New Delhi [India], August 6 (ANI): The tenure of Rajya Sabha chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu was marked by low productivity of the House to start with and a recovery later, said officials on Saturday.

Madrid [Spain], May 10 (ANI): The Spanish government on Tuesday sacked the head of the country's intelligence services in the wake of the 'Pegasus' phone-hacking scandal, Xinhua reported.

New Delhi [India], February 22 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear the Pegasus snooping case on February 25 after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Centre, sought adjournment citing his preoccupation in another matter on Wednesday.

New Delhi [India], February 21 (ANI): A technical committee set up to look into the allegations of government allegedly using Israeli software Pegasus to spy on politicians, activists, and journalists, has submitted its interim report in the Supreme Court.

New Delhi [India], February 3 (ANI): Noting that the seven memoranda of understanding signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Israel in 2017 were in the public domain, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday that Pegasus row was being probed a committee appointed by the Supreme Court and it had no information on the issue.

New Delhi [India], February 2 (ANI): Communist Party of India (Marxist) Rajya Sabha MP Elamaram Kareem on Wednesday gave a notice under rule 267 to suspend the business and discuss the Pegasus issue.

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], February 1 (ANI): Criticising the Union Budget 2022-23, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday termed the Budget as 'Pegasus spin Budget' and stated that the budget has 'zero' for common people.

New Delhi Jan 31 PTI The government on Monday said there is no need for a separate discussion on the Pegasus issue now as the matter is sub-judice while asserting that there was a consensus that the House not be stalled If Opposition parties want they can raise any issue while speaking on the Motion of Thanks on the presidents address Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi told reporters after an all-party meeting was held virtually Joshi said the floor leaders of 25 parties attended the meeting in which the government was represented by Defence Minister and Deputy Leader of Lok Sabha Rajnath SinghJoshi said Singh sought cooperation from all parties for the smooth functioning of the House during the Budget SessionAs far as the Pegasus issue is concerned he said there is no need for a separate discussion now but opposition leaders are free to raise any issue while speaking on the Motion of Thanks on the presidents addressAddressing the meeting after listening to the view of the leaders of all the parties present Singh expressed his gratitude for the healthy discussion He stated that there was a consensus that the House not be stalled Singh was quoted as saying in a statement from the Ministry of Parliamentary AffairsResponding to the points raised by leaders Singh said they could identify issues on which they would want discussions to be heldThe Budget session of Parliament began on Monday and is scheduled to conclude on April 8 with a recess from February 12 to March 13 Ahead of the session the Pegasus issue was reignited after a New York Times report claimed that India bought the Pegasus spyware as part of a USD 2 billion defence deal with Israel in 2017 PTI JTR RT RT

New Delhi Jan 30 PTI The Budget session of Parliament starting Monday is likely to be stormy with opposition parties all geared up to raise the Pegasus snooping allegations farmers issues and the border row with China The session is being held in the midst of crucial assembly elections in five states including Uttar Pradesh where the BJP is locked in a bitter electoral contest with its rivals and with the campaigning in full swing it will have an effect on Parliament proceedings The opposition is preparing to unitedly take on the government on the Pegasus snooping row after the New York Times claimed that India purchased the snooping spyware as part of a defence deal with Israel in 2017 Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has already written to Speaker Om Birla for moving a privilege motion against the government and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for misleading the House as the government had denied the charges of spying in a statement in Parliament last year The Pegasus row had led to a washout of the last Monsoon session when a united opposition did not allow both houses to function and sought a discussion on the matter Sources said the government is unlikely to agree to a discussion on the issue and will focus on getting its legislative business cleared The principal opposition Congress has said that it will reach out to like-minded parties to raise issues such as farm distress Chinese incursions demand for a relief package for COVID-19 victims sale of Air India and the Pegasus snooping row during the session The opposition parties will try to raise the pitch on farmers ssues which are in spotlight in assembly elections in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh two states which saw major protests against the entres farm laws that were repealed during the last session Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu are set to chair separate meetings with floor leaders of political parties on Monday to ensure smooth functioning of the House during the session The session will begin with President Ram Nath Kovinds address to a joint sitting of both houses in the Central Hall and chambers of both the Houses in view of the COVID-19 situation Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Economic Survey 2021-22 on Monday and the Union Budget on Tuesday The Budget session is being held in the shadow of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will return to separate timings with members seated in the chambers of both houses to ensure social distancing norms While the upper house will sit from 10 AM to 3 PM the lower house will sit from 4 PM to 9 PM The Lok Sabha will take up the discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the Presidents Address from Wednesday and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to reply to the debate on February seven Lok Sabha secretariat officials said four days beginning February 2 have been provisionally allotted for the discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the Presidents Address The first part of the Budget Session will be held from January 31 to February 11 after which it will go into a recess to examine the budgetary allocations for different departments The Session would resume on March 14 and conclude on April 8 The first part of the session will have 10 sittings while 19 sittings are scheduled for the second part Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla this evening took stock of arrangements for the Budget session The two met at the residence of the Vice President and both the presiding officers went over various issues for about 40 minutes The session offers only a seventy-nine and a half hours window for the governments legislative agenda and for taking up issues of immediate public concern over the scheduled 29 sittings of both the Houses A total of 135 hours of sitting time is available for Rajya Sabha for transacting various items of business during the 27 sittings scheduled during February 2 to April 8 2022 with 5 hours per day Of this the first part of the session with 40 hours accounts for about 30 percent of the total scheduled sitting time while the second part with 95 hours accounts for about 70 percent Rajya Sabha will have Zero Hour reduced by half to 30 minutes per day with a total time of 13 hours 30 minutes for raising issues of public importance besides laying of papers and reports during 27 sittings The timeshare of Question Hour will be 27 hours A total of 15 hours time is scheduled for Private Members Business on six days During the first week of the second part of the session Private Members Bills will be taken up on Thursday as Friday is a holiday This leaves only 79 hours 30 minutes for considering and passing Bills to be proposed by the Government besides discussing issues of immediate public concern under Calling Attention Notices and as Short Duration Discussions The Budget session beginning tomorrow is the sixth to be held since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2020 The Budget session of 2020 was curtailed by eight sittings and the Budget session of 2021 was shortened by 10 sittings PTI SKU JTR NAB SKC RT

New Delhi [India], January 30 (ANI): Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Sunday wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and demanded that a privilege motion be initiated against Union Minister of Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw for "deliberately misleading the House on Pegasus issue".