Parliament Live: India won't cede any territory to China, says Antony

12:50 pm: Antony says China has had no access to Indian territory After strong criticism from the Opposition, Defence Minister AK Antony made a brief statement in the Lok Sabha where he denied that China had taken over Indian territory. Not known for his flair for drama, the defence minister said that the government had been working to strengthen the Indian forces capabilities along the Line of Actual Control with China. “India has not allowed China access to any part of Indian territory,” he said.   There is no question of India ceding to China any part of Indian territory, the Defence Minister said. “The government will continue to strengthen our infrastructure in border areas to protect our national interests,” Antony said and quickly sat down. Expectedly, the BJP wasn’t very impressed with the answer and raised an outcry and refused to let other MPs speak. Speaker Meira Kumar attempted to restore calm but had little success. End of Updates 7.00pm: Rajya Sabha passes Constitution (120th Amendment) Bill, 2013 bill. The Rajya Sabha passed an Amendment to the Constitution that paves the way for setting up a Judicial Appointments Commission. 4.30 pm: Shahnawaz Hussain wants Wakf Board land protected BJP leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain today questioned the intention of the government for keeping discussion on the Wakf (Amendment) Bill, 2010 so late on the list of business of Lok Sabha. Criticising the Centre for not taking adequate step for the welfare of the minorities, Hussain said, “After the parttition of the country, Muslims staying back in India considered their country as their motherland. But successive governments failed to take care of the minority community. Why was the need for making minority affairs ministry by this government?” The BJP leader said that big swathes of land belonging to the Wakf Board are being grabbed across India. “The Centre should get these land grabbers out of the Wakf land,” he said. 4.06 pm: Chidambaram defends Food Security Bill, UPA’s economic policies After a clutch of MPs raised concerns about the Food Security Bill, Finance Minister P Chidambaram tried defending its provisions. He pointed out that under the existent schemes the allocation of subsidised food grains to all states come to 500 lakh tonnes. Under the Food Security Bill that allocation will be raised to 550 lakh tonnes. “UP used to get approximately 72 lakh tonnes. They will now get 96 lakh tonnes of food grains. Every state’s allocation has been protected,” he said. Answering to queries about the government’s financial health, Chidambaram echoed what Sonia Gandhi had said in the Lok Sabha. He said that if they have brought in a bill, they will support it. “For the current year, the allocation is sufficient. We have allocated Rs 9,000 crores for the scheme and that is sufficient for the months left in this year. And in the next year, when the budget will be presented, we will be making adequate allocations so as to support the Food Security Bill,” he said. He said that the rupee has overhsot its true value and it had been more undervalued than it should be. Citing the several fluctuations in the value of the rupee against the dollar, he said that the rupee has depreciated in the past, it has appreciated itself too. “Like the new RBI governor said yesterday and I had said earlier, the rupee will correct itself. Several measures have already been taken to improve confidence in the Indian economy.” However, he responded to the criticism against the UPA with his caustic rhetoric. He said, “UPA I had the highest growth rate the country had ever seen. And in the first four years, UPA II had a growth rate, despite the a decline, which was higher than the rate in NDA’s term.” He summed up by saying that there is no need to spread pessimism. Following his address, former NDA finance minister Yashwant Sinha shot back at him asking, “Why does the Finance Minister never mention the inflation rate in our time and the inflation rate in theirs?” CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta also lashed out at him for suggesting that their party is spreading pessimism about the economy. Chidambaram retorted to dasgupta by saying, “The medicines that are their in our dispensary to battle pessimism is way better than what my friend’s party had when they were in power in West Bengal!” Now that’s what we call singeing! However, Sinha contested the FM’s claims that most states have showed a growth of more than five percent where as the CSO shows that India’s overall growth is 5 percent. “The nation’s growth cannot be the aggregrate of states’ growth. That impression shouldn’t be created.” 11.30 am: CPM tries raking up Vanzara issue, fails The CPI(M) wants to discuss the Vanzara issue by calling it a subject of national importance. “An IPS officer’s statement has raised serious issues about spreading terrorism in the country. Terrorism is not a state issue and it is a concern of national security,” argued Yechury. BJP broke out in protest over CPM’s request. Kurien said, “How can the chair take congnizance of a statement of an undertrial. It cannot be taken up here.” However, CPM persisted, threatening to walk out. Kurien seemed only too happy to let them go. “Walking out is your right. Walk out and don’t make noise,” he said dismissively. Venkaiah Naidu found it necessary to back Kurien and said, “We want to proceed with the business of the House.” 11.04 am: BJP protests DG Vanzara’s letter implicating Modi The Rajya Sabha opened to an unruly scene as the BJP MPs rushed towards the well of the House talking about the DG Vamzara issue all at the same time. Deputy chairman PJ Kurien tried to calm them down and send them back to no avail. The MPs were complaining that Vanzara’s letter and the subsequent events have been doctored by the Congress for its political gains. The RS was adjourned for 15 minutes. 10.30 am: Will Congress, BJP patch up over RTI Act amendments? The Parliament has been witnessing some high voltage exchanges between the government and the Opposition over the past couple of days. It all started with the Congress suddenly rediscovering its backbone the moment their ambitious food bill and land acquisition bills were passed in the Lower House of the Parliament. The BJP which had first held up the Parliament, then relented to let the key bills be debated and passed, got back into UPA-bashing mode too end last week. With the rupee plummeting to new lows against the dollar and oil prices rising thanks to concerns over Syria, the BJP harped on the Coalgate to corner the government. The party had been demanding a statement from the Prime Minister, who was the Coal Minister when the coal block allocation scam happened, for a while now. [caption id=“attachment_1086649” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The Lok Sabha. Reuters.[/caption] The PM held back till the UPA’ s trophy bills were passed and then made two statements in the Parliament. The first was on the flailing economy which ended in quite a ruckus with the Opposition calling him a thief, and he in turn questioning their political ethics. The second was on the missing Coalgate files where he said that if the files are not traced within the time stipulated by the Supreme Court, the CBI may set up an independent inquiry. BJP was not happy with the statement and even when the PM was not present in the House they slammed his statement, questioning the government’s intent. Following the sporadic chaos over the coal scam, the Lok Sabha took up the Pension Bill and the Rajya Sabha debated the Land Acquisition Bill, both of which were passed in the respective Houses. With the coal scam furor dying down and the PM out of the country, both the Opposition and the ruling party MPs might be willing to take up a new bill that directly influences their political fortunes - the RTI Amendment Bill. The amendments moved unanimously by all the parties demand that political parties be left out of the ambit of the Bill so that no queries can be directed against them and they are not compelled to answer questions from the public. While there has been widespread public outrage against the move to amend the Bill, since all the national and regional parties are on the same page regarding the amendments, the Bill is most likely to sail through the Parliament.