Goel meets Manmohan, seeks cooperation for Parliament's running
New Delhi, June 28: Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel on Thursday called on former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought his party Congress' cooperation in smooth functioning of Parliament in the coming monsoon session beginning July 18.
He told Manmohan Singh that 68 bills are pending in the Lok Sabha and 40 in the Rajya Sabha, thus making it imperative for all political parties to cooperate in passing these important bills the 18-day monsoon session.
Goel, who will also be meeting a number of leaders from opposition parties as a part of this effort in the days to come, said that the government was ready to discuss "any issue" on the floor of the House and urged all political parties to extend their support for smooth running of the Parliament.
After the meeting, he told reporters that Manmohan Singh welcomed the initiative of reaching out to various opposition leaders and members for running the House and noted that it was the responsibility of both the ruling and opposition parties to let both the Houses work smoothly.
The last Budget session was a complete wash-out. The productivity of Rajya Sabha was only 8 per cent while that of Lok Sabha was only 4 per cent.
"For this upcoming session, accusations and counter-accusations need to give way to cooperation in letting the Parliament function constructively," Goel said after the meeting.
He added that important pending Bills such as the Muslim Marriage (Protection of Marriage Rights) Bill, 2017; the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Constitution (123rd Amendment) Bill, 2017; and the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013 need to be passed during the session "in the larger interest of the nation".
Goel also expressed hope that the election of a new Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha will be held in the House with consensus.
The government also needs to pass bills on six Ordinances -- the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance, 2018; the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018; the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018; the Homoeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018; the National Sports University Ordinance, 2018; and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018.
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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.
