Lok Sabha passes the Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2021 that raises the limit of foreign investment in Indian insurance companies from the existing 49% to 74%.Parliament Live Updates: The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021 has been passed in the Lok Sabha. The Centre said the bill has been brought to end ambiguity in running the affairs of the national capital, and appealed to everyone not to term it a “political move” since it will be beneficial to the people of the city.
During a discussion on the bill, Bhagwant Mann, the sole Lok Sabha member of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that governs Delhi, wondered whether the Centre wants to turn the national capital into a Union Territory without an assembly like Jammu and Kashmir. “The Delhi L-G lives in the house the Viceroy used to stay during the British rule. Maybe, the Centre wants to run Delhi through soul of Viceroy,” Mann said. The AAP MP said if the chief minister of Delhi cannot take any decision, then what’s the point of conducting assembly polls. “The Centre is a specialist in abusing the rights of states, whether it was in the case of farm laws or in running state governments through governors,” he said.
Lok Sabha has also passed the Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2021 that raises the limit of foreign investment in Indian insurance companies from the existing 49% to 74%. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that raising the FDI limit in the insurance sector to 74 per cent was necessary to help insurers deal with issues concerning financial stress. She said this while moving the Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2021 for consideration and passage in the Lok Sabha. The amendment bill, which seeks to hike the FDI limit in insurance from 49 per cent to 74 per cent, was passed by the Rajya Sabha last week.
Earlier on Monday, Union Minister of State Anurag Thakur demanded appropriate action by the Maharashtra government over the allegations of corruption by former Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh against state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. Speaking during the Question Hour in Lok Sabha, Thakur noted that the allegation that Deshmukh wanted police officers to collect Rs 100 crore per month, is a “matter of concern”. “The MPs not only from Maharashtra, but from all over India are concerned about the serious allegation of corruption (against Anil Deshmukh) in Maharashtra… The state government should take appropriate action on the issue,” he said.
Railways Minister Piyush Goyal (File Photo)
Rajya Sabha has passed The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2021. The bill will help create employment opportunities and allow the private sector with enhanced technology in mining activities.
Union Minister for Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi said the bill will not curb the powers of states, as claimed by some opposition parties. The bill was passed by Rajya Sabha through a voice vote amid the opposition's demand that it be sent to a select committee for scrutiny.
The bill, which amends the Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, seeks to create employment opportunities and allow participation of private players in mining activities. (PTI)
The Marine Aids to Navigation Bill 2021 has been passed in the Lok Sabha.
The average daily toll collection through FASTag has reached Rs 100 crore daily, Parliament was informed on Monday.
The government has made FASTags mandatory from February 15 midnight and any vehicle not fitted with it will be charged double the toll at electronic toll plazas across the country.
"As on 16th March 2021, more than 3 crore FASTags have been issued. The average daily fee collection through FASTag is more than Rupees 100 crores from 1st March 2021 to 16th March 2021," Road Transport, Highways and MSMEs Minister Nitin Gadkari told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.
The government has mandated the fitment of FASTag in all M and N categories of motor vehicles with effect from January 1, 2021, through the amendment in Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, he said. (PTI)
The Centre is "a specialist in abusing the rights of states" and wants to rule Delhi through the soul of the British-era Viceroy, AAP MP Bhagwant Mann said in Lok Sabha on Monday as he vehemently opposed a bill that seeks to make it clear that the "government" in the national capital means the "Lieutenant Governor".
During a discussion on the bill, Mann, the sole Lok Sabha member of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that governs Delhi, wondered whether the Centre wants to turn the national capital into a union territory without assembly like Jammu and Kashmir.
"The Delhi L-G lives in the house the Viceroy used to stay during the British rule. Maybe, the Centre wants to run Delhi through soul of Viceroy," Mann said.
The AAP MP said if the chief minister of Delhi cannot take any decision, then what's the point of conducting assembly polls.
"The Centre is a specialist in abusing the rights of states, whether it was in the case of farm laws or in running state governments through governors," he said. (PTI)
The Marine Aids to Navigation Bill, 2021 has been taken up for consideration and passing in the Lok Sabha.
The government on Monday introduced in Rajya Sabha a bill to amend the Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, which will help create employment opportunities and allow the private sector with enhanced technology in mining activities.
Union Minister for Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi introduced the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2021 in the Upper House and said this bill aims to bring changes in the mining and coal sector and will generate 55 lakh direct and indirect employment.
"The government has already consulted several state governments and various stakeholders and after that process, we have brought eight major reforms," he said.
The bill has been passed by Lok Sabha on March 19.
Several opposition parties in the Upper House, including the Congress, TDP, and the RJD demanded that the bill be sent to a select committee for discussion. (PTI)
The Congress on Monday dubbed the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill "unconstitutional", and said it takes away certain rights of the city government which were given under a constitutional amendment, a charge rejected by the BJP.
Initiating the debate in Lok Sabha on the bill, Congress MP Manish Tewari said the measure is contrary to what the then Union Home Minister L K Advani had perceived some 18 years ago.
He said while the idea was to give the Delhi government rights to make laws on all issues except public order, police and land, the bill takes that away.
Tewari was of the view that the bill seeks to prevent the city government from implementing the decisions taken by the legislative assembly.
"How can you divorce a decision from its implementation," he asked.
BJP's Meenakashi Lekhi, who represents the New Delhi seat in Lok Sabha, said the bill seeks to rectify the alleged mismanagement of Delhi and blamed both the Congress and the ruling Aam Aadmi Party for it.
She maintained that the Constitution is not federal but quasi-federal in nature where the Centre's say cannot be ignored. (PTI)
The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021 has been passed in the Lok Sabha.
The Centre on Monday said the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021 has been brought to end ambiguity in running the affairs of the national capital, and appealed to everyone not to term it a "political move" since it will be beneficial to the people of the city.
The ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi has opposed the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had even urged the central government to take back the bill and said the AAP dispensation was ready to fall at the Modi government's feet for its withdrawal.
Initiating the debate on the bill in Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said the bill has become necessary as there have been ambiguity in certain issues related to the functioning of the Delhi government and several cases were also filed in courts. "Please do not say that it is a political bill. It is being brought to end ambiguity in certain issues as Delhi is a Union Territory. It will end certain confusion or technicality and enhance the efficiency of the administration," he said.
Reddy said there has been cordial relations between the central and Delhi governments since 1996 and all differences were resolved through discussions. However, since 2015, some issues have come up and cases were filed before the Delhi High Court, which also gave certain rulings. He added that the court had also ruled that the L-G should be informed on executive issues of the city government. (PTI)
Central government's tax collections on petrol and diesel have jumped over 300 per cent in the last six years as excise duty on the two fuels was hiked, the Lok Sabha was informed on Monday.
The central government collected Rs 29,279 crore from excise duty on petrol and Rs 42,881 crore on diesel in 2014-15 — the first year of office of the Modi government.
The collections on petrol and diesel rose to Rs 2.94 lakh crore in the first 10 months of the current fiscal (2020-21), according to information furnished by Minister of State Anurag Singh Thakur in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.
Together with excise duty on natural gas, the central government in 2014-15 collected Rs 74,158 crore which has gone up to Rs 2.95 lakh crore in April 2020 to January 2021 period.
He said taxes collected on petrol, diesel and natural gas as a percentage of total revenue have gone up from 5.4 per cent in 2014-15 to 12.2 per cent this fiscal.
Excise duty on petrol has been raised from Rs 9.48 per litre in 2014 to Rs 32.90 a litre now while the same on diesel has gone up from Rs 3.56 a litre to Rs 31.80. (PTI)
Increase in minimum pension payout under Employees' Pension Scheme, 1995 (EPS-95) is not possible without compromising financial viability of the scheme or additional budgetary support, the government said on Monday.
Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar in a written reply in the Lok Sabha said the government has constituted a high empowered monitoring committee for complete evaluation and review of the EPS, 1995. The committee has recommended, inter-alia, enhancement of monthly pension with fulfilling of certain conditions, as per the minister's reply.
"It is not possible to increase minimum monthly pension amount without compromising the financial viability of the Scheme (EPS-95) and/or additional budgetary support," Gangwar said.
The government has, for the first time, started providing a minimum pension of Rs 1,000 per month to the pensioners under EPS, 1995 from September 1, 2014 by providing additional budgetary support keeping the widespread demands although there is no provision in the Scheme for budgetary support. (PTI)
Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Monday said as many as 27 lakh minority children are devoid of education in West Bengal as the state government has not taken the benefits of central scholarships for the last two years.
Replying to a supplementary in Rajya Sabha on minority administered institutes, raised by BJP's Rakesh Sinha, Naqvi said West Benal has refused to take the benefits of scholarships granted to minority students resulting in students of minority communities like Buddhists, Christians, Jains, Sikhs, Muslims and Parsis not getting its advantage.
"Twenty-seven lakh minority students are devoid of education...," he said, adding that this despite the Centre's letter requesting the state to accept the scholarships.
He said, "The National Scholarship Portal was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016-17. We feel sad that in the last two years, West Bengal has not taken their (students) scholarship," Naqvi said. (PTI)
Stressing that the government's responsibility of providing healthcare to citizens is enshrined in the Constitution, NCP Rajya Sabha member Fauzia Khan on Monday asked the Centre to enact a health guarantee law and ensure health facilities for all.
Raising the matter through a special mention in House, Khan said it seems that the healthcare sector has become a business sector. She said people are reluctant to go to government-run hospitals because of the casual approach of the staff towards patients in many facilities.
She said people go to a government-run hospital only when they cannot afford treatment in a private facility. She said people prefer to sell off gold or property to go to a private hospital rather than opting for a government-run hospital.
"The government should enact a health guarantee law and guarantee the provision of health facilities to all the people through the government. The criteria for health facilities should be decided by the government," Khan said.
She also stressed that it was necessary to determine a standard operating procedure for the health sector. (PTI)
The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021 has been taken up for consideration and passing.
The BJP on Monday demanded resignation of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government headed by Uddhav Thackeray in the wake of former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh's claim that the state's Home Minister Anil Deshmukh set a Rs 100-crore collection target for the police every month, and sought a CBI inquiry into the allegation.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour in Lok Sabha amidst protests by the Shiv Sena and the NCP, BJP member Manoj Kotak said that according to Singh's letter to the chief minister, the state's home minister had asked suspended Assistant Police Inspector (API) Sachin Waze to collect Rs 100 crore from bars and restaurants in the metropolis every month.
Kotak said the letter reflected that those who are in the government were using officials in collecting money but the chief minister so far has not uttered a single word on the issue.
"It is a serious matter. The home minister should resign, the Maharashtra government should resign and there should be a CBI inquiry into the whole issue," he said.
BJP member Rakesh Singh that the issue is so serious that it can't be termed a state subject as it has a national implication.
Singh said that the former police commissioner's letter showed that the top functionaries of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government were involved in collecting huge amounts of money through illegal means. (PTI)
Lok Sabha passes the Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2021 that raises the limit of foreign investment in Indian insurance companies from the existing 49% to 74%.
Lok Sabha organises a briefing session on the Insurance Amendment Bill, 2021 for MPs in Parliament House. (ANI)
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday that raising the FDI limit in the insurance sector to 74 per cent was necessary to help insurers deal with issues concerning financial stress.
She said this while moving the Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2021 for consideration and passage in the Lok Sabha.
The amendment bill, that seeks to hike the FDI limit in insurance from 49 per cent to 74 per cent, was passed by the Rajya Sabha last week.
The insurance companies are facing solvency related issues, she said, adding, "if growth capital is hard to come by, there will be a stress situation. In order that the stress situation is not left unattended, we need to raise the FDI limit."
The pandemic, Sitharaman said, has further added to the woes of the insurance companies. (PTI)
Four states including Andhra Pradesh and Goa have sought Rs 16,467 crore as a special financial package from the government of India, Lok Sabha was informed on Monday.
The Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, has received requests from Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Manipur and Nagaland for the special financial packages, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur said in a written reply.
Andhra Pradesh has sought release of Rs 700 crore under the Special Development Package for backward areas of the state, he said.
"The state government of Goa has sought a diamond jubilee year package amounting to Rs 500 crore for celebration of liberation from Portuguese rule. The state government of Manipur has sought a special economic package amounting to Rs 14,567 crore including various sectors of economy," he said.
Nagaland has sought a special assistance package amounting to Rs 700 crore covering various sectors of economy, he added. (PTI)
Union Minister of State Anurag Thakur on Monday demanded appropriate action by the Maharashtra government over the allegations of corruption by former Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh against state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.
Speaking during the Question Hour in Lok Sabha, Thakur noted that the allegation that Deshmukh wanted police officers to collect Rs 100 crore per month, is a “matter of concern”.
"The MPs not only from Maharashtra, but from all over India are concerned about the serious allegation of corruption (against Anil Deshmukh) in Maharashtra... The state government should take appropriate action on the issue," he said.
The minister noted that many Members of Parliament (MPs) will raise the matter in Zero Hour.
"...Rs 100 crore collection per month is a big allegation and it is a matter of concern,” he said.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, state unit NCP chief Jayant Patil and Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut had separately met NCP supremo Sharad Pawar in Delhi on Sunday in view of Singh's allegations against Deshmukh. (PTI)