Monsoon session begins on a stormy note, Op Sindoor debate sparks chaos in both Houses
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
29 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Delhi Confidential: Sweet offering
DMK's Arun Nehru, a first-time MP from Perambalur, has a sweet trick to make new friends in Parliament. The 41-year-old is popular among Opposition benches for his delicious homemade chocolates that he generously distributes among his colleagues. Nehru is also promoting a small venture — Kocoatrait, which makes ethically sourced zero waste bean-to-bar chocolates — from his constituency. He says it's one way of supporting a sustainable and circular economy. Nehru's sweet offering has won him praise from the Treasury benches too. While he has introduced some NDA MPs to his homemade delights, the DMK leader says he is still amassing courage to go to the senior leaders. He recently offered a few chocolates in different flavours to Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who said he relished each one of them. Overhaul On Cards Ridden by factionalism, the Haryana unit of Congress may soon get new District Congress Committee (DCC) presidents under the party's Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan (organisational rejuvenation campaign). The party had kickstarted the organisational overhaul in Gujarat, where it appointed new DCCs in June. It recently sent observers to Haryana and Madhya Pradesh to oversee a similar exercise. Sources in the Congress say they are not sure when the Madhya Pradesh appointments will be finalised, but in Haryana the revamp will begin in the next few days. The party high command has meticulously gone through suggestions made by the observers, and will soon announce the appointments. In party circles in Haryana, meanwhile, speculation is rife about which faction — former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda or party MP Selja Kumari — will have more people among the new DCCs. Old Office, New Role Senior forest service officer Gobind Sagar Bhardwaj, who was till recently a member secretary of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), returned to his former institution — the Wildlife Institute of India — as its director. Bhardwaj had earlier served as a scientist and faculty at the autonomous wildlife research body and has moved there after a one-year stint at NTCA.
Mint
29 minutes ago
- Mint
Trump Birthright Order Blocked Again in Fresh Legal Setback
President Donald Trump's executive order limiting birthright citizenship was blocked nationwide for the third time in less than a month, the latest sign that a US Supreme Court decision restricting 'universal injunctions' is having little impact on the dispute. The injunctions set up what is likely to be yet another set of appeals that could reach the Supreme Court, which has largely backed Trump in his broad crackdown on immigration. The justices haven't yet taken up the question of whether Trump's birthright citizenship order is constitutional. A federal judge in Boston ruled on Friday that an injunction pausing Trump's order nationwide is the only way to offer full protection to the Democratic-led states the filed the suit. The judge said his actions are in line with the Supreme Court's findings. US Judge Leo Sorokin said in his ruling that he could not narrow his injunction in part because Justice Department lawyers hadn't offered useful details about how such a ruling would work. 'With stakes this high, the court simply cannot adopt the defendants' blasé approach to the details and workability of a more limited injunction,' the judge said. A nationwide injunction protecting all affected babies was granted in a class-action suit in New Hampshire on July 10, while a federal appeals court this week upheld a similar block in a suit brought by four Democratic-led states. The new ruling comes in a suit brought by 18 states. A judge in a separate class-action suit is weighing another potential injunction. The Fight Over Trump's Birthright Citizenship Order: QuickTake Trump's order would restrict citizenship to babies with at least one parent who is a US citizen or green card holder. Critics say it violates a provision of the Constitution that grants citizenship to virtually every baby born in the US. The government says the directive closes a loophole that encourages illegal immigration. Trump's order was initially put on hold nationwide months ago in three separate cases. But the Supreme Court on June 27 paused those orders after ruling that judges generally can't issue nationwide injunctions that block federal policies outright. The justices returned the cases to the lower courts to weigh whether their injunctions needed to be narrowed or amended so that they provide relief only to the people or groups that sued. Sorokin held a hearing on the matter earlier this week. The Supreme Court's opinion, hailed as a major victory by the Trump administration, hasn't stopped judges from finding that broad injunctions against the president's birthright citizenship order are still necessary to protect US-born children of migrants while the cases proceed. In their request to maintain a nationwide injunction, the Democratic-led states said the Supreme Court's finding on so-called universal injunctions 'has no bearing on this case.' The states argue that a nationwide injunction is the only way to prevent harm that they say would be caused by allowing the executive order to take effect in some states, creating a chaotic patchwork of citizenship. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Hindustan Times
35 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
IRCTC received 6,645 complaints related to food quality in 2024-25: Government
In 2024-25, 6,645 complaints related to poor quality of food were reported by passengers, out of which in 1,341 cases fines were imposed on the food suppliers, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Friday. According to the data, in 2023-24, 2022-23, and 2021-22, the number of complaints received from passengers was 7,026, 4,421, and 1,082, respectively.(PTI/Representative) Of the total, in 2,995 cases warnings were issued, in 1,547 cases suitable advisories were given and other measures were taken in the remaining 762 cases, Vaishnaw said in the reply. CPI(M) MP John Brittas raised the issues of food quality in trains and transparency in the award of contracts to companies. When asked to provide details regarding instances of seizure of unhygienic food items from the railway caterers as well as complaints filed by passengers regarding the quality and safety of food served on trains in the last five years, the Railway Minister presented the data in a tabular form. Vaishnaw said, "Prompt and appropriate punitive action, including imposition of fines, disciplinary action, counselling, warning etc., is taken in case any instance of adulterated/unhygienic food or passenger complaint is reported." According to the data, in 2023-24, 2022-23, and 2021-22, the number of complaints received from passengers was 7,026, 4,421, and 1,082, respectively. Brittas asked "whether Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) awarded contracts across multiple railway routes, including Vande Bharat and other long-distance services, to a corporate group using multiple affiliate entities." In his reply, the Union minister said that the IRCTC regularly floats tenders to select service providers for the provision of onboard catering services in trains, including Vande Bharat and other long-distance trains. "These tenders are awarded through a transparent process to the highest bidders as per the terms and conditions stipulated in the tender documents. The details of Letters of Award (LOA), issued to multiple service providers, are published on the website of IRCTC. At present, contracts of clusters of trains have been awarded by IRCTC to 20 entities," Vaishnaw said. He provided various measures taken to maintain food quality, such as the supply of meals from designated Base Kitchens, commissioning of modern Base Kitchens at identified locations, Installation of CCTV Cameras in Base Kitchens, shortlisting and use of popular and branded raw materials, deployment of Food Safety Supervisors at Base Kitchens to monitor food safety and hygienic practices among others.
