Resolution against LS Speaker to save Constitution, dignity of House: Cong's Gogoi
New Delhi (PTI): Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Tuesday said the opposition was compelled to bring a resolution for Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla's removal to "save the Constitution", as he accused Birla of partisan behaviour.
Initiating the debate on the resolution for the removal of Birla from the Speaker's post, Gogoi claimed that the environment of Parliament has become such that the LoP is not allowed to speak in the House during the debate on the motion of thanks to the President's address in February because the leadership of the country is "weak".
Giving reasons as to why the opposition was compelled to bring the resolution, the MP from Assam's Jorhat said, "We stated that in February, when the LoP wanted to speak on the motion of thanks to the President's address, he was interrupted 20 times by the Speaker, members of the chairpersons' panel, senior members of the treasury benches. He was interrupted in a premeditated manner."
"The Speaker did not allow the LoP to speak. The LoP was repeatedly interrupted while attempting to place a few critical issues mandatory to be known to the House and the people of the country," Gogoi said.
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He pointed out that Gandhi wanted to speak about former army chief MM Naravane's remarks in his unreleased book, in which he reportedly talked about taking direction from the political leadership and the country's "mukhiya" told him "'Jo uchit samjho wahi karo" (Do what you feel is right).
At this point, Jagdambika Pal, who was in the chair, urged Gogoi to stick to the reasons for bringing the resolution against Birla.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju intervened, saying this was a discussion on the Speaker, and if the opposition is talking of other issues, they should not interrupt when "we reply".
Gogoi claimed that if a research of transcripts was done, Rijiju would be found to interrupt opposition members most often.
Home Minister Amit Shah then quipped that it is true that Rijiju has interrupted the most, but there has never been an opposition like the current one.
After several interruptions, Gogoi resumed his speech and said that Rahul Gandhi, in February, wanted to raise the issue of the ongoing investigation in the US against a businessman, which also mentions a minister, but was not allowed.
Gandhi also wanted to talk about the trade deals between the EU and the US with India. "He (Gandhi) asked what made India rush into a deal (with the US) and make concessions to the US that would be detrimental to our farmers," Gogoi said.
"When the leader of the opposition wanted to bring critical issues to light, the Speaker demanded authentication, and the LoP agreed to do so. However, treasury benches repeatedly opposed it and did not allow the LoP to speak," Gogoi said.
Earlier, the Congress MP cited the case of Nabam Rebia versus the deputy speaker, to state that the Supreme Court had said that the Speaker is expected to have a "sense of elevated independence, impeccable objectivity, irreproachable fairness and above all absolute impartiality".
"I want to ask, the Speaker set up the panel of chairpersons. But who decided who would preside over the proceedings on the resolution for the removal of the Speaker? Who appointed Jagdambika Pal ji to preside?" Gogoi asked.
He said all members have good relations with Birla on a personal level, and that is why the opposition members are saddened that they had to bring the resolution. "But it is our responsibility to protect the dignity of the House and save the Constitution. It is to protect the faith of the people in democracy," he said.
The Congress' K Suresh, Mallu Ravi and Mohammad Jawed moved the resolution against the Speaker, after which over 50 members stood up in support, and the resolution was admitted.
The speaker can be removed from office if a resolution is passed by the House by a simple majority. Article 94C of the Constitution has provisions for such a move. Article 96 allows the speaker to defend himself or herself in the House.
The language of the proposed resolution is usually examined by the deputy speaker, but since the present Lok Sabha does not have a deputy speaker, it may be examined by the senior-most member of the panel of chairpersons.
The panel helps run the House in the speaker’s absence.
The opposition resolution has alleged that Speaker Birla acted in a "blatantly partisan" manner in conducting the business of the House and "abused" the constitutional office he occupies.
Three Lok Sabha speakers - G V Mavlankar (1954), Hukam Singh (1966) and Balram Jakhar (1987) - faced no-confidence motions in the past, which were all negatived.
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Govt rejigs gas allocation to ensure uninterrupted cooking gas, CNG supply
New Delhi (PTI): The government has revised the priority for allocating domestically produced natural gas, giving the cooking gas and transport sectors first charge to meet their full requirements before supplies are made to other sectors to ensure uninterrupted supply.
With the widening West Asia conflict disrupting energy supplies, the government has cut gas allocation to sectors like petrochemicals so that 100 per cent requirement of the fuel needed to produce cooking gas LPG as well as CNG for automobiles and piped cooking gas to households is met.
LPG is predominately extracted from crude oil but can also be separated from natural gas.
After the West Asia conflict disrupted around 80 per cent of India's 21-million-tonne LPG imports, the government has asked refineries to boost domestic production by diverting petrochemical streams and using natural gas to raise LPG supplies for cooking fuel.
The crisis has already led to a spike in global energy prices, which got reflected in a Rs 60 per 14.2-kg LPG cylinder price hike over the weekend.
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CNG and piped gas to household kitchens for cooking, called piped natural gas, were previously in no-cut category -- which meant no gas allocation cut would be imposed in case of reduction in supplies. Now LPG has been added to that category.
Under the revised allocation, requirements of these sectors will be fully met first before gas is supplied to other sectors, according a gazette notification.
The fertiliser sector has been placed at the second place, with at least 70 per cent of their past six months demand being met.
At No. 3, gas supply to tea industries, manufacturing and other industrial consumers will be maintained at 80 per cent of their past six-month average gas consumption subject to operational availability, it said.
All city gas distribution (CGD) entities shall supplying gas to industrial and commercial consumers have been placed at No. 4 on the priority list.
Domestic gas production, which meets about half of the country's consumption of 191 million standard cubic meters per day, will be diverted to the priority sectors by curtailing supplies to petrochemical plants, power units and high-priced gas consumers.
Following US-Israeli strikes inside Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation across the region, maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has sharply declined, insurance premiums have surged, and energy markets have responded with immediate volatility.
Roughly one-fifth of the world's seaborne oil and nearly a third of global LNG shipments pass through this narrow channel linking the Gulf to global markets.
The artery is the conduct for supply of most of India's import of gas, in form of LNG, as well as LPG. With tanker movement being stall, the government has reworked domestically available gas to keep the priority segments such as cooking needs of households and vehicular transport going.
Natural gas pumped out of ground or below sea bed is used to generate electricity, produce fertiliser, turned into CNG to fire automobiles and piped to households kitchens for cooking. It is also used to produce cooking gas LPG.
"The central government has assessed that the ongoing conflict in the Middle East has resulted in the disruption of liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments through the Strait of Hormuz and suppliers have invoked force majeure clause," the notification said, saying the supply cuts would entail diversion of natural gas to the priority sectors.
The allocation rejig has been done to maintain supplies and securing equitable distribution and availability of natural gas for priority sector.
The supply of natural gas to "domestic piped natural gas (cooking gas supplied to household through pipes) supply; Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) for transport, and LPG production including LPG shrinkage requirements" shall be treated as priority allocation and would be supplied 100 per cent of their average past six-month gas consumption, it said.
Pipeline compressor fuel and other essential pipeline operational requirements, too, have been put in this priority as without gas the pipelines cannot function.
"The supply of natural gas to fertilizer plants shall ensure 70 per cent of their past six-month average gas consumption, subject to operational availability," it said, adding that the units shall not use the gas supply for any other purpose except in the production of fertilisers and the allocation to a particular unit cannot be diverted to any other unit.
"The gas marketing entities shall ensure that gas supply to tea industries, manufacturing and other industrial consumers supplied through the national gas grid is maintained at 80 per cent of their past six month average gas consumption subject to operational availability," the order said, placing the sector at No. 3 priority.
All CGD entities shall ensure that industrial and commercial consumers supplied through their networks receive 80 per cent of their past six month average gas consumption, subject to operational availability.
"The gas required to meet the priorities shall be through full or partial curtailment of gas supplied in the following order of priority: (a) petrochemical facilities not limited to ONGC Petrol additions Ltd, GAIL Pata Petrochemical Complex, Reliance O2C and other High-Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) gas consumers; (b) power plants as required," it said.
The oil refining companies shall absorb the impact of LNG supply disruption to the extent feasible by reducing gas allocation to refineries to approximately 65 per cent of the past six month gas consumption, it said.
State-owned gas utility GAIL has been tasked to manage the supplies of natural gas to implement priority order.
