The Bill was passed by voice vote in the Lok Sabha (file photo)Parliament Budget Session 2022 highlights: The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill was passed by voice vote in the Lok Sabha on Monday. The Bill seeks to provide legal sanction to the police to take physical and biological samples of convicts as well as persons accused of crimes.
The government’s intention to bring the Bill is to strengthen the law and order and internal security of the country, Home Minister Amit Shah said in the House, asserting that concerns over human and personal rights have been taken care of in the draft legislation. “A lot of the concerns will be addressed with the sending of that prison manual. It has various provisions relating to subjects such as rehabilitation of prisoners, making them part of the mainstream again, limiting the rights of jail officials, maintaining discipline, security of jails, separate jails for women and open jails,” Shah said.
Opposition members termed the provisions of the Bill as “draconian” and demanded that it be referred to a Parliamentary standing committee to ensure stronger safeguards to prevent its misuse. During a discussion on the Bill in the Lok Sabha, members voiced concern over the broad provisions in the draft legislation that empowered a head constable of a police station or a head warden of a jail to take “measurements” of convicts as well as those in preventive detention. Earlier on Monday, the Rajya Sabha was adjourned, amid repreated disruptions by the Opposition over the hike in prices of petroleum products and essential commodities.
Lok Sabha adjourned till 11 am on Tuesday
Offset obligations were not fulfilled in 21 defence contracts in the last five years and a total penalty of USD 43.14 million was levied on firms involved in 16 such procurement deals, the government said in Rajya Sabha on Monday.
Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt, replying to a question, said offset claims worth USD 2.64 billion have been submitted in 47 contracts till December 31.
Under India's offset policy, foreign defence entities, for all contracts worth Rs 2,000 crore or more, are mandated to spend at least 30 per cent of the total contract value in India through procurement of components, transfer of technologies or setting up of research and development activities.
However, the offsets are not applicable to procurements under 'fast track procedure' and in 'option clause' cases if the same was not envisaged in the original contract.
"The total number of offset contracts in which the vendors have defaulted/non-performed offset obligation during the last five years is 21 with non-performed amount of USD 2.24 billion till December 31," he said.
Bhatt said action is taken against the defaulting/non-performing vendors by imposing penalty after following the laid down procedure. "And same has been completed in 16 contracts with levying of penalty amounting to USD 43.14 million till December 31," he said. (PTI)
Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill that seeks to take measurements of convicts and other persons for purposes of identification and investigation in criminal matters.
The bill was passed by a voice vote after Home Minister Amit Shah allayed concerns raised by the opposition which claimed that the draft law was draconian. The bill replaces the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920.
Shah said the bill has been brought in to ensure that police and investigators remain two steps ahead of criminals. "There should be no apprehension," he added. "Next-generation crimes cannot be tackled with old techniques. We have to try to take criminal justice system to the next era," Shah said. (PTI)
Opposition members on Monday termed the provisions of the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill as “draconian” and demanded that it be referred to a Parliamentary standing committee to ensure stronger safeguards to prevent its misuse.
During a discussion on the Bill in the Lok Sabha, members voiced concern over the broad provisions in the draft legislation that empowered a head constable of a police station or a head warden of a jail to take “measurements” of convicts as well as those in preventive detention.
Initiating the discussion on the Bill, Congress member Manish Tewari said the draft legislation was “draconian and against civil liberties”.
The Bill provides for taking measurements of convicts and other persons for the purposes of identification and investigation in criminal matters and to preserve records.
Tewari said that the Bill was against the spirit of Article 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution dealing with human rights and with civil liberties. “The Bill would pave the way for India to become a surveillance state,” Tewari warned.
BJP member Vishnu Dayal Ram said that provisions of the Bill would strengthen the hands of the investigative agencies and help in increasing conviction rate and reducing the incidence of crime. He added that the Bill was in accordance with the rulings of the Supreme Court and reports of the Law Commission.
Ram said the right to privacy is important but it cannot be an absolute right without any restrictions.
Dayanadhi Maran (DMK) said the Bill was anti-people and against the spirit of federalism. Accusing the government of trying to establish a surveillance state by bringing in such a legislation, he said, “It is open ended and infringes on the privacy of individuals.” (PTI)
The Rajya Sabha could not transact any business on Monday after a united Opposition disrupted proceedings repeatedly, demanding suspension of all business to hold a discussion on the rise in prices of petrol, diesel and fertiliser.
Several Opposition members — including Congress's K C Venugopal, DMK's Tiruchi Siva, CPI's Binoy Viswam and TMC's Abir Ranjan Biswas — had given notices seeking a discussion on repeated fuel price hike.
Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu rejected the notices, and said, “You had enough opportunity in the Finance Bill and the Appropriation Bill to discuss all these issues.... Rule 267 is not the appropriate rule. So there is no question of accepting (the demand).”
The members insisted on a discussion and trooped to the Well, prompting the Chair to adjourn the House twice during the morning. Read more
The government's intention to bring the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill is to strengthen the law and order and internal security of the country, Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday, asserting that concerns over human and personal rights have been taken care of in the draft legislation.
The bill seeks to provide legal sanction to the police to take physical and biological samples of convicts as well as persons accused of crimes.
Moving the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill for consideration and passage in Lok Sabha, Shah said that besides the bill, the government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also preparing a model prison manual that will be send to states.
"A lot of the concerns will be addressed with the sending of that prison manual. It has various provisions relating to subjects such as rehabilitation of prisoners, making them part of the mainstream again, limiting the rights of jail officials, maintaining discipline, security of jails, separate jails for women and open jails," Shah said.
He urged the members to not see the bill in isolation but in consonance with the model prison manual that will be introduced later. Noting that the bill would replace the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920, Shah said that the current law has become irrelevant from various perspectives such as the prevailing situation, science, proving crime in courts and strengthening law enforcement agencies. (PTI)
Public sector insurers received COVID-19 related health insurance claims worth Rs 17,537 crore till December 2021 and more than 93 per cent of the cases were settled, Parliament was informed on Monday.
"Till December 31, 2021, 14.92 lakh COVID-19 health claims, of a total amount of Rs 17,537 crore, were lodged with public sector insurance companies, of which 93.3 per cent claims had been disposed of," Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
In another reply, the minister said public sector insurance companies sustained a total loss of Rs 3,450.68 crore during the one and a half financial year period from April 2020 to September 2021, as against a total loss of Rs 7,552.02 crore during the preceding one and a half financial year period (from October 2018 to March 2020).
"Thus, their overall profitability registered an improvement of Rs 4,101.34 crore during the initial one and a half financial year period of the pandemic, despite absorbing the impact of the pandemic in terms of Covid-related claims," Karad said. (PTI)
The NCB and CBIC have unearthed Rs 2.2 crore payment through cryptocurrency in 11 drug trafficking cases, Parliament was informed on Monday.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Choudhary said the government is taking steps like conducting training for the field officers on cyber and forensic technologies and on the collection of evidence through electronic means to check such usage.
"Narcotics Control Bureau and Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs have unearthed the payment of approx Rs. 2.2 crore through crypto-currency in 11 cases linked to drug trafficking," Choudhary said.
The minister also listed regular liasioning with technical experts, coordination with foreign drug law enforcement agencies and assistance to states for procuring equipment, including electronic surveillance systems as steps taken by the government to check the usage of cryptocurrency in drug trafficking. (PTI)
The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government has a responsibility for reducing pollution in the national capital, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
The minister said the Commission on Air Quality Management (CAQM) in the national capital region (NCR) and adjoining areas has adopted a participative and collaborative approach towards dealing with the issues of air pollution in the region.
"The local government has a responsibility to reduce the pollution," he said during the Question Hour.
Yadav was responding to a question by BJP MP from Delhi Parvesh Sahib Singh, who slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for its alleged lackadaisical attitude towards solving Delhi's pollution problem. (PTI)
The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022 taken up in the Lok Sabha
BJP issues whip to its Rajya Sabha MPs from April 5 to 8, for the passage of important legislations. (ANI)
As many as 24 cases of suicides by students of central universities were reported since 2017, Union Minister of State for Education Rajkumar Ranjan Singh said in Lok Sabha on Monday. The minister also said the central government and the University Grants Commission (UGC) have taken several initiatives to check the incidents of harassment and discrimination of students.
"The UGC has informed that the central universities under its purview have reported 24 suicide cases of students from the year 2017 to 2022. The reasons of suicide by students are not maintained," he said during Question Hour.
Singh said the UGC has further informed that two suicide cases of students have been reported by Teerthanker Mahaveer University, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, in November, 2018 and October, 2021. The said university is a state private university.
"The University Grants Commission (Redressal of Grievances of Students) Regulations, 2019 have been formulated to safeguard the interests of the students. The UGC has also notified UGC Regulations on Curbing the Menace of Ragging in Higher Educational Institutions, 2009 and issued circulars for strict compliance of the Regulations," he said.
Further, Singh said, the ministry has undertaken various steps such as peer assisted learning, introduction of technical education in regional languages for students in order to ease the academic stress. (PTI)
The Rajya Sabha was adjourned till 11 am on Tuesday, amid chaos in the House over rising fuel prices.
The House was adjourned till 12 pm and then till 2 pm as Opposition members trooped into Well demanding a discussion on fuel prices, with petrol becoming costlier by Rs 8.40 per litre since March 22.
COVID-19 medicines and instruments are being sold at a GST rate of five per cent while other medicines are sold at a GST rate between five and 12 per cent ever since the pandemic started, Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in the Lok Sabha.
Chaudhary also said that 66 per cent of government-sponsored health insurance schemes in the country are being run by the central government. "When the COVID-19 pandemic started, a decision was made for sale of all medicines at the GST rate between 5 and 12 per cent and the GST rate for COVID-19 related medicines and instruments has been reduced to five per cent," he said during the Question Hour. (PTI)
The Congress’s tally in Rajya Sabha will dip after the forthcoming biennial elections to the Upper House, but more worrying for the party is the shrinking of its geographical footprint. The Congress will not have representation in Rajya Sabha from as many as 17 states and Union Territories. Read more
India continues to remain the highest receiver of the FDI, and the Indian retail investors have created the capacity to absorb the shock due to outflow of foreign funds from the country's stock markets, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman told Lok Sabha.
Replying to a question asked by Congress member Shashi Tharoor in Lok Sabha, she said foreign investments have to be gauged, not just by looking at FIIs and FPIs which by very nature depend on the interest rates and they keep on "moving up and down."
"The FIIs and FPIs would come and go. But, today the Indian retail investors have proven that even if they come and go any shock that may come in is now taken care of because of the shock absorbing capacity that the Indian retailers have brought into the Indian market," she said during Question Hour.
Pointing out that overseas investors has pulled out over Rs 1.14 lakh crore from the Indian market so far, Tharoor had urged the finance minister to explain the worrying trend of "steadily" declining investment by the foreign investors. (PTI)
Opposition Congress protested in Lok Sabha over a BJP member being allowed to ask a lengthy question in which he alleged that the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government has been doing nothing except offering lip service to solve the capital's pollution problem.
During Question Hour, BJP MP from Delhi Parvesh Sahib Singh slammed the AAP government for its alleged lackadaisical attitude towards solving Delhi's pollution problem. He claimed the city government has been offering only lip service rather than taking any concrete action.
As Singh took a few minutes in asking the question, Congress leader in the House Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and his party colleague Gaurav Gogoi protested saying that the chair has given him more than the usual time to ask a supplementary question. (PTI)
Congress MP Manickam Tagore gave an Adjournment Motion Notice in Lok Sabha to discuss the political and economic situation in Sri Lanka and to "direct the government to take appropriate diplomatic steps and support Sri Lanka in the hour of crisis economically".
Congress MP K Suresh gave an Adjournment Motion Notice in Lok Sabha to discuss the "brutal and heartless implementation" of The Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Securities Interest Act, 2002 (SARFAESI Act) in Kerala.
Six newly elected Rajya Sabha MPs, including two from the BJP and one from the Congress, took oath in the House.
The members who took oath include Pabitra Margherita (BJP, Assam); Rwngwra Narzary (UPPL, Assam); Jebi Mather Hisham (Congress, Kerala); Sandosh Kumar (CPI, Kerala); A A Rahim (CPI-M, Kerala); and S Phangnon Konyak (BJP, Nagaland).
DMK's Lok Sabha MP TR Baalu will speak in the House today demanding the withdrawal of the state Governor RN Ravi.
In a move suggesting disapproval of Naga interlocutor R N Ravi’s handling of the Naga peace process in the last couple of years, the Centre had made him the Governor of Tamil Nadu in September 2021.
TRS MPs met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, ahead of their plan to move a privilege motion against Union Minister Piyush Goyal for "misleading" the House on paddy procurement.
TRS MPs met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, ahead of their plan to move a privilege motion against Union Minister Piyush Goyal for "misleading" the House on paddy procurement.
TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien submitted a notice under Rule 168 in the House to move a motion to introduce the long-pending Women's Reservation Bill this week in Parliament.
The Rajya Sabha has been adjourned till noon amid the ruckus created by the Opposition over the hike in prices of petroleum products and essential commodities.
Three Rajya Sabha MPs - CPI's Binoy Visvam, Congress' KC Venugopal and TMC's Abir Ranjan Biswas - had given suspension of business notices in the Upper House to discuss the rise in prices of fuel.
Six newly elected members of the Rajya Sabha will take oath in the House today, ANI reported.
Elections to fill 13 vacant Rajya Sabha seats were held on March 31. Meanwhile, the Upper House last week bade farewell to 72 retiring members.
A Committee of Parliament tasked with examining all papers laid on the table of the House has for the first time summoned the national auditor to explain the “unreasonable delays” in submitting annual reports and audited accounts.
Officials of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) will appear before the Committee on Papers Laid (Lok Sabha) on the Table on Monday to discuss ways to ensure compliance from the more than 1,000 autonomous bodies, Public Sector Units (PSUs) under various ministries, which have not submitted their accounts in time. Read more
Home minister Amit Shah will move the The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022 in the Lok Sabha, which looks to provide authorisation for taking measurements of convicts and other persons for the purposes of identification and investigation in criminal matters.
The Lower House will continue discussion raised by Congress’ Gaurav Gogoi on the need to promote sports in India and steps taken by the government. Union minister Bhupender Yadav will also move a motion to elect two members to the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will move the The Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill, 2022 for consideration and passage in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
The House will also deliberate on The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which looks to amend the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 for inclusion of certain community in the list of Scheduled Tribes in relation to the State of Tripura.
SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch will depose before the parliamentary standing committee on finance on Tuesday over regulatory issues concerning the capital market and is expected to be questioned about the recent NSE scam, sources said.
The panel chaired by former minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha has called Buch to deliberate upon regulatory issues related to initial public offerings, international financial services centres and alternate investment fund, according to a notice issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
When contacted Sinha said that Buch has been called by the parliamentary panel to deliberate upon the orderly functioning of the market in the recent volatility and turbulent flow of cash. (PTI)