Rajya Sabha adjourned for the day amid TMC uproar over NRC issue

Earlier, the Upper House witnessed two more adjournments with the proceedings being disrupted repeatedly as TMC members raised an uproar, sometimes trooping into the well and shouting slogans, to demand immediate suspension of business for a discussion on NRC which has excluded more than four million people in Assam.

This happened despite the fact that the Chair had allowed the discussion for Wednesday.

Earlier, Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu chided members for the thin attendance in the House when a crucial legislation to provide constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes was passed on Monday evening.

At the start of the day’s proceedings, Naidu observed that 156 members were present when the Rajya Sabha passed the constitution amendment bill. “We just scraped through,” he lamented. “We were exactly a little above the mark, that’s all. Otherwise, you can’t get it approved also.”

In the Lok Sabha, where opposition members raised the issue of sexual abuse of girls in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar shelter homes, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said his ministry would send an advisory to all states to check the status of such homes.

Singh said such incidents are "unfortunate and serious" and no culprit will escape the action.

He, however, lauded the Uttar Pradesh government for taking quick action on the issue.

Earlier, the Samajwadi Party demanded an impartial probe into the Deoria shelter home episode. This was supported by the Rashtriya Janata Dal, which said the issue is similar to the incident in Muzaffarpur shelter home, where about 34 girls were sexually abused.

MSME Minister Kalraj Mishra says the Deoria shelter home's licence was cancelled last year. But the management went to the court.  Mishra represents Deoria in the House. He also added the Uttar Pradesh government has constituted a magistrate-level probe.

Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Tuesday urged Lok Sabha members to pass the new Consumer Protection Bill without debate, saying it is a "revolutionary" and "non-controversial" measure aimed at benefiting consumers.

during Question Hour on rights of consumers, he said at present consumers have to face problems getting their right. But, he said, the new consumer protection bill pending in the Lok Sabha has several provisions to help consumers get their rights at the earliest.