‘Austerity drive may be extended to MPs after an all party meet’

New Delhi, Sep. 16 (ANI): The UPA Government’s austerity drive is expected to be extended to all Members of Parliament (MPs) following an all party meeting, according to sources.

Vice President Hamid Ansari will call an all-party meeting to decide on the issue once Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar’s returns from Rome, inside sources said.

Following the top party leaders’ much publicized economy class flights and train rides, the UPA had requested Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha chairpersons to convince all MPs to join the austerity drive.

The Chairman of the Rajya Sahba and the Lok Sabha Speaker are expected to hold a discussion on the austerity drive.

The move is to promote the austerity comes in the wake of the country experiencing a crippling draught.

The Congress party has already advised its ministers and lawmakers to donate 20 percent of their salary towards draught relief.

They have also been told to travel economy class and not hold press conferences in five-star hotels. (ANI)

Legislators snooze off as Meira Kumar addresses them

Bhopal, July 5 (ANI): An orientation programme for state legislators turned out to be a ‘sleepy affair’ in Bhopal.

The two-day orientation programme was aimed to make the legislators aware of the nuances of lawmaking.

Even as Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar was explaining the various aspects of lawmaking and responsibilities associated with the executive, many of the deputies were seen dozing off.

However, Kumar tried to downplay the incident, saying all the listeners were “awake”.

“I don’t think any of the legislators was sleeping. They were all awake,” Kumar said.

Newspapers many a times publish pictures of lawmakers dozing off even when serious legislations are being discussed in Parliament. (ANI)

Meira Kumar to inaugurate MLAs orientation programme in Bhopal

Bhopal, July 4 (ANI): A two day orientation programme of the legislatures of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly will be inaugurated by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar in Bhopal today.

Besides Meira Kumar, Madhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker Ishwar Das Rohani, the state’s Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kailash Vijaywargiya and the Leader of Opposition, Jamuna Devi will also guide the newly elected MLAs.

The BJP’s Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj will deliver a lecture on how to become an effective MLA while former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh will speak on the role of young MLAs in the empowerment of the parliamentary culture in the programme.

Besides them, former Union Minister Vikram Verma and former Secretary General of the Lok Sabha Subhash Kashyap, Jharkhand Assembly Speaker Inder Singh Namdhari, MP Satyavrat Chaturvedi, MP Sandeep Dikshit, former MP Thavarchand Gehlot and former Lok Sabha general secretary G C Malhotra, and some other experts in parliamentary and legislative procedures will also guide the new members on legislative issues.

Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Karia Munda will chair the closing ceremony. (ANI)

Parliament session to begin on Thursday

New Delhi, July 1 (ANI): The next session of Parliament will begin on Thursday.

The Economic Survey will be presented in the Lok Sabha on July 2. The Railway Budget will be presented on July 3 and the General Budget on July 6.

Ahead of the session, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has convened an all-party meeting here today.

The meeting is being held to ensure smooth conduct of the session, which will conclude on August 7.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister P K Bansal has also convened a meeting of leaders of all political parties. (ANI)