Apex court bans manufacture, sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR

New Delhi, Jul 22: Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday urged the newly elected members of the House to uphold rules and procedures of the House while discharging their duties as the lawmakers for the country.

"In his remarks at the end of the administration of oath/affirmation to the new members of Rajya Sabha in the Chamber of the House today, Shri Naidu urged them to hold themselves to account with regard to their conduct both within and outside the House, so as to enhance the standing of the institution in the eyes of the people," read a press note.

The note further read that Naidu suggested the members to "question themselves if they had acted to enhance the dignity of the institution or to the contrary at the end of each day during the session and if their conduct was ethical during the inter-session period".

He said, "Answers to these simple questions would guide you on the right path."

He further stressed, "Ensuring rule of law is the spirit of our law of the land (Constitution). It shall begin with your compliance with the rules and procedures of this House."

Of the 61 members elected to Rajya Sabha from 20 States in the recent biennial and bye-polls, 45 made oath/affirmation today including 36 who have been elected for the first time. 12 sitting members have been re-elected which include Sharad Pawar, Digvijaya Singh, Bhubaneswar Kalita, Prem Chand Gupta, Harivansh and Ramdas Athawale, who took oath today.

Those elected for the first time to Rajya Sabha include Mallikarjun Kharge, Jyotiraditya M Scindia and KC Venugopal who have vast legislative experience and taken oath today. Those members who could not make oath/affirmation will do so during the ensuing Monsoon Session.

"Members including three women made oath/affirmation in 10 languages viz., Telugu, Bodo, Kannada, Manipuri, Marathi, Oriya, Tamil, Bengali, Hindi and English," the note read further.

"Today's oath-taking has been organized to enable the newly elected members to participate in the committee meetings which are underway at once and in the monsoon session which is to follow. I hope to nominate all of you on different committees in a day or two. #RajyaSabha," the Vice President's official handle tweeted earlier on Wednesday.

Feb 2: The Supreme court on Monday decided to hear on March 4 a plea seeking registration of FIRs against politicians for hate speeches which allegedly led to violence in the national capital.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde agreed to hear the plea filed by riots victims.

The petition was mentioned for urgent listing by senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the riots victims.

Gonsalves said that the Delhi High Court has deferred for four weeks the matters related to riots in the national capital despite the fact that people are still dying due to the recent violence.

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 20: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday alleged that efforts were being made to undermine the achievements of the state government in its fight against Covid-19 and said he was "ignoring" them as it was not the time for controversies.

The Opposition Congress has been raising allegations that a US-based company had been entrusted with the task of collecting data regarding the virus-infected patients in the state, in violation of fundamental rights.

"Many developed nations are in awe of the achievements of Kerala in its fight against Covid-19 pandemic. This is the speciality of Kerala model," Vijayan said. Referring to the data collection charge levelled by the opposition parties, Vijayan said some were engaged in slandering the state government.

"Those who think that the government should not have a reputation for effectively handling the coronavirus outbreak are engaged in slandering the state government. It has happened before, it's happening now also. This is not the time to go behind controversies. People are watching and they will evaluate," Vijayan said in his weekly interactive programme 'Naam munnott'.

He said he had decided to ignore such controversies. The ward-level committees, set up by the government for the anti-coronavirus fight, was collecting information of those under home isolation, elderly persons and those at the risk of the disease using a questionnaire in this regard and upload it on the server of the private agency. The Congress has alleged that the data, collected through the government machinery, was being uploaded not on the government server but on that of the foreign company.