-Press Release by National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) New Delhi: Calling this year’s union budget ‘just an exercise in manipulation of numbers,’ veteran activist Medha Patkar asked, “When the major decisions like the demonetisation and GST are taken between two budgets then what’s the relevance of the Budget?,” at a panel discussion on the analysis of this year’s union budget with a special focus on Handloom, Fisheries, Dalits, Adivasis, Forest,...
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Bamboo not a tree: Parliament passes Bill amending Forest Act
-PTI The Bill permits felling and transit of bamboo grown in non-forest areas. However, bamboo grown on forest lands would continue to be classified as a tree. The Parliament on Wednesday passed a Bill to exclude bamboo from the definition of tree under the Indian Forest Act, claiming it would improve the earnings of tribals and dwellers living around forests. The Indian Forest (Amendment) Bill, which was adopted by the Lok Sabha on...
More »BJP MPs stall panel report flaying demonetisation
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The parliamentary standing committee on finance failed on Tuesday to adopt two reports critical of the government — on demonetisation and on the revised formula for calculating growth — in the face of vocal opposition by BJP and some non-NDA parties. The report on demonetisation, circulated in the morning ahead of the committee meeting, said the measure had cost the economy 1% of GDP. The other...
More »Praise for 'sincere' Nitin Gadkari and his traffic reforms across parties -Avishek G Dastidar & Liz Mathew
-The Indian Express Motor vehicles amendment bill comes back from standing committee, welcomed in Lok Sabha A BILL that proposes radical reforms in traffic laws, imposing strict penalties for violations and holding vehicle manufacturers accountable for design defects, found all-round support in Lok Sabha Friday. So did Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, whom Opposition MPs described as a “very good” minister who takes everyone on board. The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2016...
More »Public Accounts Committee can't summon PM Narendra Modi to answer note ban queries
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Public Accounts Committee chair K V Thomas had to backtrack on his remarks suggesting PM Narendra Modi could be summoned to answer queries on demonetisation with the panel concluding that this is against rules. The meeting of the PAC on Friday saw BJP members vehemently object to Thomas's comments, arguing that he had quoted precedents incorrectly and rules governing financial committee do not permit calling ministers...
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