Prime Minister Narendra Modi has exuded confidence that the BJP and its allies will break records to score a grand win in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. He took a swipe at the Opposition saying its No Confidence Motion will prove auspicious for the ruling alliance as it did in 2018.

In a sharp attack on Opposition parties while replying to the No Confidence Motion in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, Modi said the opposition did not allow discussion to take place in Parliament on a number of bills related to the country’s development.

He said the people of the country have repeatedly shown their faith in his government. Targeting the Congress, Modi said its government at the Centre would trust the word of Pakistan over terror attacks and its misadventures on borders but not the valour of the Indian armed forces. Modi said India is going through a very important and critical phase of time and its impact will be felt for the next one thousand years. The strength and hard work of people will lay a strong foundation for the next 1,000 years, he said.

Earlier, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India is in a unique position of being optimistic and positive about its future growth when the global economy is struggling and asserted that the Modi Government has transformed governance by delivering on its promises.  She said UPA wasted a decade because of corruption and cronyism. She said today every crisis has been changed into an opportunity. We are living in high growth, low inflation while it was the other way during UPA rule.

Parliament on Thursday passed the Pharmacy (Amendment) Bill, 2023 with the Rajya Sabha approving it. Moving the Bill, Health and Family Welfare Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said the Bill has been brought for the welfare of the youths of Jammu and Kashmir.

After that Minister Communications, Ashwini Vaishnaw introduced the Post Office Bill, 2023 amid intensified sloganeering by the opposition members. The Bill replaces the Indian Post Office Act of 1898, stipulates fundamental matters on postal services, facilitates the development of the postal sector and protects the rights and interests of the users.

Opposition INDIA bloc members in the Rajya Sabha  proposed a discussion on Manipur under a rule that requires a resolution to be passed in the House but the ruling parties opposed their demand for the prime minister's presence forcing an adjournment in the pre-lunch session.

The opposition parties had been calling for a debate under Rule 267, which entails voting and a statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The government was insisting since the start of the Monsoon session on a short-duration discussion under Rule 176.

On Wednesday, in an attack against BJP over violence in Manipur, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that its ruling party’s politics has divided the North-Eastern State. Responding to this, Union Minister Smriti Irani criticized him for his objectionable remarks.

Parliament on Wednesday passed the Anusandhan National Research Foundation Bill, 2023 to set up a national agency to fund research across universities in the country. It was passed by a voice vote in the Rajya Sabha. Earlier, the Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha. Replying to the debate on the Bill, Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh termed it as history in the making and said it is going to have long term outcomes.

Participating in the discussion on the Bill, Sujit Kumar of the BJD said the Bill will bring about an integrated, holistic and a perceptible change in the country's innovation landscape by tapping into universities, higher education and the private sector.

Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar of the TDP supported the Bill.

V Vijayasai Reddy of YSR Congress Party, termed it a significant step forward in the direction of revamping the entire R & D ecosystem and said his party, therefore, supports the proposed legislation.

G K Vasan of TMC -M and M Thambidurai of AIADMK also spoke in support of the Bill.
 
The Bill will pave the way to establish National Research Foundation that will seed, grow and promote Research and Development and foster a culture of research and innovation throughout India's universities, colleges, research institutions, and R&D laboratories.

The Bill will establish the NRF, an apex body to provide high-level strategic direction of scientific research in the country according to recommendations of the National Education Policy at a total estimated cost of 50,000 crore rupees during five years 2023-28. 

The Minister said with the formation of NRF, India will join other countries in having such an organization and expressed hope that it will soon surpass them.

Parliament passed the Digital Data Protection Bill, 2023 by a voice vote. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the Bill lays down obligations on private and government entities around the collection and processing of citizens data. Parliament also passed the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill 2023 to add two synonyms for the Mahar community in Chhattisgarh to the State’s list of Scheduled Castes. On Wednesday, Parliament passed the Coastal Aquaculture Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2023 which aims at decriminalizing the offences committed in carrying out coastal aquaculture activities and ensure the ease of doing business. Replying to the debate on the Bill in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala said India has benefited from Green Revolution and White Revolution and will be benefitted from Blue Revolution.

The Government on Thursday introduced the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023 in the Rajya Sabha amid protests by Opposition parties on Manipur violence. In a landmark move, Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday introduced three Bills in the Lok Sabha to replace the colonial-era laws, asserting that the proposed laws will transform the country’s criminal justice system and bring the spirit to protect the rights of the Indian citizen at the Centre stage. He said the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanihita Bill, 2023, Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita Bill, 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023 will replace the Indian Penal Code, 1860, Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 and the Indian Evidence Act of 1872 respectively.
The Home Minister said the changes were done to provide speedy justice and creating a legal system that keeps contemporary needs and aspirations of the people. The Home Minister said these Bills will transform the Indian criminal justice system. He urged the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to refer the three bills for examination by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the Central Goods and Service Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and the Integrated Goods and Service Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2023. They were passed by the Lok Sabha by a voice vote without a debate. On Friday, Aam Aadmi Party MP Raghav Chadha was suspended from the Rajya Sabha for gross violation of rules, misconduct, defiant attitude and contemptuous conduct, pending a report by the Privileges Committee. His suspension followed a motion moved by Leader of the House Piyush Goyal who sought action against the Aam Aadmi Party leader for including names of some members of the Upper House without their consent in a proposed Select Committee for the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023.

The motion was passed by a voice vote in the House which also approved the continuation of the suspension of the senior Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh from the House pending the Privileges Committee report. Singh was suspended on 24th of July, four days after the Monsoon Session of Parliament began. Congress Deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha Pramod Tiwari said it is wrong to suspend members like this. He said the entire opposition will raise the issue and the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge will write to Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar against Chadha’s suspension.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge defended his party colleague Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary, who was suspended from the Lok Sabha for his remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chowdhary was suspended on Thursday for allegedly attacking Mr. Modi and disturbing the Ministers. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V. Muraleedharan said the convention of this House has been that the conduct of the other House is not at all discussed in this House. The comments made by the Leader of Opposition have to be examined and expunged. Leader of the House Piyush Goyal also demanded the same.

The Rajya Sabha bid farewell to five of its members BJP leaders Jugalsinh Lokhandwala, Dineshchandra Anavadiya, TMC leaders Shanta Chhetri, Sushmita Dev and Pradip Bhattacharya of Congress who will retire on 18th of August. Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar said out of the nine retiring members, four have been re-elected and the House will miss the other five members.
Four members S. Jaishankar of BJP, three Trinamool Congress members Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Derek ‘O’ Brien and Dola Sen have been re-elected to the Rajya Sabha. 

Some important Bills that were passed during the Session were the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill, Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, National Nursing and Midwifery Commission Bill, National Dental Council Bill, Janvishwas (Amendment) Bill, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill and the Armed Forces Organization (Command, Control and Discipline) Bill.

On the opening day of the Session on Monday, the government moved the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023 for consideration in the Rajya Sabha. Home Minister Amit Shah introduced the bill which seeks to replace an ordinance promulgated for handling the transfers and postings of senior officers in the Delhi Government. The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha earlier. The Ordinance was promulgated by the Centre on 19th of May, a week after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services in Delhi excluding police, public order and land to the elected government headed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of Aam Aadmi Party.

The Bill empowers the Authority to make recommendations to the Delhi Lieutenant Governor regarding transfers and postings of officials and disciplinary matters. It also empowers the Lt. Governor to exercise his sole discretion on several matters including those recommended by the National Capital Civil Services Authority and the summoning, prorogation and dissolution of the Delhi Legislative Assembly.   Sukhendu Sekhar Ray of Trinamool Congress, opposed the Bill and said the legislation is aimed at making the Delhi Government toothless and without any real authority. He said the Bill needs to be opposed not only in Parliament but also by people across the country. Tiruchi Shiva of DMK said the Bill infringes upon the spirit of democracy and the Constitution. Sasmit Patra of Biju Janata Dal, while supporting the Bill said the legislation is not against the Constitution and therefore their party supports it in the Upper House.

Vijayasai Reddy of YSR Congress Party, supported the Bill. Launching attack on the Aam Aadmi Party, he said the party needs the power to support anti-nationals and separatists. He said the party is unfit to govern Delhi 

Radha Mohan Das Agarwal of BJP invoked former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s stand against making Delhi a full state. He said that more than three-fourth’s of assets in Delhi belong to the Centre and hence it cannot be given a full statehood. K. Keshava Rao of Bharat Rashtra Samithi said the Ordinance has come with mala fide intentions. If someone is corrupt then the Home Minister has the right to act against him, he said.

Manoj Jha of RJD said that it is a regressive bill and that a quorum will be made under the Chairmanship of the Chief Minister which is an instrument to decimate the idea of an elected government. Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya of CPI-M said that the government or the bureaucrats are bound by the Constitutional principles and morality to be answerable to the elected representatives.

Anil Prasad Hegde of JD-U said that with the Bill the government is bartering the sovereignty of the Delhi government. Jose K. Mani of KC-M said the Bill is an attempt to snatch power from the hands of the people. The Bill undermines the very essence of Parliamentary democracy. This is a systematic death to democracy, he said. Rajya Sabha on Monday revoked the suspension of Rajani Ashokrao Patil of Congress by a voice vote. He was suspended on 10th of February this year during the Budget Session for allegedly video-graphing the House proceedings and sharing them on social media against the rules.

On Tuesday, the much awaited debate on the No Confidence Motion against Narendra Modi Government was taken up with both the Opposition Parties and the ruling NDA coalition putting forward their arguments for and against the motion. Earlier in the morning, the proceedings in the Rajya Sabha were adjourned till 2 PM amid uproar as opposition parties demanded a discussion on Manipur violence while treasury bench members sought to raise matters relating to the law and order situation in Rajasthan.

 Initiating the debate Gaurav Gogoi of Congress accused Prime Minister of taking a vow of silence on issues such as the ethnic violence in Manipur and Chinese incursions. He said opposition parties were forced to bring a no confidence motion against the government to make the Prime Minister to speak up.