Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman speaks in the Lok Sabha on August 8, 2025. Photo: Sansad TV via PTI

Samajwadi Party MP Akhilesh Yadav speaks in the Lok Sabha on February 11, 2025. Photo: Sansad TV via PTI

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday (February 11, 2025) said that the Union Budget was “only for the rich people of the country”, and had failed to provide any roadmap for ‘Viksit Bharat’ (developed India).

Participating in the discussion on the Budget in the Lok Sabha, Mr. Yadav also said that the Uttar Pradesh government had not provided the final number on how many people had died in the stampede at the Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj.

He questioned the absence of drones promised for surveillance at the Maha Kumbh. “Where is ‘Digital India’? They are not yet able to provide the number of the people who died or were lost,” Mr. Yadav alleged.

For the first time, the Opposition leader said, there was “a 300 km traffic jam on way to the Kumbh Mela” and “they used two Chief Ministers [of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh] to stop the jam”.

“What is the benefit of reaching the moon when you cannot solve problems on the ground?” the MP from Kannauj said .

The Maha Kumbh is being held at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh from from January 13-February 26. The stampede took place on January 29, ‘Mauni Amavasya’, one of the most auspicious days in the Hindu calendar. The U.P. government has said at least 30 persons lost their lives and 60 persons were injured in the incident.

Claiming that a few people held the entire wealth of the nation, Mr. Yadav said “the extent of the matter is such that free ration is being distributed to 80 crore people in the country”.

He said that in U.P., the “double engine” government was making “double blunders”.

Mr. Yadav said there had been no increase in farmers’ incomes, and the government should consider waiving off farmers’ loans.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman speaks during the Winter session of Parliament, in New Delhi, on December 17, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday (December 17, 2024) said the lower-than-expected GDP growth of 5.4% in the second quarter was a “temporary blip” and the economy will see healthy growth in the coming quarters.

Replying to a debate in the Lok Sabha on the first batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants, she said India has seen “steady and sustained” growth and its GDP growth rate has averaged 8.3% in the last three years.

Parliament Winter Session Day 18 LIVE Updates

India continues to be the fastest-growing major economy in the world, Ms. Sitharaman added.

The second quarter growth is only a “temporary blip”, and the economy will see healthy growth in the coming quarters, Ms. Sitharaman said.

The Finance Minister further said there is no broad-based slowdown in the manufacturing sector. Half of the sectors within the overall manufacturing basket continue to remain strong.

The Indian economy grew 6.7% in the first (April-June) quarter and 5.4% in the July-September period.

About inflation, Ms. Sitharaman said it is better controlled in the NDA regime, whereas under the UPA, it touched double digits.

Retail inflation in April-October 2024-25 stood at 4.8%, the lowest since the COVID pandemic, she noted.

Ms. Sitharaman said the unemployment rate has come down from 6% in 2017-18 to 3.2%t now.

Union Minister of Civil Aviation Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu speaks in the Lok Sabha during the Monsoon Session of Parliament on July 31, 2024.
| Photo Credit: ANI

In what is likely to bring relief to aspiring pilots and other aviation personnel, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has proposed to bring the exam conducted on the use of radio communication equipment in an aircraft under the ambit of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) under the new Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak Bill, 2024 tabled in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

The Bill will replace the Aircraft Act of 1934.

The Bill was tabled by the Minister for Civil Aviation Rammohan Naidu amidst a protest from Kerala MP N.K. Premachandran, who questioned why the name of the statute was in Hindi alone. The Constitution mandated that Bills brought to Parliament should be in English, Mr. Premachandran said. “For people from South India, it is very difficult to even pronounce bharatiya vayuyan vidheyak. What is the logical reason behind this? I am questioning the legislative competence of the Bill,” the MP said.

The Statement of Objects and Reasons stats that the Bill was being introduced because the 90-year-old Aircraft Act, 1934 has been amended several times and “a need is felt to address the ambiguities and confusion experienced by the stakeholders, to remove redundancies, to enable ease of doing business and to provide for manufacture and maintenance in the aviation sector”.

The proposed legislation will bring the Radio Telephone Operator Restricted (RTR) Certificate and Licence testing process from the Department of Telecom (DoT) to the DGCA, and ease the process for pilots as they can secure all their certificates from one authority, a senior official of the Ministry of Civil Aviation said. The exam is also conducted for aircraft maintenance engineers and flight despatchers.

It’s an open secret in the aviation industry that the RTR exam is the toughest to crack due to allegedly widespread corruption. Many pilots recount paying up to ₹2.5 lakh as bribes to appear for the exam, with touts indicating a dress code for the day of the exam so that candidates could be ‘identified’ at the exam centre. Others narrate how they preferred getting the same licence, which is also recognised in India, from a Commonwealth country, including Australia or Canada, because the probability of clearing the test in due course in India was so remote.

Aspiring pilots said that if the proposal came through, they would be able to appear for the RTR exam in any of the DGCA’s 14 exam centres instead of only five centres in Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, and Hyderabad, where the DoT was conducting it.

Anita Subhadarshini, BJP MP, Aska (Odisha), raises question over Aska constituency being deprived of the railway service. She questions, “When will a final DPR will be sanctioned for the project?” 

Replying to the question, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Railway Minister says, “The funds allocation and progress of work in Odisha has seen huge increase in the last 10 years.” 

Mr. Vaishnaw says during the UPA regime, the funds allocated for a large and important state like Odisha was just ₹800 crore. He says, “Now the funds allocated are more than ₹10,000 crore every year for Odisha which is a huge jump from the previous years.”

New Delhi:
After Rahul Gandhi’s fiery speech in Parliament yesterday, in which he launched a scathing attack on BJP – large portions of which have been expunged from official records – the stage is set for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s anticipated response

Here are 10 points on this big story:

Union Minister Piyush Goyal informed the Lok Sabha that a task force has been set up to identify, categorise and develop tailored strategies to resolve non-tariff barriers. File
| Photo Credit: ANI

The Government has set up a task force under the Department of Commerce to identify, categorise and develop tailored strategies for the resolution of non-tariff barriers, the Parliament was informed on Feb 5.

Such barriers include prior registration requirements in the exporting country, cumbersome testing and certification requirements and unreasonable domestic standards/rules.

Different countries enforce various regulatory measures to ensure the safety and quality of the products placed in their territory. These measures apply equally to domestic manufacturers and importers. However, such measures may sometimes act as trade barriers due to various reasons like gaps in the regulatory frameworks and quality compliance requirements of the trade partners, lack of transparency, arbitrariness or differing interpretation of the rules, and improper implementation.

“Taking cognizance of the challenges involved in mapping the trade barriers, and to give increased focus, a task force has been set up under Department of Commerce, to identify, categorise and develop tailored strategies for resolution of these identified non-tariff barriers,” Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

The resolution of trade barriers, including ensuring increased and effective market access, is a continuous process and endeavour.

He said India also engages in regulatory cooperation to help ensure that global rules governing the regulatory structures are favourable and consistent.

Trading with Pakistan

Replying to another question on trade with Pakistan, the Minister said that in August 2019, Pakistan took a number of measures to downgrade the bilateral relations with India.

“One of the decisions was to unilaterally suspend the bilateral trade with India. However, export of only therapeutic products has been allowed,” Mr. Goyal said, adding that normally, the Atari-Wagah border and Karachi Port are the two major trade routes between the countries. “The onus of resumption of bilateral trade lies with the Government of Pakistan,” he noted.