MPs Suspended, Ruckus Again: Top 10 Developments on Monsoon Session Day 6

Opposition parties said that LoP Mallikarjun Kharge was disrespected at the swearing-in ceremony of President Murmu.

President Droupadi Murmu after taking oath in the Central Hall of Parliament, in New Delhi, Monday, 25 July.

(Photo: PTI)

The ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament, which began on 18 July, marked the sixth day of the proceedings on Monday, 25 July.

However, proceedings in both the houses began at 2 pm instead of the usual 11 am, following the swearing-in ceremony of Droupadi Murmu as the 15th President of India.

Amid repeated adjournments following protests from the Opposition parties over price rise and inflation and the recent hike in the Goods and Services Tax rates, here are the top 10 developments:

1. Four Congress Lok Sabha MPs, including Manickam Tagore, Ramya Haridas, Jothimani, and TN Prathapan, were suspended for the entire Monsoon Session for displaying placards and disrupting proceedings despite a warning by Speaker Om Birla.

2. Soon after, the Congress said that the government was trying to intimate the party and added that they would not be cowed down. "Today, when a tribal woman has taken oath as President, a Dalit woman has been suspended from Lok Sabha," Tagore, who was suspended said.

3. Lok Sabha was adjourned to meet again on Tuesday at 11 am right after it resumed at 3 pm. Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day after it resumed at 4 pm.

4. In response to Aam Aadmi Party MP Raghav Chadha's question, the Centre said that it had hiked the prices of petrol and diesel 78 and 76 times during the financial year 2021-22. Chadha retorted saying that despite the huge amount of money the Centre had earned through the excise duty imposed on fuel between 2016 and 2022, it did not want to address inflation.

5. Meanwhile, all Opposition parties submitted a letter to the Rajya Sabha chairperson stating that the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, was made to sit in a seat "not commensurate with the position he holds," at the swearing-in ceremony of President Droupadi Murmu on Monday.

6. Responding to the allegations, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said that "the ceremony is organised by Home Ministry. There is an order of precedent. Going by that, the Leader of Opposition should be seated in the third row."

7. Amid a slew of Suspension of Business notices, AAP MP Sanjay Singh gave a notice under rule 267 in Rajya Sabha over the "misuse of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) against the Delhi government."

8. Commenting on the spate of SpiceJet mishaps, Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh said that the aviation regulator DGCA had conducted 53 spot checks on 48 SpiceJet aircraft between July 9 and July 13, but it did not find any major safety violations.

9. Further, Minister of State for Jal Shakti Prahlad Singh Patel said that 26,279 rural habitations had contaminants in water sources as of April 1 this year. He was responding to a question in Rajya Sabha.

10. Union Minister of State for Education Annapurna Devi said in Lok Sabha that over 12,000 teaching positions are vacant in Kendriya Vidyalayas across the country while over 9,000 teachers have been engaged on contractual basis. The maximum vacant teaching positions are in Tamil Nadu (1,162), followed by Madhya Pradesh (1,066) and Karantaka (1,006).