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Sir, the coronavirus issue has shaken the whole of the world and we are not out of it. And we have heard that today the Hon’ble Prime Minister is going to address the nation at 8 PM. I would also request you let the Hon’ble Prime Minister address the House also, after speaking at the National level.
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Will the Minister of COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY be pleased to state:
(a) whether e-Commerce companies have seen economic losses due to internet shutdown in different parts of the country;
(b) whether Government has estimated the same and if so, the details thereof; and
(c) if not, whether Government plans to estimate the impact of internet shutdowns on e-Commerce companies?
FIRST SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION
Sir, over 150 days of internet shut down in the State of Jammu & Kashmir has led to many businesses and start-ups, especially in IT and E-commerce, to shut down or leave for better opportunities. Young entrepreneurs have been discouraged from starting online businesses. Sir, my question is, when will the Government take actual steps and not totalistic measures to address this serious crisis?
SECOND SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION
The order for internet shut down is rarely open to the public. It has been reported that only secretary-level officers can issue such orders like internet shut down, even DMs can also order, Sir.
So my question is, how has the Government allowed internet shut down to be imposed so easily, especially when the repercussions are not just on an area but across whole of India?
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Sir, according to NITI Aayog SDG Index 2019, more Indians have fallen into poverty, hunger and income inequality in the past two years and India secured the 102nd position in Global Hunger Index.
In this regard, I would like to know from the Hon’ble Minister, through you Sir, what steps have the government taken to re-evaluate and restructure ongoing schemes, as they do not seem very productive?
If not, then how can the government assure that all targets and goals will be achieved? Thank you Sir.
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Sir, it has been reported that public data published by a Government of India mobile application called the ‘Vahan App’, is being misused. There is serious concern that this transport ministry app, which allows users to identify vehicle owners, is being used by miscreants for targeted violence through ascertaining identity of vehicle owners.
The Vahan app makes all vehicle registration records across India publicly available. It allows people to look up the name of a car owner by simply using their vehicle registration number. Such open access to citizens’ personal data poses not only a huge privacy risk but may also lead to a potential risk to human life and private property.
However, in March 2019, the Ministry for Road, Transport and Highways rolled out the Bulk Data Sharing Policy, under which it chose to make the vehicle registration database public. Individual consent was not sought for this. It allowed organisations to pay an annual fee of 3 crore rupees, and research and education institutions 5 lakh rupees, to access these databases. In July 2019, the databases were sold to about 87 private and 32 government entities, at a cost of Rs 65 crore.
In the absence of a personal data protection law to protect people’s online privacy, such selling and misuse of data is deeply worrying. I urge the ministry to conceal personal details of individuals in the database and even stop public as well as private access to the data on the portal.
Sir, may I take this opportunity to urge to protect all of us members not only from our right to data privacy but also to ask for clarification from the Minister after he delivers his speech. Sir, what happened yesterday, when Opposition members were not allowed to seek clarification, was totally unacceptable.
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Sir, I thank you for giving me the opportunity. The Mineral Laws (Amendment) Bill was passed in only four minutes in the Lok Sabha. No fruitful discussion could happen on it. I would like to take this opportunity to point out several issues with the Bill and the circumstances around its introduction and hasty passage.
The All India Trinamool Congress has categorically opposed the excessive use of Ordinances to enact legislation. The framers of the Constitution didn’t want Ordinances to enact legislation. The BJP doesn’t care about the framers of the Constitution. Many Bills moved by the Government using the Ordinance route are not of an urgent nature and this method is a way to skip scrutiny by Parliamentary Committees.
Is the Ordinance justified in this case? The question arises. No Sir, it is not. The expiration of lease of these mining units was foreseeable. The mineral industry’s demands, which are sought to be addressed by this Bill, did not arise overnight. These demands have been long-standing ones and yet the Government chose to incorporate them through an Ordinance. This just shows the lack of vision in the law-making capacity of the Government.
Coming to the bill, the mining leases of 334 mines were expiring and the Ordinance was brought to sustain their functioning. However there are several issues in the industry that must be addressed first. So far, only a few of the 204 blocks that were cancelled by the Supreme Court in 2014 have been auctioned.
Next, production from captive coal blocks had fallen to 25.1 million tonnes in FY19, down from 43.2 million tonnes in 2015, this when more than 50 per cent of India’s total primary energy comes from coal. The plant load factor at thermal power plants remains depressed due to the economic slowdown.
Lastly, the import bill for coal rose to $26 billion in 2019, up from $16 billion in 2014.
With the measures adopted by the Bill, the Government is also facilitating the entry of major global mining players.
To ensure that the investments enabled by this Bill fructify, the Government should make sure that the surrounding factors are enabling in nature, like the kinds of coal blocks offered, the infrastructure available, the Government’s ability to ease the regulatory hurdles such as the process of obtaining clearances, and clearing of mining plans and leases.
Another point I want to say is that while on one hand you want to open up the coal mining market,on the other, the opening up to private players would effectively end Coal India’s monopoly status. The company has been set a production target of 1 billion tonnes by FY 2023-24. But last year, it produced only 606 million tonnes. So what is the plan to attain the target?
I would like to rest my case by reminding the Government that Parliament need not be reduced to a rubber stamp. Let debates happen and let legislations be enacted after healthy discussions. The Indian people deserve at least this much from their elected representatives.
Thank you, Sir.
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Honourable Deputy Chairman Sir, the Honourable Finance Minister has brought this Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2020. I personally feel it is a compulsive stand of the Government to bring this Bill because the space and time of the Ordinance is lapsing. But I am confused. The Honourable Member was appreciating the Government for the recurrent, repeated Amendments to rectify the stand of the Government. But does it not show the hesitance and haziness of the Government, in knowledge and application, to enable this Bill to enact properly the IBC code?
Sir, I understand that since 2017, three times Ordinance have been brought and four times, Amendments to rectify this Act. Does it now show the confused attitude of the Government, lack of knowledge, lack of proper interpretation and lack of proper implementation on this subject?
Sir, the Honourable Member rightly raised the case of MSME. The sector will die if the businesses are not protected, considering MSME is the pillar of the economic structure of our country, as industrial production is going down, down, down. Agriculture is in the doldrums. Mining and manufacturing are facing a serious, critical situation. When the entire country and economy is reeling under crisis, this IBC Bill, reflective of the Government’s compulsive attitude, was again brought to this august House.
So the question of goods and service, for the survival of the MSMEs, should be the Clause 5 and should be examined with proper attention by the Honourable Finance Minister. At the same time, in the case of real estate, which is Clause 3, the aggregation of home buyers should be looked into. How can home buyers be aggregated, as then they will have to run from pillar to post? Individual buyers have to be called to please come so that their association can be formed, and there has to be a minimum of 100 buyers for proceeding for resolution. How can it be so? Is it not the responsibility of the Government to protect the home buyers from the attitude and stand taken by the realtors? So the attitude of the Government is a central point and it is confusing as to whether it is interested in protecting the buyers or the realtors or both of them. We are not clear.
Sir, so many cases are filed with the NCLT. Till date, 10,860 cases are pending. There is no attempt to open more NCLTs in the country, as a result of which the pendency of the cases is increasing and resolutions are not being properly done. The people who have gone to the appellate authority are not getting justice.
In such a situation, I feel that this Bill is about the compulsive attitude of the Government. It is in a hazy state of mind when the economy is in a critical situation and when we are talking about coronavirus, pandemic situation, World Health Organisation advisory, the Government of India advisory. The Finance Department, in my opinion, has been totally engulfed by the financial coronavirus.
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Sir, I would request you to kindly allow me to read out.
The subject is ‘hiring villagers to show as patients for medical college hospitals before Medical Council of India to get recognition of MCI’. RIMS Medical College of Raipur, Chattisgarh, is hiring villagers at the rate of Rs 100 to 200 per day to show them as patients to MCI. So most of the admitted patients are healthy villagers. Every day, dummy files of emergency and OPD patients are being prepared. College buses are being used to bring children, youth and elderly persons from villages. Adults are being given Rs 100 to 200 per day and children, Rs 50 to 100 per day. No investigation for them, no dietary request for them. They are there just to make up IPD and OPD numbers.
As per MCI guidelines, for the first four years after the opening of a medical college, a minimum of four OPD patients per day per student intake are required and at the end of fourth year, this should increase to a minimum of eight OPD patients per day per student intake are required.
Sir, it is reflecting on the level of performance of the present board of governors of MCI which has replaced the actual proper functioning of the original MCI. So the Government needs to be very much careful to look after the proper functioning of the MCI and the board of governors.
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Sir, the proposal to levy 2% tax if annual cash withdrawals exceed Rs 1 crore will affect Bengal’s Tea industry as most gardens disburse wages in cash. Around 3.25 lakh workers are employed in 276 tea gardens in the state, around 90 per cent are still paid their weekly or fortnightly wages in cash.
“Several tea estates have a huge workforce and their annual expenditure on account of wages is much higher than Rs 1 crore. These gardens will have to bear this TDS, which means additional expenditure that will add to the production costs,” said Prabir Bhattacharjee, secretary-general of the Tea Association of India.
For example, if there are 1,200 workers in a tea estate in Bengal, where the daily wage is Rs 176, an annual payment to the workers means a sum of around Rs 7 crore, which means a TDS deduction of around Rs 12 lakh, an additional expenditure for the garden. Then, there are other payments like bonus, which would push the tax bill up even further.
In November 2016, when the Centre had demonetised 1,000 and 500-rupee notes and laid stress on digital modes of payment, the disbursal of tea workers’ wages got delayed because of the cash crunch.
The banking infrastructure is so weak in these areas the management had to resume wage disbursement in cash as the workers refused to travel around 30-40 km to reach the nearest banks. Even though private banks have opened ATMs in some areas the telecom connectivity is weak, therefore the workers demand their wage in cash.
After the BJP won all the seats in the Tea growing area the Tea industry had been expecting some good news for the industry that is going through a rough patch. But the budget haa dashed their hopes.
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Thank you Sir for giving me this opportunity. As you know, in the last session of Parliament, a Bill was passed in which it was said that 10 percent of the seats will be reserved in every college of all the sections for economically weaker sections. Accordingly, the Government of India appointed the Medical Council of India Board of Governors, issued a circular to all the state medical colleges to increase 20 percent medical seats.
Later on, they put forward certain conditions which were not there in the original decision. The conditions, which were as follows, mentioned that there should be reservation for SC/ST and OBCs, medical colleges should provide for 15 percent seats for all India quota and fees as per issued by the statement.
As per June 21 circular, there were 44 medical colleges in which seats were supposed to be increased from 150 to 200 but surprisingly out of 44, in 10 medical colleges it was made 150 to 175, in 15 medical colleges it was made 150 to 180 and in 19 medical colleges it was made … <interruptions>
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Thank you for clubbing the Question Sir and giving me an opportunity. Sir, two things are not clear. The Labour Minister is the Chairman of the ESI Corporation. They have reduced the employer contribution from 4.75 to 3.25; also the employees’ contribution. All the trade unions oppose this reduction of the employers’ contribution.
Further, the ESI is s a good scheme for the workers. It is good that it is being extended but there are crores of ESI dues from different companies. In jute mills, which are there in my area, there are ESI dues amounting to Rs 100 crore. Also the ESI hospitals are not running properly, as the earlier Member had mentioned.
May I ask the Hon’ble Minister, through you Sir, as to what is the reason for reduction employers’ contributions? Is it to give relief to the capitalists and the big industry owners? What is the minister doing to recover ESI dues from companies which are in default and whether he will set up a committee to look into the state of affairs in the ESI hospital in my constituency? There is an ESI hospital in Kamarhati also; it is in doldrums. Will the minister appoint a committee to look into the affairs of the ESI hospitals?
