Philanthropist Veerendra Heggade to take oath as Rajya Sabha member

Dr D. Veerendra Heggade, who was recently nominated to Rajya Sabha, will take oath of allegiance to the Constitution as an MP on Thursday.

The Upper House is likely to discuss and pass the Bill to amend the Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Act, 2005 tabled by External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar on Tuesday.

The opposition is expected to demand a discussion on the hike in GST rates, Agnipath, price rise besides other issues.

Three days of the Monsoon Session have been washed away due to the opposition protests who are likely to press for discussion on the issues again on Thursday.

Heggade was recently nominated to Rajya Sabha along with sprinter P.T. Usha, music composer Ilaiyaraaja and screenwriter K.V. Vijayendra Prasad.

A devoted philanthropist for more than five decades, Heggade has led various transformative initiatives for rural development and promotion of self employment. He established the Rural Development and Self Employment Training Institute (RDSETI) to provide awareness about self-employment opportunities and train rural youth.

Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh will be making the statements regarding the status of implementation of recommendations contained in the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee report on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change on Demands for Grants (2021-22) of the Ministry of Earth Sciences and the Department of Biotechnology.

Minister of state Ajay Bhatt to make statements regarding the status of implementation of recommendations contained in the report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture.

Union Ministers Dr Singh, Meenakashi Lekhi, Kaushal Kishore and Nitish Pramanik will also lay papers concerning their departments on the table.