45 of 61 Rajya Sabha lawmakers sworn in
BJP’S strength goes up to 85 in the Upper House, Congress has 40 members
NEWDELHI:: Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday administered the oath of office to 45 of 61 newly elected members at the first such ceremony inside the Upper House’s chambers during inter-session amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The remaining MPS will be administered the oath at a later date.
Eighteen Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members were among those who took oath. They included Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sumer Singh Solanki (Madhya Pradesh); Nabam Rebia (Arunachal Pradesh); Bhubaneswar Kalita and Biswajit Daimary (Assam); Vivek Thakur (Bihar); Abhay Bharadwaj, Ramilaben Bara and Narhari Amin (Gujarat); Ram Chander Jangra (Haryana); Indu Goswami (Himachal Pradesh); Deepak Prakash (Jharkhand); Ashok Gasti and Iranna Kadadi (Karnataka); Udayanraje Bhosale and Bhagwat Karad (Maharashtra); Maharaja Leishemba Sanajaoba (Manipur); Rajendra Gehlot (Rajasthan).
K Vanlalvena (Mizoram) of the Mizo National Front, which is a part of the Bjp-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), also took the oath.
The BJP’S strength in the House has gone up from 75 to 85 even though it is still short of a majority in Rajya Sabha. The NDA’S tally has increased from 90 to over 100 in the 242-member House. Bjp-friendly parties like the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) have nine members each while the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) has six.
The Congress has 40 Rajya Sabha members.
The members of the Congress who took oath on Wednesday included KTS Tulsi (Chhattisgarh); Shakti Singh Gohil (Gujarat); Deepender Singh Hooda (Haryana); Mallikarjun Kharge (Karnataka); Digvijaya Singh (Madhya Pradesh); Rajeev Satav (Maharashtra); Neeraj Dangi and KC Venugopal (Rajasthan).
The oath was also administered to Janata Dal (United)’s Harivansh and Ramnath Thakur and Rashtriya Janata Dal’s AD Singh and Prem Chand Gupta (Bihar), and to Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya (West Bengal). Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar and Republican Party of India leader and
Union minister Ramdas Athawale (Maharashtra) took oath as well. The three YSRCP from Andhra Pradesh, who were administered the oath, include Ayodhya Rami Reddy Alla, Pilli Subhaschandra Bose, and Venkataramana Rao Mopidevi.
Representing Odisha, BJD’S Muzibulla Khan, Subash Singh, Sujeet Kumar, and Mamata Mohanta also took oath along with Tamil Nadu’s K P Munusamy and M Thambidurai (AIADMK ) and Tamil Maanila Congress’s GK Vasan.
Of the 61 MPS, 49 have been elected to the Upper House for the first time. As many as 42 were elected unopposed. They include 28 first-timers. Elections were held for 19 seats in June and 15 first-timers were elected to the Upper House.
Naidu said the new members should reflect on their role and responsibility and not fall for the temptation of disrupting the House for short term gains. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held an interaction with BJP MPS, who were administered oath. “Had an excellent interaction with the newly elected @Bjp4india Rajya Sabha MPS. It was wonderful to hear their views and passion towards public service. This is a group of MPS who are diverse and will certainly make effective contributions to Parliamentary proceedings,” Modi tweeted.
“Urged MPS to keep themselves updated with latest policy issues. Also emphasised on being effective on the floor of the House as well as in the field, among people...” he added.
NEW DELHI: University Grants Commission (UGC) has written to all 40 central universities asking them to suggest austerity measures to help them minimize expenses during the 2020-21 academic year, which has been severely battered by Covid.
In a letter, the regulator said UGC chief D P Singh has already set up a committee to review the realistic requirement of funds for central universities for the academic year. According to the latter, seen by HT, the UGC panel would look into several aspects including fixing norms for hiring of outsourced staff and security personnel keeping in view the number of students, facilities, hostels, residential quarters etc.
The panel will also review the appropriateness of release and utilization of funds provided by the UGC. It will suggest the right priorities for the utilization of funds and suggest measures to bring fiscal transparency, discipline and prudence of the expenditure.
A key term of reference for the formation of the panel is regarding austerity measures.
According to the letter sent by UGC’S Financial Advisor P K Thakur, the panel formed by the UGC chief will “suggest austerity measures to minimize the expenses of CUS”.