Ruling, Oppn benches in LS verbal duel
NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha on Thursday saw a verbal clash between the ruling side and the opposition, with the Congress demanding immediate debate on the lynching issue while the BJP sought apology from the Congress members suspended for throwing papers towards the Speaker.
Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, Leader of the Congress Mallikarjun Kharge said his party had given a notice on June 5 for a discussion on the lynching issue and has been giving adjournment notices.
He claimed that Speaker Sumitra Mahajan was ready for it but not the government.
Seeking an immediate debate, he said his party would not raise the issue of the revocation of its six members' suspension if the House took up the lynching issue for discussion.
Mohammad Salim (CPIM) wondered if the concept of adjournment notice should be removed from the rule book, leading to a brief uproar.
"If an adjournment notice is not accepted on such an issue (lynching), then what is the point of having it," he asked, claiming that over 50 people have been killed in mob violence.
Mahajan said Salim could not challenge the Speaker as she noted that she only disallowed the notices for suspending the Question Hour but never denied a discussion on the issue.
"I have always been willing to allow a debate," she said.
Sudip Bandyopadhyay (Trinamool Congress) also supported the demand for a discussion on lynchings, saying it was the most important issue. "Let's start a discussion," he said.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said the government was always ready for a debate on the issue but it was the House's decision to take up the matter of agriculture crisis first.
He then launched a sharp attack on the Congress for its members' protest in the House during which they threw paper balls towards the Chair, a charge denied by Opposition members.
Congress members later trooped into the Well, raising slogans and carrying placards even as the Speaker carried on with the proceedings.
Meanwhile, the Rajya Sabha too witnessed heated exchanges between treasury benches and Congress members as three BJP lawmakers, including Subramanian Swamy, raised the issue of Samjhauta Express train blast of 2005. Referring to a video of purported narco-test related to the train blast being shown on a TV channel, Shiv Pratap Shukla (BJP) said the blast took place because of involvement of Pakistan.
He said the blast on the train which plies between New Delhi and Lahore in Pakistan was carried out by Pakistanbased terror outfit Lashkar-etaiba and SIMI jointly.
However, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the then UPA government coined a new name “Hindu terrorism”, the BJP member said. NEW DELHI: As many as 125 Indian and foreign films were either held or refused screening by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) during 2016-17, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.
Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore, in a written reply said that out of 125 films, 78 were Indian and the remaining were foreign.
As many as 153 films (94 Indian and 59 foreign) were held up or refused in 2015-16, while in 2014-15, the number was 156 (114 Indian and 42 foreign), he said. During 201617, Rathore said that out of a total 19,532 films which had applied for the CBFC certification, 19,407 got the certificate.
He said the majority of the remaining films which made representation to 'Revising Committee' or 'Film Certification Appellate Tribunal' also got certification.
The Minister said that in case of a film being rejected by the CBFC, an appeal could be filed in the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal, and "the Central government has no powers to intervene".
To another query, Rathore said that the rate of advertisement of the All India Radio for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's monthly address 'Mann Ki Baat' is Rs 2 lakh for 10 seconds. He also said as many as 33 editions of the address have been aired since the broadcast of first programme on October 3, 2014.
He said the programme is also aired in all regional languages and translated with the resources available with the All India Radio.