Farm bills were passed as per procedure: Rajya Sabha deputy chairman
New Delhi: Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh on Sunday reiterated his stand that the farm bills were passed on September 20 as per procedure and the division of votes demanded by the opposition could not be taken up as the House was not in order.
Reacting to a media report in this regard, the deputy chairman said that "as per rules and practice, in order to have a division, two things are essential". "Firstly there should be a demand for division and equally important that there should be order in the House," he said in a statement.
The Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, were passed in the Rajya Sabha by voice vote on September 20 amid a din.
Clarifying his position further, Harivansh said the statutory resolution disapproving the ordinance and the amendment for the reference of the bill to a select committee moved by K K Ragesh were negatived by a voice vote by the House at 1.07 pm as the member was in the Well of the House and not on his seat in the gallery at that point of time.
It can be seen in a video that after calling him to move his resolution and amendment, "I looked at the gallery, but he was not there", Harivansh said.
On Tiruchi Siva's demand for a division on his amendment for reference of his bill to select committee from his seat at 1.10 pm, the deputy chairman said the video shows that around 1.09 pm, one member was tearing the rule book and throwing it at me.
"Besides, I was surrounded by some hostile members, who were trying to snatch papers from me," he said.
Harivansh also put out a detailed chronology of events at the time of passage of the farm bills on September 20.
The deputy chairman also said, "I hold a constitutional position and therefore, cannot issue a formal rebuttal. I am bringing these facts to your notice and leave it to your conscience for your judgement."
He was responding to a media report that said that official footage of Rajya Sabha TV shows that members K K Ragesh of CPI-M and Tiruchi Siva of DMK, were on their seats while demanding a division of votes to their motions, negating the deputy chairman's claims that members were not on their seats at the time.
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MediaOne TV Facebook page restored after block linked to ‘government request’
Kochi: The official Facebook page of Malayalam news channel MediaOne TV has been restored after being blocked without prior notice, the broadcaster said on Wednesday.
The channel was quoted by Maktoob as saying that the restriction was lifted automatically, with Meta Platforms informing it that the action had been taken following a “government request” which has now expired or been reversed.
The development came shortly after the channel approached the Kerala High Court challenging the blocking of its page, terming it arbitrary and in violation of legal provisions and judicial precedents. The High Court had issued notice to Meta via email hours before the restriction was withdrawn.
In its petition, the channel said access to its Facebook page had been restricted for users in India without citing any specific content or alleged violation. It contended that while individual posts may be taken down under applicable a rule, blocking an entire page goes beyond the scope of such measures.
The incident followed an earlier action taken against the channel in 2022, when the Ministry of Information and transmitting prohibited it from transmitting. It cited national security concerns regarding the Ministry of Home Affairs' refusal of security clearance.
The Supreme Court of India in April 2023 set aside the ban, observing that national security claims cannot be made without substantive basis and that criticism of government policies does not render a media outlet anti-national.
