Budget 2018-19

  The NDPS (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was passed by a voice vote and some amendments moved by opposition members were rejected Lok Sabha on Monday passed a bill to rectify errors that had crept into the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Act with Finance Minister  Nirmala Sitharaman  asserting that the retrospective provision made in the bill was not substantive in nature. The NDPS (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was passed by a voice vote and some amendments moved by opposition members were rejected by the House. Responding to concerns raised by members that the provision for implementing the law with retrospective effect was in violation of Article 20 (1) of the Constitution, Sitharaman said according to the opinion of the Solicitor General, the amendment could be permitted as it was not substantive, but clarificatory in nature. She said the retrospective amendment was allowed as the government did not want to create a new law but only correct a mistake… Read Mor...

  Police book Tikait, many other farmer leaders Farmers Protest:  A day after the tractor parade to Delhi spiralled into chaos and violence, farmer unions on Wednesday cancelled their planned foot march to Parliament on February 1 when the Budget would be presented in the House. Farmers protesting the new farm laws would instead hold public meetings and a hunger strike on January 30, on Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary. The Delhi police, on the other hand, have booked farmer leader Rakesh Tikait and 36 others, and also detained around 200 people in connection with incidents of violence and vandalism in various parts of Delhi, including at Red Fort. They have also filed 25 FIRs naming activists Yogendra Yadav, Darshan Pal, Gurnam Singh Chaduni, and others. FIRs were filed under various sections of the IPC, including 147, 148 (related to rioting), 307 (attempt to murder) and 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy). Two farmer unions — the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Bhanu) and the...

  The SC allowed the govt to go ahead with the foundation stone laying ceremony after the govt assured it that no construction will take place till the apex court makes a decision The Supreme Court on Monday expressed displeasure over the way the Centre is “aggressively” going ahead with the construction work of the Central Vista and directed that no construction, demolition or felling of trees shall take place for the project. A bench of the apex court, headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar, observed that the Central government may lay down the foundation stone for the project but it cannot go ahead with construction work of the project. The bench was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the Rs 20,000 crores project for the redevelopment of the Central Vista in the national capital, which made certain allegations of violations in the project. No construction, demolition or felling of trees shall take place for the Central  Vista project , the bench said. Solicitor General Tusha...