Parliament winter session 2025 live: Minister says ready to make changes to Sanchar Saathi app amid snooping concerns

PArliament overwinter session 2025 unrecorded updates: unification government minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on midweek said the Centre was ready to make changes to the order requiring smartphone makers to pre-install the Sanchar Saathi app. "We are ready to make changes to the order based on the feedback we receive," Scindia said in the Lok Sabha as Opposition raked up the privacy concerns related to the state-run cybersecurity app. He also said snooping is neither possible nor will it happen with the Sanchar Saathi safety app, amid a row over his ministry's order asking smartphone makers to preload the cybersecurity app on all new devicesOpposition leaders arrived at the Parliament for the third day of winter session wearing gas masks as protest against rising air pollution in the national capital. Earlier, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi said that Parliament should also include the worsening air quality in several parts of the country in its list of business and hold a discussion on it. “We should also discuss other things like pollution. We should discuss many other issues which are important,” she was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.The Air Quality Index (AQI) in Delhi slipped into ‘very poor’ category again on Wednesday after brief reprieve on Tuesday. The AQI stood at 376, close to the 'severe' mark, around 7 am on Wednesday, a marginal increase from the average of 372 recorded on Tuesday. This places the AQI in the ‘very poor’ category and on the borderline of hazardous.Meanwhile, reports said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to meet all Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs from Bengal BJP today.INDIA bloc floor leaders held a meeting on Wednesday ahead of the third day of the winter session of the Parliament, to discuss the strategy after the Centre accepted the Opposition's demand to hold a debate on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll. Leader of Opposition Rajya Sabha and Congress President, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, were present in the meeting.Congress MPs in Rajya Sabha asked for permission to discuss issues related to the contentious cyber safety app, Sachar Saathi, saying the order is a "clear breach of privacy of every smartphone/cell phone user".Opposition MPs staged a protest against the four new labour codes outside the Parliament on day three of the winter session. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, were among the leaders who held placards and demanded scrapping of the labour codes. MPs of the Congress, DMK, TMC, Left parties, among others, participated in the protest, carrying posters and placards against the new labour codes as they raised slogans demanding their rollback. The Centre announced that four Labour Codes - the Code on Wages, 2019, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the Code on Social Security, 2020 and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 have been made effective from November 21, rationalising 29 existing labour laws.While the Centre highlighted timely wages, the inclusion of women in night shifts, and social security for gig workers among several benefits of the Labour Codes, Congress and Left party leaders have opposed them, raising concerns.The deadlock over the SIR ended on Tuesday after the government announced to hold a debate on the issue next week. The past two days of the proceedings were hampered by adjournments , as the Opposition insisted on having a debate on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls which is currently underway in 12 states.The government and the Opposition also agreed to take up a discussion to mark 150 years of “Vande Mataram".The Rajya Sabha floor leaders are expected to finalise a plan to debate the two subjects in the Upper House on Wednesday. However, the Upper House will debate only after the Lok Sabha completes the discussions.Parliament Winter Session | Highlights from yesterdayRijiju chaired an informal meeting on Tuesday morning where the Opposition had rejected the proposal to debate Vande Mataram before discussing the SIR. Hours later, they accepted the offer.Opposition parties gathered outside the Parliament building, holding placards, as they protested against the SIR. Several Opposition leaders such as Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Manoj Kumar Jha and Renuka Chaudhary hit out at the Centre for not putting up an immediate debate on the issue of SIR.Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned several times after the Opposition MPs disrupted the proceedings over their SIR debate demand. In the Rajya Sabha, leaders from the TMC, Congress, and DMK trooped into the well of the House raising slogans. The leaders demanded an assurance on when the discussion on the pressing issue would be taken up, pointing out that as many as 28 BLOs had died.According to three leaders aware of the details, Speaker Om Birla assured that both the items—Vande Mataram and SIR—can be discussed, and the 150th year of Vande Mataram should be discussed first due to its historical importance.A number of Opposition leaders submitted notices for adjournment motions, none of which were accepted.Apart from the SIR, the Opposition wants to debate national security in the backdrop of the Delhi blasts and the Centre’s alleged unwillingness to send funds to non-NDA-ruled states. The session ends on December 19.