Parliament Monsoon Session 2021: Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha Adjourned For The Day As Opposition Creates Ruckus
Monsoon Session LIVE: Opposition created a huge ruckus in the house while PM Modi sought to introduce his new cabinet ministers. Lower House has been adjourned till 3:30pm.
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Background
Parliament Monsoon Session Live: The government has readied a big legislative agenda for the Monsoon Session of Parliament beginning Monday even as the opposition is raring to corner the ruling dispensation over a host of issues, including handling of the second wave of COVID-19, rise in fuel prices and farmers' stir.
During the session, the issue of an international media consortium report would find echo in the two Houses. It claimed that over 300 verified mobile phone numbers, including of two serving ministers, over 40 journalists, three opposition leaders and one sitting judge besides scores of business persons and activists, could have been targeted for hacking through an Israeli spyware sold only to government agencies.
Congress leaders are ready to corner the government over the issues as Shashi Tharoor has already raised the demand for an independent investigation.
The opposition would use it to target the government as some of the members have decided to gives notices of adjournment motion to discuss the matter on the floor of the House.
The government, however, dismissed allegations of any kind of surveillance on its part, saying it "has no concrete basis or truth associated with it whatsoever".
Asserting that "India is a robust democracy that is committed to ensuring the right to privacy to all its citizens as a fundamental right", it dismissed the media report as an attempt to play "the role of an investigator, prosecutor as well as jury".
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday told an all-party meeting that the government was ready for a healthy and meaningful discussion on issues in Parliament, according to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi.
An official statement later said Modi told floor leaders that according to country's traditions of healthy democracy, issues concerning people should be raised in an amicable manner and the government should be given an opportunity to respond to these discussions.
Modi said it is everyone's responsibility to create such a conducive environment and added that people's representatives truly know the ground-level situation, hence their participation in these discussions enriches the decision-making process.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah chairs meeting on floor management
New Delhi: A meeting of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal, Chief Whip Shiv Pratap Shukla is underway on floor management and how to counter opposition in Parliament.
Monsoon Session Live: IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on 'Pegasus Project' Report
"Any form of illegal surveillance isn't possible with checks and balances in our laws and robust institutions. In India, there's a well-established procedure through which lawful interception of electronic communication is carried out for purpose of national security," IT Minister in LS.
Monsoon Session Live: IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on 'Pegasus Project' Report
"The allegation is that individuals linked to these phone numbers for being spied upon. However, the report says that the presence of a phone number in the data does not reveal whether was a device was infected by Pegasus or subjected to an attempted hack," IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.
"Without subjecting the phone to this technical analysis, it's not possible to conclusively state whether it witnessed an attempted hack or successfully compromised. The report itself clarifies that the presence of a number in the list doesn't amount to snooping," he added in Lok Sabha.
Monsoon Session Live: IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on 'Pegasus Project' Report
A highly sensational story was published by a web portal last night. Many over-the-top allegations were made around this story. The press reports appeared a day before the monsoon session of Parliament. This can't be a coincidence: Ashwini Vaishnaw, IT Minister, in LS on 'Pegasus Project'.
Monsoon Session Live: Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi Appointed Ad Deputy Leader of Rajya Sabha
Union Minister and BJP MP Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi appointed as the Deputy Leader of House in the Rajya Sabha: sources told to ANI
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