Ceasefire violations, child abuse cases... What Parliament discussed on Friday

Before Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha was proceedings were disrupted by a relentless Opposition over the demonetisation issue, other topics such as compensation for military personnel, counterfeit notes were spoken of.

Here’s what happened in Parliament.

12 security personnel killed this year in ceasefire violations

A total of 12 security personnel have been killed this year because of ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the Line of Control and the International Border as compared to 10 last year, the government said on Friday.

However, the number of injured has drastically shot up to 66 this year as compared to 26 last year.

In a written reply to Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre said there have been 167 ceasefire violations along the LoC and the IB, under the army control, till November 14 this year as compared to 152 last year.

In areas of IB under the control of the Border Security Force, there has been 210 violations till November 1, as compared to 253 last year, he said.

Government enhances ex-gratia compensation for kin of military personnel

The government on Friday said it has enhanced the ex-gratia lump sum compensation being paid to families of military personnel.

With effect from January 1 this year, next of kin in case of death in the course of duties attributable to actions of violence by terrorists etc has been increased to Rs 25 lakh in place of Rs 10 lakh earlier, figures given by Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre in a written reply to Lok Sabha said.

Similarly, in death occurring during enemy action in war or border skirmishes or in action against militants, terrorists, the amount has been increased to Rs 35 lakh from the Rs 15 lakh at present.

Army Group Insurance Fund for Officers has been raised to Rs 75 lakh for officers with effect from October 1, 2016 from Rs 60 lakh while for JCOs/Other ranks, the amount has been increased to Rs 37.5 lakh from Rs 30 lakh.

Over 1,540 online child abuse cases registered in 2 years

Over 1,540 cases of online child sexual abuse were registered in two years to 2015 as per data from National Crime Records Bureau, Parliament was informed on Friday.

“National Crime Records Bureau has started collecting data on publishing or transmitting of material depicting children in sexually explicit act in electronic form

since 2014. As per information provided by NCRB, a total of 749 and 792 cases were registered for online child sexual abuse during 2014 and 2015, respectively,” Minister for Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

IDS ‘major success’: Jaitley

Describing domestic black money declaration scheme Income Declaration Scheme as a “major success”, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said it will yield Rs 29,362 crore in taxes, which is three times the amount garnered by the then government in 1997 amnesty scheme, Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme.

Providing comparative data, Jaitley said that under the IDS scheme 64,275 persons declared black money totalling Rs 65,250 crore. This will fetch the exchequer a tax of Rs 29,362.5 crore.

Whereas under the VDIS 1997, 4.72 lakh people declared assets totalling Rs 33,697 crore. The taxes paid were only Rs 9,729 crore.

“In view of the above (comparative data), it can be inferred that IDS, 2016 has been a major success vis-à-vis VDIS, 1997,” he said.

Counterfeit notes worth Rs 28 crore detected in 2016

The government said it has unearthed Rs 5 and Rs 10 fake coins with a face value of about Rs 6.37 lakh and detected counterfeit notes of face value of Rs 27.79 crore till September this year.

In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that in the current year till September 2016, over 5.74 lakh pieces of counterfeit notes have been detected having a total face value of over Rs 27.79 crore. 

As per the National Crime Records Bureau, in 2015, over 8.86 lakh fake Indian Current Notes were detected having a face value of over Rs 43.83 crore. In 2014, over 8 lakh pieces were detected of face value of Rs 40.58 crore.

Forensic auditor probing debit card data breach

The government on Friday said a forensic auditor is conducting an independent probe into the biggest data breach affecting 32.4 lakh debit cards of several public and private sector bank customers.

“The Reserve Bank of India has informed that an incident of data breach with respect to cards was reported and the matter is under investigation. Independent investigation by a forensic auditor approved under Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard framework is under process,” Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.   

The apex bank has been carrying out IT examination of banks since last year. It has also set up an IT subsidiary, which would focus, among other things, on cyber security within the central bank as well as in regulated entities.

Earlier, the RBI had said it came to its notice on September 8 that details of certain cards issued by some banks had been possibly compromised at ATMs linked to the ATM Switch of one of the service providers.

Following the data breach, 19 banks had recalled the compromised cards.

Government issues order to attach Rs 18,866 cr properties under PMLA

The government on Friday said it has issued provisional orders to attach properties worth Rs 18,866 crore for offences under the Money Laundering law.

It has also taken a host of initiatives, including effective enforcement of law, to curb the menace of money laundering in the country, Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

“As of October 31, 2016, 658 provisional attachment orders have been issued by attaching properties worth Rs 18,866 crore. Further, 283 prosecution complaints have been filed for the offence of money laundering (under Prevention of Money Laundering Act),” he said.

Referring to the steps taken by the government to deal with the menace of black money, Gangwar said the government recently demonetised 500 and 1,000 rupee notes “in a historical move that will add record strength in fight against corruption, black money, money laundering, terrorism and financing of terrorists as well as counterfeit notes”.

The other initiatives, he said, include enactment of the Benami Transaction Act, amendments to FEMA and foreign black money law.

Under the black money (undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act 2015, 648 declarations involving undisclosed foreign assets worth Rs 4,164 crore were made. The amount collected by way of tax and penalty in such cases is about Rs 2,476 crore.

Over 8,100 wilful defaulters owe Rs 76,685 crore to banks

Public sector banks have reported 16 per cent rise in number of willful defaulters at 8,167 who collectively owe them Rs 76,685 crore at the end of March 2016.

As against the previous year, there is 16 per cent rise in willful defaulters owing over Rs 25 lakh each to 8,167 from 7,031 at the end of March 2015. However, dues to the bank have increased to 28.5 per cent to Rs 76,685 crore in 2015-16 from the earlier Rs 59,656 crore.

To recover loans from such defaulters, banks have filed 1,724 FIRs with a total outstanding of Rs 21,509 crore in 2015-16. The conviction rate in all these cases was only 1.14 per cent.

Last fiscal, banks recovery efforts in such cases yielded Rs 3,498 crore.

There were 129 willful defaulters who borrowed loans in excess of Rs 100 crore amounting to Rs 28,525 crore from PSBs as on June 30, 2016, Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.           

15 rail projects facing hurdles over forest clearances

More than a dozen railway projects, involving new lines, doubling and gauge conversion, are facing impediments due to the lack of environmental clearances, Rajya Sabha was told on Friday.

There are total of 15 rail projects suffering due to non-availability of forest clearances, Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain (Independent Charge) said in a written reply.

He said clearances from different land owning agencies, acquisition of land, shifting of service/utilities are part of project execution and these activities are bound to take time.

No plan to hike retirement age of SC, HC judges: Government

On a day the issue of vacancies in higher judiciary came up for hearing in the Supreme Court, the government on Friday informed the Rajya Sabha that it has no plans to hike the retirement age of apex court and high court judges.

“No sir,” was the reply of Minister of State for Law P P Chaudhary in the Upper House to a question on whether the government is mulling increasing the age of superannuation for the judges of the Supreme Court and the 24 high courts.

While SC judges retire at 65 years, the high court judges retire at 62.

In his written reply, Chaudhary also ruled out plans to reduce the age limit to 42 years from the present 45 for appointing judges to the high courts.