Rajya sabha approves post office bill
The Rajya Sabha on Monday approved the Post Office Bill, 2023, aiming to repeal the 125-year-old Indian Post Office Act and streamline postal regulations. The proposed law grants the Central government authority to authorise officers for intercepting, opening or detaining items in the interest of national security, foreign relations, public order, emergencies, safety, or to enforce existing laws. Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw defended the interception provision in the Upper House.
Reconstitute jcm in isro, says Tharoor
During the Zero Hour in Lok Sabha, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor urged the Centre to reconstitute a joint consultative mechanism within the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Department of Science (DoS) to ensure a democratic way of dealing with issues of employees. A reverification process of the JCMs in these organisations used to take place every five years, but this has not happened since 2014, the Thiruvananthapuram MP said.
LS nod to advocates amendment bill
Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2023, aimed at regulating the legal profession by a single Act and seeks to target “touts” was passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday with Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal saying there should be no role of such persons in the country’s courts. The Bill was already cleared by the Rajya Sabha on August 3, during the monsoon session.
6 states out of pm shri schools plan
About Rs 3,395.16 crore has been approved to set up 6,207 PM SHRI schools in 27 states and UTs in the first phase, Union Minister of State for Education Annpurna Devi told the Lok Sabha on Monday. While the maximum of these schools have been approved in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Kerala, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are yet to be on-board to avail the scheme, she said.
9K sc/st students drop out of cUs
Over 9,000 students from the reserved category dropped out from Central Universities (CU) in the last five years, Union Education Minister of State for Education Dr Subhas Sarkar informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply on Monday. Sarkar said that during the same period, over 3,000 students from the SC, ST and OBC categories dropped out of the IITs.
Compiled by Kavita Bajeli-Datt & Rajesh Kumar Thakur