As it happened: Rajya Sabha clears Companies Bill

17:25: Companies bill: more power for shareholders, Companies to do CSR The new legislation, which would replace the nearly 50-year-old Companies Act of 1956 and would encourage companies to undertake social welfare voluntarily instead of imposing the social responsibility. - The proposed legislation would ensure setting up of special courts for speedy trial and stronger steps for transparent corporate governance practices and curb corporate misdoings. - The new law would require companies that meet certain set of criteria, to spend at least two percent of their average profits in the last three years towards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. - In case, entities are unable to comply with the CSR rules, they would be needed to give explanations. Otherwise, they would face action, including penalty. - The amended legislation also limits the number of companies an auditor can serve to 20 besides bringing more clarity on criminal liability of auditors. - The new bill will speed amalgamations and mergers - The bill provides for class action suit, which is key weapon for individual shareholders to take collective action against errant companies. Now that Rajya Sabha has passed the bill, it will go for presidential assent. 5:15 pm: Rajya Sabha passes Companies Bill The Rajya Sabha has passed the Companies Bill, 2012. 3.30 pm: Another victory for BJP in the Rajya Sabha It’s been a good day for the BJP in the Rajya Sabha. After forcing the government to issue a new statement on the LoC killings, the party protested saying they were being discriminated against when a list naming its MPs were put up. The list accused the MPs of disrupting the proceedings of the parliament. However, after the BJP refused to let the Rajya Sabha function and walked out, the list was withdrawn from the House. 2:00 pm: Lok Sabha adjourned till Monday Protests continued in the lower house of Parliament despite the fact that there were hardly any MPs present. As a result there were no more proceedings and the House was adjourned till Monday. No MPs were seen complaining as the few who were present gathered their belongings and left for the long weekend. 1.20 pm: BJP protests naming and shaming of members in the parliament Trust our Indian politicians to never learn a lesson. Or worse say that the lesson was wrong and unfair. Possibly in order to bring a semblance of sense in the House the names of 20 MPs was read out and put up in a Rajya Sabha bulletin mentioning they stormed the well of the house and disrupted its proceedings. The NDTV reports Arun Jaitley as saying:

Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley added: “We have witnessed a ruling party member menacingly march towards another member of the supporting party, we have seen a member of the ruling party that once Telangana is formed he has to get out.”

12.23 pm: New statement UPA’s face saver? While one might have expected a strong reaction from the Opposition demanding Antony say ‘sorry’ since he didn’t exactly apologise, the BJP took a far more sensible approach to the issue. Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj said that she wants to thank the defence minister for rectifying his statement and would like to join the government in registering a strong protest against the Pakistan government. “I would like to thank the defence minister for correcting the mistake he made yesterday. However, the government should also keep in mind that such mistakes shouldn’t be repeated. Also, I want to clarify that our party was not politicising the issue as some people have suggested. We were trying to take the voice of the nation through the government to the Pakistan Army,” she said. By taking a step back, the government actually saved its face and made way for its precious Food Bill to be passed in the Parliament. However, the Seemandhra MPs were back in business and started shouting immediately after Antony’s clarification. The Lok Sabha was adjourned till till two as a result. 12.10 pm: Our restraint shouldn’t be taken for granted, says defence minister Antony Defence minister AK Antony swallowed a bitter pill and accepted that his earlier statement didn’t provide the correct picture of the situation at the LoC.  He said that as a minister of defence it was his duty to make a statement before the house, which he did with the information that was available to him. “However, the Indian Army chief has since visited the site and it was found that specialist forces of the Pakistan Army was involved in the attack. And it is a known fact that nothing happens across the line of control without the support, assistance and facilitation of the Pakistan army. Those who are responsible for this tragedy and the brutal beheading of the two Indian soldiers in the past shouldn’t go unpunished. Pakistan should take tangible measures to curb such actions and terror outfits. The perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks should be brought to justice quickly,” he said. Possibly in an attempt to counter criticism of UPA’s ‘soft’ stance on terrorism Antony sounded out the bugle, saying that the country’s ‘behaviour in the LoC’ will be affected by this incident hinting at the possibility of aggressive retaliatory measures. He also said that India and Pakistan’s diplomatic relations will be affected by incidents like these. “Our restraint shouldn’t be taken for granted,” he warned. 11.51 pm: Antony to present revised statement on LoC killings  Army Chief Bikram Singh who visited Jammu on Wednesday has briefed Defence Minsiter AK Antony on Tuesday’s attacks, media reports said. The minister is likely to make a fresh statement in both Houses of Parliament later today. Earlier in the day, MoS Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla speaking to reporters said Antony will make a fresh statement in Parliament after a briefing by the Army Chief. 11.18 pm: Spoken to soon! Andhra MPs get down to their jobs While the Lok Sabha did attempt to function, the MPs from Seemandhra soon found their voice back! Though minister for state Jyotiraditya Scindia was answering questions on rural electrification, the Andhra MPs ambushed the discussion raising their pitch exponentially. It is important to point out here that several of these MPs actually belong to the ruling Congress party. Naturally, the BJP was not amused. A visibly agitated LK Advani stood up, shock write large on his face, and said, “I have never seen a situation like this before. How can you let the House work like this. The heads of the ministries are not present in the House. The party’s MPs are creating such a ruckus and not allowing a discussion to take place. And you are not protesting? You should bring order in the house. I have never seen such a situation in all these years I have been coming here,” Advani said, robbing Kumar of her beatific smile for a moment. The Speaker obliged the senior BJP leader - by adjourning the House. Also, Advani probably needs to refresh his memory by a day to realise the scene is nothing unusual in the Lok Sabha actually! 11.15 pm: Business as usual in Lok Sabha, no trouble yet On the other hand, the Lok Sabha managed to function for full 20 minutes till now without many disruptions. West Bengal remained in focus with MPs raising issues about the Metro Railways extension around Kolkata and electricity connection in villages. 11.05 am: Andhra Pradesh MPs walk out of Rajya Sabha Leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley has given voice to the concerns of Seemandhra MPs and suggested that rather than ‘brush Telangana under the carpet’, they talk about some of the concerns raised by pro Seemandhra MPs, in the backdrop of comments that were made by TRS leaders that hinted that Andhra government MPs would have to get out of Hyderabad in the event of the formation of Telangana. “I know we have pushed these things to the background but given these statements, maybe it would be best to have a discussion”, he said. Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Hamid Ansari suggested that it be discussed in his chamber but the Andhra MPs were having none of it. They shouted for a while, and some of them walked out of the chamber. In all the confusion, Kanimozhi asks a question which is not heard due to the uproar. A resigned looking Ansari asks, “You want me to conduct question hour with your anarchic practice?” After more shouting and more confusion, the house is adjourned till 12 noon. 11.00 am: Parliament begins, but no end to uproar The BJP may be pacified after the Congress decided to issue a fresh statement with regards to the LoC killings, but the Andhra Pradesh MPs, inspired perhaps by the shennanigans of the main opposition party in the house yesterday are back to screaming, “We want justice! we want justice! United Andhra! United Andhra!” Given the relative sparseness of their numbers however, question hour is proceeding in the Lok Sabha. 10.30 am: Round one to BJP, Antony to issue fresh statement in Parliament The victory over the Pakistan ‘clean chit’ will go to the BJP. After unrelenting pressure from the main opposition party, the government has confirmed that it will issue a fresh statement on the killing of five Indian soldiers along the Line of Control in Poonch, Jammu & Kashmir by Pakistani troops. MoS Parliamentary Affairs, Rajeev Shukla confirmed the development and said, “The Defence Minister will brief the House again after he speaks to the Army Chief”. Antony’s statement, in which he said that the Indian jawans had been killed by persons ‘dressed in Pakistani uniforms’, caused massive outrage because, as the BJP said, it gave the neighbouring country an easy exit route by which it could deny its role in the attack. The government move to change its official statement came after a meeting between Congress and BJP leaders, in which the BJP had told the government that the defence minister’s ‘diluted’ statement was totally unacceptable. The government had reportedly assured BJP leaders that Antony would update Parliament after being briefed by army chief Bikram Singh. A big question of course,  is why Antony went with the now controversial statement despite being briefed by the DGMO that the attack involved Pakistan Army personnel along with 20 heavily armed terrorists.  With the PMO denying  what it called ‘mischievous’ reports that it had asked the defence minister to water down his statement, the slip up has been attributed to an ‘error of judgement’. According to the Hindustan Times, a senior Congress leader had told the paper, “There is an error of judgement on the part of the government. It happens sometimes. Now we will see how it can be rectified”. Rajeev Shukla defended Antony however, saying that he (Antony) briefed the House with whatever information he had at that time. Of course, the entire incident – from the Congress’ initial tepid reaction to the retraction of the statement comes as a massive fillip to the BJP, who have found yet another reason to attack the crumbling UPA government. As Firstpost editor Sanjay Singh  pointed out  on Wednesday: “The tag of ‘soft state’ has come back to haunt the Manmohan Singh government yet again. The killing of five Indian soldiers in an ambush by Pakistan has given the BJP a chance to re-focus the debate on Congress follies on national security issues and its ineffective response to Pakistan. This has come as welcome ammunition for the BJP which thinks that this meek response will make many look up to Modi’s strong leadership.” And with the government’s about turn in the face of all that BJP pressure, it gives the opposition another vital victory point in its own battle against the Congress. One that it will undoubtedly use during future electoral campaigning for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. For now however, the more crucial thing for the Congress seems to be the smooth functioning of the parliament. With the populist Food security bill up for debate in the house, it has more to lose by letting Antony’s statement stand. End of updates for 07 August 3.10 pm: Sushma Swaraj doesn’t yield, doesn’t relent Sushma Swaraj, however, doesn’t bite the government’s bait. She says clearly, “Food security is important I agree. But border security is equally important. Earlier in the day, I had said that AK Antony should come and apologise for exonerating the Pakistan in the House. They behead our soldiers, they kill our soldiers and the defence minister relieves them of all responsibility. He should come and apologise,” she went after Antony, all guns blazing. To which, parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath reiterated Antony’s stand in the Rajya Sabha. “The defence minister had spoken in the Rajya Sabha. He said, at that time, he furnished whatever information he then had. Now, the Army chief is on a visit to the site. One he gets a detailed report from the chief, and if he thinks it is important, he will make a statement before the house again.” Swaraj was not to be pacified. She shouted back how a statement made in the Rajya Sabha can hold in the Lok Sabha. Clearly, she rates her interrogation skills more than the Rajya Sabha BJP entourage’s! Following the din that ensued, the Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day. 3:oo pm: The Food Security ordinance is introduced by KV Thomas Amid the uproar over the LoC deaths, the government has decided to introduce the National Food Security Bill for approval, probably hoping that a furor over the Food Bill will deflect the antagonism the government is facing over the killings of the soldiers. As expected, AIADMK MP Thambidurai expressed his grievances about the bill and called it a ‘food insecurity’ bill and asked for revisions in it before it is passed. 2.53 pm: Food Security Bill to be introduced in the parliament The Nation Food Security Bill 2011 has been withdrawn and the new ordinance will be introduced soon. 2.10 pm: BJP gets its groove back, Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha adjourned again While it was the combined chaos of MPs demanding a United Andhra and others demanding AK Antony apologise in the Lok Sabha, it was the anti-Antony wave in Rajya Sabha that halted the proceedings of the houses. The slogan heroes, it seems, never miss a single cue when it comes to plunging headlong into the day’s shouting routine. So in Lok Sabha, the moment the house opened, the shouting started. The robust chorus demanding Antony say sorry to the nation however drowned the faint cry of ‘we want justice’ by the Andhra MPs today. The chair person made no attempt to pacify the house and immediately adjourned it till 3 pm. The Rajya Sabha, on the other hand, did open with a sense of quiet. That was until Kurien said that the House should wait for Antony’s statement like he promised. Ravi Sankar Prasad of the BJP, immediately jumped into action, saying they were not willing to accept Antony’s explanation. “He could have dismissed one statement, he could have stood by his statements. But what did he do? He said he is waiting for the Army’s information and went away. That means he is not sure about his statement,” he said, correctly pointing out that as a minister he might not be even aware of what is going on in his country. However, trust the BJP to shoot itself at its own feet. Immediately, everyone in the opposition’s seating area stood up howling, each talking animatedly, visibly saying different things on the same issues. While you might imagine that as one party, they would have one stand on the issue and hence nominate one person to speak or take turns to speak on the issue, the party, like all other parties in the parliament decided to take the saying ‘united we stand’ a little too far. So they stood up, in unison. They spoke, in unison - ignoring the fact that the nature of human conversation is such that ten people saying ten different things at the same time with wild gestures makes as much sense as autos and cars honking at each other in a Mumbai traffic jam. Incidentally, they even sound somewhat alike. The Congress, on their part, curled up comfortably behind their favourite shield - BJP’s predilection for noise - and like always, prepared to get away without answering questions. In fact, Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury lost no time in pulling the BJP up for its behaviour in the parliament. “Saying that the government has given Pakistan a clean chit amounts to spreading panic and fear in the country. It’s a completely scandalous statement,” she said. 12.41 pm: Antony responds to BJP in Rajya Sabha Antony, however, turned up in the Rajya Sabha to offer what was at best a half-baked explanation. He said, almost impishly, " As a minister my job is to present whatever details I have on an issue before the Parliament. That is what I did. Now, the Army chief visiting the site of the killings. Once he gives me a report, I will make another statement before the house." To which BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad questioned why then, did the government, release two statements yesterday which said two different things? However, Antony, strangely enough finds some way or other to escape. To the House’s surprise chairman PJ Kurien, jumped to fellow Malayali, Congress colleague and politician’s defence. “You have been a minister also. You know that the information a minister gives comes from the bureaucracy. What will he do? He told you what he knows,” he cajoled, only to anger Venkaiah Naidu more. A surprised Naidu questioned why the chairperson is getting involved and defending one party following which Kurien threw his hands up saying, “How I can ask him to say more.” And almost in a move to rescue Antony from the Opposition’s attack, he too, adjourned the Rajya Sabha till 2pm. 12.15 pm: Lok Sabha adjourned till 2 pm While the BJP was a role model of political conduct yesterday, the party assumed a loud, disruptive turn in the Lok Sabha today. While on Tuesday, they set the tone for a prolific political debate, today they demonstrated how no debate in the parliament can ever be of any consequence to the country. In fact, they showed, yet again, how ‘debate’ has been redefined in the Indian parliament as an exercise that is high on drama, low on relevance and hence just a game of vocal might. If you can ignore how she seems to be in a mood to punch anything that comes in her way, perennially, you have to admit that she raised a valid point of debate in the Parliament. The government does have a fair amount of explaining to do amount the completely conflicting statements they made in the house and outside it. Did the press statement come as an afterthought when the Opposition pointed out that Antony’s explanation exonerated Pakistan of all its crimes? Was there a mis-communication between the various departments of the government? Why were the first two government statements made without proper consultation with the Army? Why, in fact, was the Army not quoted in either of the statements that the government released? The argument that Swaraj started logically leads to questions like these - the government answering them would have exposed the flaws in their functioning and if they chose to evade the questions, that would in turn, imply that they were at fault. However, Swaraj took a less logical and more dramatic path. She demanded that Antony should ‘apologise’ and took the House by storm. Now what precious effect would Antony’s ‘apology’ have in the greater scheme of things? Except for a victory in the game of political statement making, an apology would serve no great purpose in igniting a political debate that would have far reaching effects in the way ours borders are managed or Indian-Pakistan diplomatic issues unfurl in future. The effect of Swaraj’s demand and the consequent slogan mongering was the adjournment of the house. Except for a dismissive Meira Kumar who listlessly passed a few motions, no one seemed to be in a mood for a debate, forget a discussion. What Swaraj did in the process is she gave the Congress yet another excuse to point at the Opposition’s misconduct and free themselves off the hook they are caught in. 12.07 pm: Warriors of United Andhra in no mood to give up? The BJP finally showed the Andhra justice warriors their place, showing them how the game should be played. The Lok Sabha resumed with cries demanding AK Antony apologise for issuing conflicting statements in the House and to the media. “Raksha Mantri maafi maango” went the demand, recited in the familiar incantation of pre-poll roadshows and processions. The MPs from Andhra Pradesh are heard squeaking ‘we want justice’ briefly, but today, their demand is drowned by the Opposition getting into the parliamentary groove. 11.07 am: Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha adjourned following uproar over government statement The BJP reacted to the news of the killing of five Indian soldiers in Poonch with measured political outrage yesterday. While Yashwant Sinha did try launching an attack on the government with familiar parliamentary metaphors that account for high drama, he was cut short as the House was adjourned. Leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, however, took up the issue as threw a host of pointed questions at the government. He also pointed out the ridiculousness of AK Antony’s statement which almost relieved Pakistan of all charges. However, with the government releasing a conflicting statement later in the day, the temperature of the debate shot up by several notches today. Also, the person leading the opposition in the Lok Sabha today is not a calculative statesman that Yashwant Sinha is - it is the abrasive Sushma Swaraj who completely seems to be in a combat mode today. It is probably helpful to remind the readers here that Swaraj, unlike Jaitley, has never credited the UPA government with anything vaguely similar to ‘wisdom’. Also, when two soldiers were beheaded, allegedly by the Pakistan Army earlier this year, she had suggested ‘10 heads be brought back from Pakistan’ for every Indian head they have claimed. Understandably thus, AK Antony has gone into hiding leaving Manmohan Singh’s impenetrable silence to deal with the Opposition’s storm. Swaraj kicked off the session in her trademark fiery mood pointing out the discrepancies in the government’s two statements. She launched an attack on AK Antony immediately saying, “I demand the defence minister turn up in the house and apologise before the country for making such dubious statements on a grave incident like this. It can’t be coincidence that he is not present in the house right now, so I’ll ask the Prime Minister to respond to the demand,” she said. All the BJP MPs immediately joined the chorus started by Swaraj. Emphasizing her demand and not leaving things to the sugary personality of speaker Meira Kumar, Sushma hollered at Manmohan Singh, “Mr Prime Minister, respond now.” Looking briefly pleased with verbal missile she just lobbed at the perpetually-pale and stricken Manmohan Singh, she turned to her fellow MPs for support, who stood up from their chairs and turned to the PM waving and shouting angrily. We’re assuming that she did manage to shake up Manmohan Singh with her attack, because the PM, unlike other days, blinked. Twice. Thankfully for him, before he ended up showing a stronger evidence of being affected like looking to his left or scratching his forehead, Kumar adjourned the session till 12 pm. The Rajya Sabha too was adjourned after Venkaiah Naidu rambled endlessly about points already made by the opposition earlier. 10: 58 am: Sushma Swaraj serves suspension of question hour notice As expected the killings of five Indian soldiers in Poonch has already set the momentum for today’s parliament sessions. Leader of the opposition at the Lok Sabha has served a suspension of question hour notice. Soon after the conclusion of the parliament sessions yesterday, the BJP slammed the government pointing out discrepancies in the statements issued by the government. According to a report on NDTV, BJP leader Yashwant Sinha commented that Antony’s statement was ‘most laughable’. Also, a press statement issued by the government said that the attack was carried out by ‘Pak Border Action Team’, where as Antony said in the House that 20 terrorists aided by people in Pak Army uniforms. 10.30 am: LoC killings to take parliament by storm? This Monsoon Session of the parliament this year promised to be a stormy one with a handful of widely criticised  bills slated to come up for approval. The food bill has been scheduled for tabling in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, but whether it will be passed or not remains to be seen. The National Food Security ordinance which needs the parliament’s approval to be made into a bill has evoked widespread debate in the political class. The bill, being viewed as the UPA’s ticket to sweep votes from the masses has faced the Opposition’s heat for being potentially damaging to the country’s economy and growth. The BJP has been seeking an opportunity to voice its opinions about the food bill. It was also apprehended that dissent pooling against the Congress-led government over the Uttarakhand disaster and ally SP’s treatment of IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal could disturb the functioning of the Parliament. [caption id=“attachment_1016157” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Lok Sabha. AFP.[/caption] In fact, after the BJP relentlessly thwarted attempts to run the parliament in the last session, there were serious doubt about the strategies the party would embrace in the house this time. While the Prime Minister had appealed that the parliament be allowed to function properly, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had taken more of a direct pot-shot at the party on Twitter. He had asked if the BJP plans to let the parliament conducts its businesses smoothly. However, while the BJP has been more than willing to let the parliament function this time, trouble brewed in other quarters. A handful of MPs from Andhra Pradesh disrupted the parliament shouting slogans raucously throughout the first day of the session. No bills were discussed and all attempts to do so were drowned by the Andhra MPs and a couple of Bodoland MPs bringing the house down with their statehood demands. Even when on the second day, the house tried to discuss the grave incident of an audacious LoC violation by the Pakistani troops, the Andhra MPs stuck to their demands making it impossible for any party to discuss anything in the Lok Sabha. The lower house was adjourned after a few attempts to facilitate a debate on other issues. The Rajya Sabha too was adjourned twice but a discussion on border security issues finally took off late in the day. Defence minister AK Antony issued a statement in both the houses condemning the killings of the Indian soldiers. He said that the infiltration and consequent killing of five Indian soldiers were carried out by at least 20 armed terrorists in Pakistani Army uniforms. He even indicated that there has been a sharp increase in infiltration attempts by terrorists. Leader of the opposition Arun Jaitley brought up the issue of  policy modifications that should follow an incident like the LoC ambush and questioned the nature of diplomatic relations that India maintains with Pakistan. The heat, therefore, will be felt more by Salman Khurshid when he will have to explain India’s diplomatic stand on Pakistan and justify what precious purpose the Indian government’s peace talks have served till now. Jaitley  also pointed out the section in Antony’s statement where he mentions ‘persons dressed in Pakistan Army uniforms’. Given that Pakistan’s favourite defence has been denial, Jaitley pointed out that Antony just provided them with an escape route. To which Antony replied that his statement was a ‘responsible’ one and no conclusion should be drawn without a probe. Incidentally, 44 bills are supposed to be passed in this session. With two days lost and no bills passed, the parliamentarians will definitely have to get their act back together. Among the key bills the government seeks to consider and pass in Parliament are this session are: The National Food Security (Second) Bill, 2013 (to replace the ordinance) The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011 The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, 2011 The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011 The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2013 The Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Amendment Bill, 2013 Read the updates from the past first two days of the monsoon session here.