prime Minister - ‘Housing for all by 2022’.

. On Feb. 1, 2019, the Narendra Modi-led government will come up with budget proposals for the ensuing year just before the country heads for general elections. The industry surprisingly talks of a ‘full budget’ as against a ‘vote on account’ and it's expected to be a people-friendly budget. As such, let's summarise the expectations from this budget.

. The Budget session will witness political rhetoric ahead of the elections with the BJP and a united Opposition expected to lock horns over every issue on the table. The session is expected to set the tone for the campaign.

Parliament LIVE | Mulayam backs Modi as PM, praises his work

Mulayam ji is most valuable person: Modi

We saw new meaning of hugging and eye-winking play in this Lok Sabha: Modi

It is this Lok Sabha that has passed stringent laws against corruption and black money: PM

Follow us on