Parliament highlights: Lok Sabha adjourned till tomorrow 4 pm

The Rajya Sabha has been adjourned till 10 am on Friday and the Lok Sabha till 4 pm. Nirmala Sitharaman replied in Lok Sabha on the general discussion on the Budget. BJP and Congress continued to attack each other in Parliament with PM Modi cautioning against the grand old party's dynastic politics. Tejasvi Surya of the BJP, an MP from Bengaluru, takes on Farooq Abdullah and Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha, claiming that there are "sufficient job opportunities" and that only "unemployed person is the prince of Congress." Come back tomorrow for more updates

Legislative Assemblies of Assam, Rajasthan, and West Bengal have adopted resolutions for the creation of Legislative Councils: Law Ministry in Rajya Sabha

Matters of urgent public importance being heard in Lok Sabha

Revival of BSNL is due to PM Modi: Nirmala Sitharaman

MGNAREGA is a demand-driven programme. As and when there is demand through the supplementary demand for grants, we give the additional required amount: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman replying on the Union Budget 2022 in the Lok Sabha

Government has released around 28,414 crore rupees for 100 Smart Cities, out of which nearly 23,669 crore rupees have been utilized till 21st of last month: Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs

Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Puri tells the Lok Sabha, the consumption of energy in India, including petrol and diesel, has gone back to the levels in the pre-Covid times

Consumer Price Index contracted only 6.2%, despite intense crisis and reduction in GDP. 80.1 billion FDI inflows have taken place in our Govt. Earlier during the UPA govt in 2008-09 FDI inflow was 8.3 billion: Finance Minister

Four major multimodal parks established in the country. Urbanisation has been given high priority. Capacity building commission will be a paradigm shift. India's fourth contraction in the GDP triggered due to International Event: Finance Minister

Govt handled the economy better in Covid than UPA did during Global Financial Crisis, says Sitharaman

Nal Se Jal Scheme reaching people in a big way. 1.5 crore people saved from potential unemployment: Sitharaman

44 Unicorns have been successfully identified in the country between 2020-21. 20 crore were given Rs.50 through DBT. Under PM Awas Yojana 2 crore houses completed. Every village has been electrified: FM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman enlists initiatives and schemes of Narendra Modi-led government, adds "All these schemes are paving a way towards Amrit Kaal."

Nirmala Sitharaman replies in Lok Sabha on the general discussion on the Budget

Discussion on the Union Budget 2022-23 has resumed in Lok Sabha

Lok Sabha proceedings resume, Question Hour under way

Rajya Sabha adjourned till Friday, 10 am

The Budget will revitalise India's economy: Narasimha Rao

Unemployment level at 11-month low in January, as per CMI data: BJP leader Narasimha Rao

India's fiscal deficit is 6.9% and is projected to come down to 6.4% this year: BJP leader KJ Alphons

He said that in times of pandemic, when consumption increases, you don't need to confine to fiscal deficit

Left wing extremism is one of the biggest security threat and possess a national challenge: BJD leader Nanda

This Budget has no answer for current price rise for which the households are facing many problems: Prashanta Nanda

"Rise in petrol, diesel and other household items have made housewives helpless in tackling their family budget.This Budget must have disappointed them," he said.

Newspaper industry is going through a crisis. I urge the government to withdraw the 5% customs duty on newsprint: LJD MP MV Shreyamskumar

He said that the newspaper industry is going through a major crisis.

Farmers most affected by Covid: Jose K Mani

"I request the govt to take necessary steps to waive off loans of farmers who have died due to Covid," he said

Number of billionaires in India climb from 102- 142 during the pandemic,: Anil Kumar Bhuyan

He also said that more than 4.6 per centof Indians fell into extreme poverty.

Everyone listens to 'Mann ki Baat' but who will listen to 'Jann ki Baat'?: Chhaya Verma

Cong MP gives adjournment notice in LS on Tricolour issue in Karnatataka

CongressMPManickam Tagore on Thursday moved anadjournmentnoticein the Lok Sabha to discuss the incident of replacing the National Flag with RSS/ ABVP flag in an educational institution in Karnataka which tantamount to insulting theTricolour.

TheMPhas sought to direct the government to take strict action against the violators.

UPA govt did not do anything that was promised in their manifesto: BJP MP Syed Zafar Islam

22% increase in employment when compared to 2014: Bhupendra Yadav

The Minister said that the latest periodic labour report states that 2 lakh jobs have been added despite the pandemic. "3 crore 80 lakh jobs created in formal sector post 2013-14," he added.

Do not have stringent rules to reduce poaching of tigers: Bhupender Yadav

The Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said that tigers die because of countlessreasons, including poaching, old age, health issues, in-fighting between them and electrification cause death.

Question Hour being taken up in Rajya Sabha

Manoj Jha gives Zero Hour Submission in the House, with the demand for reopening of colleges and universities

Over 56 cr transactions under One Nation One Ration Card plan: Govt

Since inception of the One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) plan in August 2019, approximately 56 crore portability transactions have been recorded in the country up to January 31, 2022, the Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

Of these, Bihar that enabled the scheme in May 2020, alone saw a whopping15,90,43,162 transactions, the highest in all states and UTs, followed by Andhra Pradesh (August 2019) that saw 8,62,33,519 transactions, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ashwini Kumar Choubey told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

No corporate houses to exploit marine resources under Deep Ocean Mission: Govt

The Deep Ocean Mission would not result in any over exploitation of the marine resources by the corporate houses and will not affect the life and livelihoods of fishers in the country, the Parliament was told on Wednesday.

The Deep Ocean Mission aims to explore deep oceanic resources and develop technologies for their sustainable use. The outcome of the programme is intended to identify potential new resources and develop technology for harnessing them in future, which may generate additional opportunities for livelihoods, Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Minister Dr Jitendra Singh told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

"The Deep Ocean Mission is related to the Blue Economy. The activities of Deep Ocean Mission will help the components of blue economy such as fisheries, tourism and maritime transport, renewable energy, aquaculture, seabed extractive activities and marine biotechnology," he said.