Parliament LIVE updates: Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018 passed in LS, House adjourned till Monday

Ravi Shankar Prasad presses for Aadhaar amendment bill, says Aadhaar will check corruption

“Cabinet will pass the Bill, I am not passing it. Aadhaar is for the people of the country, we had opposed Aadhaar before because there was no Act, our government has brought in a rule. Digital identity confirms the other forms of identity. Through Aadhaar there will be a check on corruption, IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in Lok Sabha.

The middleman is interested in cutting, fitting and setting but with Aadhaar, such things will stop. If an 18-year-old can secure border and vote then why can’t he decide on Aadhaar? And I want to make one thing clear here, UIDAI is not supporting any startup,” Prasad told the Parliament.

Discussion on Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018 in Lok Sabha

“Is this government aimed at encouraging only the business people?” Tathagata Satapathy, BJD MP, said in Lok Sabha.

“It is very difficult to imagine the condition of a poor farmer. A poor person has to produce an Aadhaar to even get into a hospital. There are cases in Bihar in which pregnant women have been denied hospitalisation because they did not have Aadhaar,” Satapathy said.

Nirmala Sitharaman started drama in Parliament: Rahul Gandhi

“Defence minister started drama in Parliament,” said Rahul Gandhi outside Parliament.

“The prime minister cannot even come to the Parliament. Did the defence ministry object to the prime minister changing the deal or not? I had just asked her to respond with a ‘yes’ or ’no’. She couldn’t even do that,” he said.

Nirmala Sitharaman demolished the fake campaign: Arun Jaitley

I don’t come from a khandaan: Nirmala Sitharaman in Lok Sabha

“I was called ‘jhooti’. I heard ‘Raksha Mantri Nirmala Sitharaman jhoot bol rahi hai.’ If some people get very sensitive about their names being taken, even I get sensitive,” Sitharaman said in Lok Sabha.

“I do not come from a khandaan. The prime minister also comes from an ordinary family. He is not corrupt,” said the defence minister. “The prime minister and I have our honour intact,” she added.

“Just because someone is from a khandaan, it doesn’t mean you can call the prime minister a chor,” he said.

As far as offset contracts are concerned, there is no mention of any private company in IGA: Sitharaman in LS

“The offset contract under Rafale are governed by offset guidelines of 2013. That policy was given to us as a result of the policy framed in UPA,” Sitharaman said.

“Two offset contracts were signed, one with Dassault and another with NBDA in 2016,” she said.

“So far as offset contracts are concerned, there is no mention of any private company or member,” she added.

Vajpayee did not clear AgustaWestland deal: Nirmala Sitharaman in LS

“The signed contract with AgustaWestland was signed on 8 February, 2010,” Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in Lok Sabha said, in response to M Thambidurai’s point that the agreement was signed during Vajpayee’s time.

“A pre-contract integrity pact was signed in 2008, during UPA time. It has nothing to do with Vajpayeeji,” she said.

‘How did Anil Ambani get the Rafale contract?’ asks Rahul Gandhi

“In your two hours of speech, you did not answer how Anil Ambani got the contract. Who made that decision?” asked the Congress president in Lok Sabha.

“If the neighbourhood is very dangerous, why did you not buy 126 aircraft?” he asked.

“When this bypass surgery was done by the prime minister, did the highest officials of the defence ministry object to the bypass surgery?” he said.

I am accusing Narendra Modi, not the defence minister: Rahul Gandhi

“Defence minister said that we are accusing her. Madam, I am not accusing you or Parrikar. I am accusing Narendra Modi,” said Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha.

“I do not think you are involved in the Rafale scam. But I am very clear that Narendra Modi is involved in the Rafale scam,” he added.

Hollande’s statement is an accusation against the prime minister: Rahul Gandhi

“I stated in the House that in a meeting with current French presiden Macron, I asked him whether the secret pact signed with India included the price of Rafale aircraft,” said Congres president Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha in response to Sitharaman.

“I told him that it was surprising that the people of this country don’t know about their money being spent. Macron had said that price was not part of the secret pact and you are welcome to say this publicly,” said Rahul.

“There was another statement by ex-France president Hollande. In a conversation, he stated that Anil Ambani’s name was provided to me by the Prime Minister of India,” said the Congress president.

“In that context, Hollande’s statement is an accusation against the prime minister,” he added.

Bofors was a scam, Rafale is a decision taken in national interest: Sitharaman

“Rafale will bring Modi back,” she said.

There is desperation because for four years, Modi government has run without corruption: Sitharaman

“Congress and others are keen to know facts on Rafale. I presented all details point by point,” Nirmala Sitharaman said in Lok Sabha.

“National security considerations will have to be kept in mind,” she said.

“Somewhere, there is a temptation, because for four years, this government has run without any corruption. There is desperation about how Modi government has managed four years without any corruption,” she added.

“Private conversations are being used to defame the prime minister of this country,” Sitharaman said. “Defence ministry has run without dalals for all the four years under Modiji,” she added.

Comparison with Qatar’s prices on Rafale misleading: Nirmala Sitharaman

“on 14 November, 2011, the bids were open and ten days later, EADS offered an unsolicited 20 percent discount on Euro fighters,” Sitharaman said, adding that the unsolicited bid was rejected by the then government.

“This was an attempt by the L2 vendor to reduce his cost, which is grossly inappropriate. Therefore, a fresh selection process would’ve meant redoing all the technical tests, which are time-consuming and would’ve delayed matters further,” Sitharaman said, on why the government did not go for the Euro fighters.

“There are different unauthenticated figures in the domain. In the absence of a detailed account of the package, a comparison with some other country’s price is difficult and can be misleading,” Sitharaman said.

Terms that we got in Rafale deal are far better: Nirmala Sitharaman

“The French commitment for the industrial support has increased to 50 years as opposed to the previous 40 years in their non-deal,” said Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Lok Sabha.

“The terms that we have got under the IGA are far better in almost every aspect,” she said.

“The CAG is conducting the performance audit of capital acquisition of air systems. The complete draft audit report has been received in the Ministry of Defence in December 2018 and the response for the same is under preparation,” said the minister.

Our price at least 9 percent less than previous deal: Nirmala Sitharaman in LS

“We have not hidden what we had submitted to the court first,” Sitharaman said in Lok Sabha.

“If we have something to hide, why will be go to the court on our own and mention a correction?” she further said.

“The price that they are quoting for the basic aircraft would have cost Rs 737 crore, whereas our price, which we have stated in the Parliament, is at least 9 percent less,” said the defence minister.

“Initial performance-based logistics support was for five years for one squadron. But in our deal, the initial performance-based logistics support was for five years for two squadrons, without any additional cost,” she said.

We did not mislead the court: Nirmala Sitharaman

“I quote, ’the challenge to the pricing of the aircraft by the petitioners is sought to be made on the ground that there are huge escalations in cost as per the material in public domain. We did express our disincilination to go into the pricing issue,’” said Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Lok Sabha, quoting the Supreme Court order on Rafale.

“We did not mislead the court,” Sitharaman added. “We have not misled the court and they acknowledge that we have not given any other details apart from the basic price,” she said.

“We constantly have these Opposition parties telling us that we misled the court, which is unfair,” he said.

Congress party phobic about facts, says Nirmala Sitharaman 

“This entire campaign has been built on falsehood, country is been mislead. People were taking photographs and throwing paper made aeroplanes at Finance Minister when he was answering to the questions. He was also the former defence minister. Is this the way you behave? If you were so serious about the debate you would have behaved,” Sitharaman said.

Congress quotes a different price of Rafale every time it levels allegations, says Nirmala Sitharaman 

“How many times the prices are being discussed by Congress, and every time the prices mentioned by them have been inconsistent. The party should do their homework before raising questions. We have got a better deal, because the basic price they had is higher than ours. There was an escalation cost which is put on and exchange rate variation also needs to be incorporated,” Sitharaman said.

Congress quoting unsubstantiated price for UPA-era deal, says Nirmala Sitharaman 

Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Congress has been quoting an imaginary figure of Rs 526 crore to claim that our deal is more expensive than what they negotiated. However, this figure of 526 is not mentioned on any official documents anywhere. What they seem to be referring to is perhaps a proposal of sort sent in the year 2007. No I want to ask them, is the price going to remain same in 2011 or 2014? How can he say that they negotiated a cheaper deal, she said.

Did Rahul Gandhi lie, or senior Congress spokesperson misled nation, asks Nirmala Sitharaman

“A Congress spokesperson had said that Congress will not discuss India’s defence deals with a foreign head of state, this discussion the Govt has to do with France and not us. Now on 20 July Rahul Gandhi in Parliament  said, ‘I asked the French President about this secrecy pact but he denied its existence. He also told me that he has no issues in making the cost public.’ Who is truthful? One of them is misleading the country. I want proof of this,” Sitharaman asked.

Congress-headed standing committee questioned HAL’s production capacity, says Nirmala Sitharaman

They need not have crocodile tears for HAL, given they themselves did not come to a deal. They themselves couldn’t sought the deal themselves. The standing committee said in its report, ’even after three decades ADA couldn’t make a combat aircraft.’ The Opposition in power did not really do anything to improve the condition, capacity and performance of HAL and rather gave them waivers. If you really care about the PSU, you would have rather improved the condition.

HAL’s capacity for Tejas production has been doubled. The government has scaled up the production from eight to 16. Repeatedly we are being told about the made in India deal, which wasn’t finalised.

Rahul Gandhi requests Speaker to allow him to ask one clarification question

Rahul Gandhi rose up in the middle of Nirmala Sitharaman’s reply and urged the Speaker to give him chance to respond to Sitharaman because she named him in her speech. Speaker responded saying she would get a chance to ask a counter question, and to respond to whatever the minister has said naming you.

Why did they procure AgustaWestland choppers and not HAL manufactured copters, Sitharaman on Rafale debate 

Nirmala Sitharaman raked up the Christian Michel controversy to counter Congress over the Rafale controversy. She said if the Congress cared so much about HAL why did they not give the contract of manufacturing VIP choppers to the public sector company. “Why did they used Christian Michel to procure AgustaWestland choppers. Is it because HAL was not giving you anything else apart from the helicopters,” Sitharaman asked.

Congress misleading nation; 126 aircraft not reduced to 36, their 18 flyaway condition procurement is scaled up to 36

This was an emergency purchase but the Congress government is misleading the nation even on that. They are saying that the aircrafts have come down from 126 to 36 but they should compare these 36 with the initial 18 flyaway aircraft they were planning to buy. The remaining 108 were out of question because HAL could not reach an agreement to manufacture them in the first place.

Congress shedding crocodile tears for HAL, says Nirmala Sitharaman

Responding to the Opposition’s query on Rafale, Sitharaman says there was no agreement signed between Dassault and HAL. She said the Congress is shedding crocodile tears on Rafale issue. “We have increased HAL’s production capacity from 8 to 12 and given them contracts worth over Rs 1 lakh crore. If you are really concerned about HAL you should have invested in them, helped them boost expertise,” Sitharaman said.

Dassault aviation could not tie up with HAL to produce 108 aircraft, says Nirmala Sitharaman

Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Congress party is shedding crocodile tear over Rafale production not going to HAL. However, the truth is that HAL could not reach an agreement with Dassault over multiple issues, and Congress failed to facilitate an agreement, she said. 

She claimed that the main problem was that Dassault was not ready to take guarantee for the aircrafts manufactured in India. This would have left the consumer, IAF without any manufacturer’s guarantee.

Congress couldn’t finish negotiations in 10 yrs; BJP will get first Rafale by 2019, all 36 by 2022, says Sitharaman

“The first aircraft will be delivered in September 2019 and 36 aircraft will be delivered in the year 2022. The process of negotiation was finished in 14 months,” Sitharaman argued.

India’s neighbourhood changed rapidly but sluggish policy kept procurement stuck, says Nirmala Sitharaman 

“China added 400 aircrafts been addded. Pakistan increased their aircrafts by double, they have added 43 Chinese fighter planes. By the time 2013, we have rather reduced the number of fighter planes. The UPA government wanted only 18 flyaway fighter jets. UPA created a deadlock,” Sitharaman said. 

“By the time 2013, we have rather reduced the number of fighter planes. What is the constant debate about money? Have they got any finalised deal? NO.”

Proposal for MMRCA was first floated in 2001, deadlock situation delayed procurement for decades, says Sitharaman

Sitharaman, asserting that she will offer a point by point rebuttal to all points raised in House, said that she would start by the concerns raised about the urgency shown in procuring the aircrafts. She said that the need for MMRCAs was first flagged by Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2001 and it was 2014 when we took over, even the 18 aircrafts to be procured in flyaway condition were not delivered.

Facts frighten Congress party Nirmala Sitharaman slams Opposition for disrupting her speech right at start

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman began her speech by thanking the members who participated in the debate. However, soon the debate turned vitriolic as Congress’ Mallikarjun Kharge, Jyotiraditya Scindia and other leaders stood up to demand that the prime minister should respond to their questions not the defence minister. Sitaraman, visibly irked at this, said, “Please have the patience to appreciate that it is my chance to speak and I shall offer you point by point rebuttal. This shows Congress party is afraid of facts.

From National Herald, Bofors to Robert Vadra, BJP speakers touch Congress’ soft spots to defend govt on Rafale

BJP speakers adopted aggressive stance to defend the government on the Rafale deal. While BJP MP Anurag Thakur’s speech was rife with references to jeep scam, Bofors and National Herald case, party’s Nishikant Dubey drew anomalies with ‘controversial’ business dealings Robert Vadra and Sanjay Bhandari with Modi’s ‘untainted’ public record to defend the government on the Rafale issue.

Anurag Thakur accuses Congress of corruption in defence deals

BJP MP Anurag Thakur on countered the allegations by the Congress leaders on Rafale deal by accusing the Opposition of corruption in various defence deals. He also cited National Herald case, Agusta Westland case on the the floor of the house.  On this, Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia raised an objection stating that the BJP member was making insubstantiated, defamatory statements on House of Parliament. He urged Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to expunge Thakur’s remarks from record.

‘Rahul Gandhi lied 20 times in 20 minutes,’ BJP’s Anurag Thakur slams Congress chief’s speech on Rafale

“Congress requested for a debate, and we complied. But they took more than 20 days to prepare for the debate but still they brought forward a confused and corrupt leader to lead the discussion. It was a confused and a corrupt leader, who is out on bail. Woh 20 minute mein 20 jhooth bol kar chale gaye," Anurag Thakure said.

PM speaking on every issue except Rafale, avoiding Parliament debate, says Opposition

“Many of the questions raised in Parliament by are directly to the PM and he should be here to participate and answer the questions. There is something fishy about this, given he is speaking about every other issue in interviews,” an opposition leader said.