Thursday, August 29, 2013

Chairmen of Parliamentary Committees


AS ON :- 29/08/2013 
SrnoNameStatusHousePartyState
Committees of Rajya SabhaBusiness Advisory Committee
Constituted on:- 08/05/2013
1Chairman, Rajya SabhaChairmanRajya Sabha 
--
Committee of Privileges
Constituted on:- 08/05/2013
1Prof. P.J. KurienChairmanRajya Sabha 
I.N.C.KR
Committee on Ethics
Constituted on:- 28/12/2012
1Prof. Ram Gopal YadavChairmanRajya Sabha 
S.P.UP
Committee on Government Assurances
Constituted on:- 08/05/2013
1Shri Satish Chandra MisraChairmanRajya Sabha 
B.S.P.UP
Committee on MPLADS
Constituted on:- 23/08/2012
1Prof. P.J. KurienChairmanRajya Sabha 
I.N.C.KR
Committee on Papers Laid on the table
Constituted on:- 08/05/2013
1Shri D.P. TripathiChairmanRajya Sabha 
N.C.P.MH
Committee on Petitions
Constituted on:- 08/05/2013
1Shri Bhagat Singh KoshyariChairmanRajya Sabha 
B.J.P.UTK
Committee on Provision of Computers to Members of Rajya Sabha
Constituted on:- 23/08/2012
1 1Dr. Karan SinghChairmanRajya Sabha 
I.N.C.DL
1 Nominated w.e.f. 27/12/2012
Committee on Rules
Constituted on:- 08/05/2013
1Chairman, Rajya SabhaChairmanRajya Sabha 
--
Committee on Subordinate Lesiglation
Constituted on:- 08/05/2013
1Smt. Maya SinghChairmanRajya Sabha 
B.J.P.Madhya Pradesh
General Purposes Committee
Constituted on:- 26/10/2010
1Chairman, Rajya SabhaChairmanRajya Sabha 
--
House Committee
Constituted on:- 08/05/2013
1Shri Bhubaneshwar KalitaChairmanRajya Sabha 
I.N.C.AS
Joint CommitteesCommitte on Empowerment of Women
Constituted on:- 23/09/2012
1 1Rajkumari Ratna SinghChairmanLok Sabha 
I.N.C.
1 Nominated w.e.f. 28/10/2012
Committee on Food Management in Parliament House Complex
Constituted on:- 15/10/2009
1Prof. Ranjan Prasad YadavChairmanLok Sabha 
J.D.(U)
Committee on Public Accounts
Constituted on:- 01/05/2012
1Dr. Murli Manohar JoshiChairmanLok Sabha 
B.J.P.UP
Committee on Public Undertakings
Constituted on:- 01/05/2013
1Shri Jagdambika PalChairmanLok Sabha 
I.N.C.
Committee on Welfare of Other Backward Classes
Constituted on:- 29/06/2013
1Shri Bijoy HandiqueChairmanLok Sabha 
I.N.C.Assam
Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes
Constituted on:- 01/05/2012
1Shri Gobinda Chandra NaskarChairmanLok Sabha 
A.I.T.C.
Constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee to examine matters relating to allocation and pricin
Constituted on:- 11/03/2011
1Shri P.C. ChackoChairmanLok Sabha 
I.N.C.
Joint Committee on Members Salary & Allowances
Constituted on:- 24/01/2013
1Shri Bhaskar Rao Patil KhatgonkarChairmanLok Sabha 
I.N.C
Joint Committee on Offices of Profit
Constituted on:- 01/12/2009
1Kunwar Rewati Raman SinghChairmanLok Sabha 
S.P.Uttar Pradesh
Joint Parliamentary Committee on Installation of Portraits/Statues of National Leaders and Parliamen
Constituted on:- 04/08/2009
1Smt. Meira KumarChairmanLok Sabha 
I.N.C.Bihar
Joint Parliamentary Committee on Maintenance of Heritage Character and Development of Parliament Hou
Constituted on:- 15/12/2009
1Smt. Meira KumarChairmanLok Sabha 
I.N.C.Bihar
Joint Parliamentary Committee on Security in Parliament House Complex
Constituted on:- 04/09/2009
1Shri Kariya MundaChairmanLok Sabha 
B.J.P.Jharkhand
Library Committee
Constituted on:- 24/11/2011
1Shri Kariya MundaChairmanLok Sabha 
B.J.P.Jharkhand
Railway Convention Committee
Constituted on:- 15/03/2010
1Shri Arjun Charan SethiChairmanLok Sabha 
B.J.D.Orissa

Committe on Information Technology
Constituted on:- 31/08/2012
1Shri Rao Inderjit SinghChairmanLok Sabha 
I.N.C.Haryana
Committee on Agriculture
Constituted on:- 31/08/2012
1Shri Basudeb AchariaChairmanLok Sabha 
C.P.I.(M)West Bengal
Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers
Constituted on:- 31/08/2012
1Shri Gopinath MundeChairmanLok Sabha 
B.J.P.
Committee on Coal and Steel
Constituted on:- 31/08/2012
1Shri Kalyan BanerjeeChairmanLok Sabha 
A.I.T.C.
Committee on Commerce
Constituted on:- 31/08/2012
1Shri Shanta KumarChairmanRajya Sabha 
B.J.P.HP
Committee on Defence
Constituted on:- 31/08/2012
1 1Shri Raj BabbarChairmanLok Sabha 
S.P.Uttar Pradesh
1 Nominated w.e.f. 05/11/2012
Committee on Energy
Constituted on:- 31/08/2012
1Shri Mulayam Singh YadavChairmanLok Sabha 
S.P.Uttar Pradesh
Committee on External Affairs
Constituted on:- 31/08/2012
1Shri Ananth KumarChairmanLok Sabha 
B.J.P.Karnataka
Committee on Finance
Constituted on:- 31/08/2012
1Shri Yashwant SinhaChairmanLok Sabha 
B.J.P.Jharkhand
Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution
Constituted on:- 31/08/2012
1Shri Vilas Baburao MuttemwarChairmanLok Sabha 
I.N.C.
Committee on Health and Family Welfare
Constituted on:- 31/08/2012
1Shri Brajesh PathakChairmanRajya Sabha 
B.S.P.UP
Committee on Home Affairs
Constituted on:- 31/08/2012
1Shri M. Venkaiah NaiduChairmanRajya Sabha 
B.J.P.KAR
Committee on Labour
Constituted on:- 31/08/2012
1Shri Dara Singh ChauhanChairmanLok Sabha 
B.S.P.
Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice
Constituted on:- 31/08/2012
1Shri Shantaram NaikChairmanRajya Sabha 
I.N.C.GOA
Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas
Constituted on:- 31/08/2012
1Shri V. Aruna Kumar VundavalliChairmanLok Sabha 
I.N.C.
Committee on Railways
Constituted on:- 31/08/2012
1Shri T.R. BaaluChairmanLok Sabha 
D.M.K.Tamil Nadu
Committee on Rural Development
Constituted on:- 31/08/2012
1Smt. Sumitra MahajanChairmanLok Sabha 
B.J.P.Madhya Pradesh
Committee on Science & Technology, Environment & Forests
Constituted on:- 31/08/2012
1Dr. T. Subbarami ReddyChairmanRajya Sabha 
I.N.C.Andhra Pradesh
Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment
Constituted on:- 31/08/2012
1Shri Hemanand BiswalChairmanLok Sabha 
I.N.C.
Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture
Constituted on:- 31/08/2012
1Shri Sitaram YechuryChairmanRajya Sabha 
C.P.I.(M)WB
Committee on Urban Development
Constituted on:- 31/08/2012
1Shri Sharad YadavChairmanLok Sabha 
J.D.(U)Bihar
Committee on Water Resources
Constituted on:- 31/08/2012
1Shri Dip GogoiChairmanLok Sabha 
I.N.C.
Sub-Committee of Home Affairs for Enemy Property (Amendment & Validation) Second Bill, 2010
Constituted on:- 25/04/2011
1Shri M. Venkaiah NaiduChairmanRajya Sabha 
B.J.P.KAR
 
Note: In Membership,The options Past, Present and Current represent the Following Options:-
  • Past :- "From and "To" date fields appear to enable selection
  • Present:- Data relating to total membership of current Committees(i.e. from date of constitution/reconstitution to date) are available
  • Current:- Data relating to current membership of current Committees are available
The option "All" next to Committee name if enabled, gives historical data of selected Committee

Disclaimer :- Only those Parliamentary Committees are included in the database, wherein
                    (a) Rajya Sabha is represented and
                    (b) The Committees are not purely internal to Parliament.

As such, the Committee on Estimates , which is a purely Lok Sabha Committee has not been included. Similarly internal Committees such as Library Committee have not been included.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

National Food Security Bill passed in Lok Sabha

Lok Sabha on 26 August 2013 passed the National Food Security Bill 2013. The Bill was adopted by the House through a voice vote after a day-long debate. The Bill seeks to give legal rights to get subsidized grains every month to 67 percent of the overall population (of which 75 percent is rural and 50 percent is urban population). 

As per the provisions of the Bill, the responsibility to identify the beneficiaries and implement the program under the Targeted Public Distribution Scheme is the responsibility of the states. The passage of the Bill in Parliament will guarantee 5 kilograms of rice, wheat and coarse cereals per month per person at the highly subsidised rates of 1-3 rupees a Kg.

During the passage of the Bill, an Amendment to Clause 8 of the Bill was suggested by the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj on which a revote was done. The amendment was declared null and void as the result of division displayed, 252 supports and 141 disagreements, making a total of 393 votes. 

Once the Bill gets its nod in the Rajya Sabha and President’s accent, India will join the selected league of countries that guarantee food grants to a majority of its population. 

Article 79 of the Constitution of Indian mentions about the provisions of the Constitution of a Parliament in the country: There shall be a Parliament for the Union, which shall consist of the President and two Houses to be known respectively as the Council of States and the House of the People.

Earlier, the proposal to promulgate an Ordinance to implement National Food Security Bill in the country was passed by the Union Government of India on 3 July 2013, which was replaced by the Bill in the 2013 monsoon session of Parliament to make it a law. 

Rajya Sabha passed The Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill,2010

The Rajya Sabha on 26 August 2013 passed The Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2010 by voice vote. It seeks to amend the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 and the Special Marriages Act, 1954 which provides for irretrievable breakdown on marriage as a ground for divorce as well as grants women the right to a share in the property of their husbands.
Under the new bill, a provision has been made to restrict the grant of decree of divorce on the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage if the court is satisfied that adequate provision for the maintenance of children born out of the marriage has not been made consistently with the financial capacities of the parents.
The bill allows wife to oppose grant of divorce on the basis that a dissolution of marriage will lead to grave financial hardships. The court can also restrict grant of divorce if it is not satisfied about adequate provision for maintenance of children born of marriage.
The bill also has provisions that the court shall not hold marriage to have broken down irretrievably unless it is satisfied that the parties to the marriage have lived apart for a continuous period of not less than three years before filing petition for divorce.
The Bill would provide safeguards to parties to marriage who file petition for grant of divorce by consent from the harassment in court if any of the party does not come to the court or willfully avoids the court to keep the divorce proceedings inconclusive.
At present, various grounds for dissolution of marriage by a decree of divorce are laid down in section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. The grounds inter alia include adultery, cruelty, desertion, conversion to another religion, unsoundness of mind, virulent and incurable form of leprosy, venereal disease in a communicable form, renouncement of the world and not heard as being alive for a period of seven years or more. Section 27 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954 also lays down similar grounds.
However, section 13-B of the Hindu Marriage Act and Section 28 of the Special Marriage Act provide for divorce by mutual consent as a ground for presenting a petition for dissolution of marriage. The said sections inter alia provide that a petition for dissolution of marriage by mutual consent, if not withdrawn before six months after its presentation or not later than 18 months, then, the court may, on being satisfied after making inquiry, grant decree of divorce by mutual consent. However, it has been observed that the parties who have filed petition for mutual consent suffer in case one of the parties abstains himself or herself from court proceedings and keeps the divorce proceedings inconclusive. This has been causing considerable hardship to the party in dire need of divorce.
The Law Commission in its 71st report submitted in 1978 had recommended amendments to Hindu Marriage Act to make of irretrievable breakdown of marriage as a new ground for divorce. A report of Law Commission in 2009 had also made similar recommendation. On 23 March 2012, the Union Cabinet of India approved the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2010, by which irretrievable breakdown of marriage was included as a ground for dissolving a marriage under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and the Special Marriage Act, 1954.

Saturday, August 24, 2013

POVERTY IN RELATION TO INDIA

The ultimate objective of development planning is human development or to increase social welfare and well-being of the people. Increased social welfare of the people requires a more equitable distribution of development benefits along with better living environment. Development process therefore needs to continuously strive for broad-based improvement in the standard of living and quality of life of the people through an inclusive development strategy that focuses on both income and non income dimensions. The challenge is to formulate inclusive plans to bridge regional, social and economic disparities. Poverty and unemployment are the major hurdles in the goal of inclusive development.
Poverty is a social phenomenon wherein a section of society is unable to fulfil even its basic necessities of life. The UN Human Rights Council has defined poverty as “a human condition characterized by the sustained or chronic deprivation of the resources, capabilities, choices, security and power necessary for the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living and other civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights".


Types of Poverty
The poverty has two aspects: (1) Absolute poverty (2) Relative poverty.
1. Absolute Poverty:
 It is a situation in which the consumption or income level of people is less than some minimum level necessary to meet basic needs as per the national standards. It is expressed in terms of a poverty line.

2. Relative Poverty: It is expressed in the form of comparisons of the levels of income, nutrition or consumption expenditure of the poor strata vis-à-vis rich strata of the society. It shows the extent of inequality.

The HDR 2010 measures poverty in terms of a new parameter, namely multidimensional poverty index (MPI), which replaced the human poverty index (HPI) used since 1997. The MPI indicates the share of the population that is multi-dimensionally poor adjusted by the intensity of deprivation in terms of living standards, health, and education.

The Planning Commission which is the nodal agency for estimating the number and proportion of people living below the poverty line at national and State levels, separately for rural and urban areas, makes poverty estimates based on a large sample survey of household consumption expenditure carried out by the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) after an interval of approximately five years.

The recommendations of different committees for estimation of poverty:


• Lakdawala Committee 
The Lakdawala Committee defined the poverty line based on per capita consumption expenditure as the criterion to determine the persons living below poverty line. The per capita consumption norm was fixed at Rs.49.09 per month in the rural areas and Rs.56.64 per month in the urban areas at 1973-74 prices at national level, corresponding to a basket of goods and services anchored in a norm of per capita daily calorie intake of 2400 kcal in the rural areas and 2100 kcal in the urban areas.

• Tendulkar Committee Report to Review the Methodology for Estimation of Poverty
The Planning Commission constituted an Expert Group in December 2005 under the chairmanship of Professor Suresh D. Tendulkar to review the methodology for estimation of poverty. The Expert Group submitted its report in December 2009. While acknowledging the multidimensional nature of poverty, the Expert Group recommended moving away from anchoring poverty lines to the calorie - intake norm to adopting MRP based estimates of consumption expenditure as the basis for future poverty lines and MRP equivalent of the urban poverty line basket (PLB) corresponding to 25.7per cent urban headcount ratio as the new reference PLB for rural areas. On the basis of the above methodology, the all-India rural poverty headcount ratio for 2004-05 was estimated at 41.8 per cent, urban at 25.7 per cent, and all-India at 37.2 per cent. 

• Saxena Committee Report to Review the Methodology for Conducting BPL Census in Rural Areas
An Expert Group headed by Dr N.C. Saxena was constituted by the Ministry of Rural Development to recommend a suitable methodology for identification of BPL families in rural areas. The Expert Group submitted its report in August 2009 and recommended doing away with score-based ranking of rural households followed for the BPL census 2002. The Committee has recommended automatic exclusion of some privileged sections and automatic inclusion of certain deprived and vulnerable sections of society, and a survey for the remaining population to rank them on a scale of 10.

Automatic Exclusion
Households that fulfil any of the following conditions will not be surveyed for BPL census:
• Families who own double the land of the district average of agricultural land per agricultural household if partially or wholly irrigated (three times if completely unirrigated).

• Families that have three or four wheeled motorized vehicles, such as, jeeps and SUVs.
• Families that have at least one mechanized farm equipment, such as, tractors, power tillers, threshers, and harvesters.
• Families that have any person who is drawing a salary of over ` 10,000 per month in a non-government/ private organization or is employed in government on a regular basis with pensionary or equivalent benefits.
• Income tax payers.

Automatic Inclusion
The following would be compulsorily included in the BPL list:
• Designated primitive tribal groups.
• Designated most discriminated against SC groups, called Maha Dalit groups.
• Single women-headed households.
• Households with a disabled person as breadwinner.
• Households headed by a minor.
• Destitute households which are dependent predominantly on alms for survival.
• Homeless households.
• Households that have a bonded labourer as member.

The Ministry of Rural Development is in the process of conducting the pilot studies and participatory rural appraisal (PRA) exercises to fine tune the methodology.


• Expert Group (S.R. Hashim Committee) on the Methodology for Identification of BPL Families in Urban Areas.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) is the nodal Ministry for issue of guidelines to identify BPL families in urban areas. Till now, no uniform methodology was being followed by the States/UTs to identify the urban poor. An Expert Group under the Chairmanship of Professor S.R. Hashim has been constituted by the Planning Commission to recommend the methodology for identification of BPL families in urban areas. The Expert Group is expected to submit its report shortly.

Writs in Indian Constitution

The Indian Constitution empowers the Supreme Court and High Courts to issue writs for enforcement of any of the fundamental rights conferred by Part III of Indian Constitution.

The writ issued by Supreme Court and High Court differs mainly in three aspects:

a) The Supreme Court can issue writs only for the enforcement of fundamental rights whereas a High Court can issue writs for enforcement of fundamental rights along with “ for any other purpose” (refers to the enforcement of any legal right).

b) SC can issue writ against a person or government throughout the territory whereas High Court can issue writs against a person residing or against a government located within its territorial jurisdiction or outside its jurisdiction only if the cause of action arises within the territorial jurisdiction.

c) SC writs are under Article 32 which in itself is a fundamental right thus SC cannot refuse to exercise its writ jurisdiction. Whereas article 226 is discretionary thus HC can refuse to exercise its writ jurisdiction.

Types of writs:

• Habeas Corpus

Habeas corpus is a Latin term which literally means "You may have the body".  The concept of writ of habeas corpus has originated from England. This is a writ or legal action which can be used by a person to seek relief from illegal detention. The writ is a direction of the Court to a person who is detaining another, commanding him to bring the body of the person in his custody at a specified time to a specified place for a specified purpose.

A writ of habeas corpus has only one purpose: to set at liberty a person who is confined without legal justification; to secure release from confinement of a person unlawfully detained.  The writ does not punish the wrong-doer.  If the detention is proved unlawful, the person who secures liberty through the writ may proceed against the wrong - doer in any appropriate manner.  The writ is issued not only against authorities of the State but also to private individuals or organizations if necessary.

• Mandamus

The Latin word 'mandamus' means 'we command'.  The writ of 'mandamus' is an order of the High Court or the Supreme Court commanding a person or a body to do its duty. Usually, it is an order directing the performance of ministerial acts.  A ministerial act is one which a person or body is obliged by law to perform under given circumstances.  For instance, a licensing officer is obliged to issue a license to an applicant if the latter fulfills all the conditions laid down for the issue of such license.  Similarly, an appointing authority should issue a letter of appointment to a candidate if all the formalities of selection are over and if the candidate is declared fit for the appointment. But despite the fulfillment of such conditions, if the officer or the authority concerned refuses or fails to issue the appointment letter, the aggrieved person has a right to seek the remedy through a writ of 'mandamus'.

3. Certiorari

Literally, Certiorari means to be certified. It is issued by the higher court to the lower court either to transfer the case pending with the latter to itself or to squash the order already passed by an inferior court, tribunal or quasi judicial authority. The conditions necessary for the issue of writ of certiorari.

a. There should be court, tribunal or an officer having legal authority to determine the question with a duty to act judicially.
b. Such a court, tribunal or officer must have passed order acting without jurisdiction or in excess of the judicial authority vested by law in such court, tribunal or officer.
c. The order could also be against the principles of natural justice or the order could contain an error of judgment in appreciating the facts of the case.

4. Prohibition

The Writ of prohibition means to forbid or to stop and it is popularly known as 'Stay Order'. This writ is issued when a lower court or a body tries to transgress the limits or powers vested in it. The writ of prohibition is issued by any High Court or the Supreme Court to any inferior court, or quasi judicial body prohibiting the latter from continuing the proceedings in a particular case, where it has no jurisdiction to try. After the issue of this writ, proceedings in the lower court etc. come to a stop.

Difference between Prohibition and Certiorari:

1. While the writ of prohibition is available during the pendency of proceedings, the writ of certiorari can be resorted to only after the order or decision has been announced.
2. Prohibition can be issued only against judicial and quasi judicial authorities whereas Certiorari can be issued even against administrative authorities affecting rights of individuals.

• Quo Warranto

The word Quo-Warranto literally means "by what warrants?" or "what is your authority"? It is a writ issued with a view to restrain a person from holding a public office to which he is not entitled. The writ requires the concerned person to explain to the Court by what authority he holds the office. If a person has usurped a public office, the Court may direct him not to carry out any activities in the office or may announce the office to be vacant. Thus High Court may issue a writ of quo-warranto if a person holds an office beyond his retirement age.