A REVIEW OF PARLIAMENT PROCEEDINGS FIRST FROM RAJYA SABHA

The Rajya Sabha today has taken up discussion on the Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2023. '' &nbsp; ''The Bill amends the Central Universities Act, 2009, which establishes central universities for teaching and research in various states. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; '' It establishes a Central Tribal University in Telangana. It will be named as 'Sammakka Sarakka Central Tribal University'. Its territorial jurisdiction will extend to Telangana. It will provide avenues of higher education and research facilities primarily for the tribal population of India.&nbsp; '' &nbsp; ''Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 provides that the central government will establish a Tribal University in the state of Telangana. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Proceedings of the House began with the members paying tributes to martyrs in the 2001 Parliament attack. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Remembering the soldiers who were killed in the 2001 attack, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said, 'the soldiers set an example through their indomitable courage and their unwavering commitment to duty. Their sacrifice will be remembered as we reiterate our commitment to wipe out terrorism.'' He said. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Dhankhar said that India would emerge stronger whenever such nefarious efforts are made. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Members of the House observed silence as a mark of respect to those who lost their lives in the attack. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;During the Zero Hour, Rajiv Shukla of the Congress called for efforts to curb digital frauds. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Jaggesh of the BJP demanded inclusion of International Classification of Diseases in health treatments. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Akhilesh Prasad Singh of the Congress raised problems faced in the cancellation of waiting tickets booked at the from Railway reservation counter. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;S Selvaganapathy of the BJP demanded setting up a National council to improve the level of education in primary schools. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Kavita Patidar of the BJP demanded the setting up of a scheme for issuing one certificate as against multiple certificates. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Independent member Ajit Kumar Bhuyan expressed concern over the deforestation in Assam. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Rajani Patil of the Congress expressed concern over the unreasonable rain in the country. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Kartikeya Sharma of the Congress raised the issue of problems faced by people suffering from rare genetic disorders. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Narhari Amin of the BJP demanded the exemption of charitable institutions from the ambit of the GST. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Abdul Wahab of the Indian Union Muslim League expressed concern over rising suicides among young women. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;K Lakshman of the BJP raised the issue of misappropriation of Panchayati Raj funds in Telangana. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;During the Question Hour, Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan, replying to a query, said that the number of students committing suicides due to failure in examination is just 1.2 per cent of the accidental deaths and suicides as per the data of the National Crime Records Bureau. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;To a reply to another question, the minister said that the Centre is taking several initiatives to prevent suicides of students due to failure in examinations. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;In a question on suicides of students in Tamil Nadu due to failure in NEET '' &nbsp;examination, the Minister said, 'it is a fallacious argument that students are not capable of clearing NEET examination. The argument is political, he said. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;In reply to another question, the minister said, there has been a sharp increase in enrollment among Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in IITs and IIMs in 2023 as compared to that in 2014. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Replying to another question, Mr Pradhan said that the National Education Policy sets the stage for teaching professional disciplines like Engineering in Mother tongue and local languages of various states. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;When the House resumed in the post lunch session, Chairman Jagdeep '' Dhankhar called for taking up The Central University (Amendment) Bill, 2023 moved for consideration by Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Speaking about the Bill, the minister said that Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 provides that the central government will establish a Tribal University in the state of Telangana. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;In keeping with the provision, the Bill establishes a Central Tribal University in Telangana which will be named as 'Sammakka Sarakka Central Tribal University', whose territorial jurisdiction will extend to Telangana. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; '' It will provide avenues of higher education and research facilities primarily for the tribal population of India.&nbsp; '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;The Minister said that the setting up of the Tribal University is in line with the efforts by the government to bring priority programmers for the welfare of the Tribal communities. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Even as the minister was speaking, members urged the Chairman to address the security breach in the Lok Sabha. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Speaking on the matter, the Chairman said that the intruders in the Lok Sabha visitors' gallery were immediately apprehended. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;''The Parliamentary Security Service is examining the matter. We will apprise the members about the result before I rise for the day. Nothing more than that can be said at the moment, the Chairman said. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Initiating debate on the Bill, Dola Sen of the All India Trinamool Congress said that the NDA government has reduced spending on education. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;She said the spending on education has been reduced from 0.6 per cent to 0.3 per cent of the GDP. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Reacting to the member's speech, Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan said the spending on education increased from 3.84 per cent to 4.64 per cent of the GDP. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; '' Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge raised the issue of security breach in Parliament.&nbsp; He said it is a serious matter and needs to be urgently addressed. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar reiterated that he will apprise the members about the matter before the House is adjourned for the day. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;However, the members were not satisfied with the Chairman's response and raised slogans on the issue. '' &nbsp; '' 'People are dying, how are you asking for time," Mr. Kharge said. '' &nbsp; '' Vivek Thakur of the BJP said that the Tribal University will encourage research on Tribal medicine, art and culture. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;He said that the enrollment in higher education in 2021 has increased to 4.14 crore. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Amid the debate on the Bill, members of the Opposition continued sloganeering on issue of security breach. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge appealed to the Chairman to adjourn the House till Home Minister comes to make a statement in the House. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Leader of the House Piyush Goyal said the opposition is politicising of the issue. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;In protest against the matter, the Opposition member staged a walkout. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Leader of the House Piyush Goyal said that the Congress always rakes up some issue whenever a bill on Tribals or OBCs comes up for discussion. '' &nbsp;'This shows its anti Tribal mindset, 'he said. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; '' Replying to the discussion, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that implementation of the Tribal University was delayed due to delay by the State Telangana in granting land for the university. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Responding to the opposition claims of increase in number of dropouts among SC, ST and OBCs from IITs, he said that the dropout rate was barely 0.5 per cent among these sections. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;In the last ten years, several new IITs and IIMs have been set up in the country, Mr Pradhan said. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;He said that the Government is encouraging research in higher education. '' &nbsp; '' After the Minister's reply, the Bill was passed by a voice vote. '' &nbsp; '' The Bill amends the Central Universities Act, 2009, which establishes central universities for teaching and research in various states. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;The Bill establishes a Central Tribal University in Telangana. It will be named as 'Sammakka Sarakka Central Tribal University'.&nbsp; Its territorial jurisdiction will extend to Telangana.&nbsp; It will provide avenues of higher education and research facilities primarily for the tribal population of India.&nbsp; '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 provides that the central government will establish a Tribal University in the state of Telangana. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Thereafter, the House took up The Repealing and Amending Bill 2023. '' &nbsp;Minister for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal moved the bill for consideration. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Speaking on the Bill, Meghwal said that the Bill seeks to repeal 76 laws which are now considered outdated. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Initiating debate on the Bill, G V L Narasimha Rao of the BJP said the Bill is in line with several measures being taken by the government for cleaner governance. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Mujibulla Khan of the Biju Janata Dal said that this bill will help boost ease of living in the country. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Mastaan Rao Beeda of the YSR Congress Party said the Bill is aimed to boost India's growth to progress by removing outdated laws. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Mahesh Jethmalani of the BJP said that it is a Bill to clean our legal godowns. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;''It is a Bill to further policy of minimum government maximum governance', he said. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Replying to the discussion on the Bill, Minister for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal said that the Bill is a measure to boost the ease of living. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;He said that during the previous government, outdated bills were not repealed. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;However, the process has been initiated during the Prime Ministership of Narendra Modi. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;With the passage of the Bill, a total of 1562 outdated bills will be repealed. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;After the Minister's reply, the Bill was passed by a voice vote. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;The Bill seeks to remove several enactments and amend an enactment. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Speaking about the security breach in Parliament, the Chairman said that he had promised to update members on the matter. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;'The culprit has been apprehended and is under investigation, 'the Chairman said. '' &nbsp; '' &nbsp;Thereafter, he adjourned the House for the day. '' &nbsp;&nbsp; '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla today announced a thorough probe after two persons jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from public gallery. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; '' &nbsp;They were overpowered by members present in the House and security personnel. '' &nbsp; '' The House was adjourned soon thereafter. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' One person was seen leaping over the benches of the Lok Sabha while another was seen dangling from the public gallery spraying some tear gas, when Zero Hour was in progress, Chowdhury said. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' The two persons were overpowered by the Lok Sabha members and the watch and ward staff. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; '' Rajendra Agrawal of BJP who was in the chair, adjourned the proceedings till 2 pm. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' Speaker Om Birla said the security lapse in the House is being thoroughly probed and called for a meeting of MPs from all parties later in the day to address their concerns over the matter. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' As the House met at 2 pm, amid concerns raised by various leaders, including on the threat video recently released by designated terrorist Gurpatwant&nbsp; '' '' Singh Pannu, Speaker Birla said it will not be right to discuss the issue in the House. '' &nbsp; '' Birla informed the House that four persons have been arrested – two from inside the House, and two others from outside Parliament in connection with the incident. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; '' &nbsp;He said the Lok Sabha is conducting a probe and the Delhi Police has also been instructed to do so. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' The smoke that was released by the intruders appeared to be harmless in the initial probe, he said, adding it looked like it was sprayed to create sensationalism. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' Speaker Birla called for a meeting of MPs later in the day, where he said all concerns will be addressed. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha to raise the age limit for president and members of GST appellate tribunals. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' The Central Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill, 2023, seeks to cap the age for president and members of the GST appellate tribunals (GSTAT) at 70 years and 67 years, respectively, higher than 67 years and 65 years specified earlier. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' An advocate with 10 years of substantial experience in litigation in matters relating to indirect taxes in the Appellate Tribunal, would be eligible to be appointed as a judicial member of the GSTAT. As per the amendment, president and the judicial and technical members of the GSTAT shall hold office for four years, or until they attain the age of 70 years and 67 years, respectively, whichever is earlier. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; '' The rules notified by the government earlier had fixed the age limit for the president and members of GSTAT at 67 years and 65 years, respectively. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' The GST Council chaired by Nirmala Sitharaman and comprising finance ministers of all states and UTs, had in October approved the change in the age criteria. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' The president and members of the GSTAT would be eligible for re-appointment for a period of two years subject to the age limit of 70 and 67, respectively, as per the amended bill. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' Parliament had in March cleared amendments in the GST Act, enabling the creation of the Central Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunals.&nbsp; '' '' Following that, GSTAT was notified on 31st of July. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' During the process of operationalisation of the said Tribunal, it was observed that certain provisions of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, need to be aligned with the Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' According to the bill, the provisions of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 are being aligned with the Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021, to initiate the administrative process for operationalisation of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunals at the earliest. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; '' A person who has not completed the age of 50 years shall not be eligible for appointment as the president or member, the bill said. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' A finance ministry official had last week said that operationalising GSTATs would take about 4 to 5 months and efforts are also being made to identify infrastructure, following which the selection process of members will start. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' In September, the Finance Ministry notified 31 benches of the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT), which will be set up in 28 states and 8 Union Territories. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' Setting up of state-level benches of GSTAT would help businesses by way of faster dispute resolution. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' Currently, taxpayers aggrieved with the ruling of tax authorities are required to move to the respective High Courts. The resolution process takes longer time as High Courts are already burdened with a backlog of cases and do not have a specialised bench to deal with GST cases. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; '' &nbsp;As per the notification, Gujarat and Union Territories — Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu — will have two benches of the GSTAT; Goa and Maharashtra together will have three benches. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; '' Karnataka and Rajasthan will have two benches each, while Uttar Pradesh will have three benches. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' West Bengal, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar Islands; Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will together have two GSTAT benches each, while Kerala and Lakshadweep will have one bench each. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' The seven northeastern states — Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura — will have one bench. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' All other states will have one bench of the GSTAT. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; '' The government today introduced a bill in Parliament, which seeks to give immediate effect to the changes in customs and excise duties announced in the Budget. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while introducing the Provisional Collection of Taxes Bill, 2023, in the Lok Sabha said the provisions are curbing speculative activities following changes in customs and excise duties in the Budget. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' While the changes in rates of income and corporate taxes, incorporated in the Budget announced on 1st of February, are effective from 1st of April or a notified date, most of the changes in customs and excise duty rates become effective from midnight. The Provisional Collection of Taxes Bill 2023, will replace the "The Provisional Collection of Taxes Act of 1931." The Bill provides for the &quot;immediate effect for a limited period&quot; of provisions in Bills relating to the imposition or increase of duties of customs or excise. '' &nbsp; '' Sitharaman said the bill incorporates the existing provisions of the 1931 Bill. '' &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; '' By invoking this particular Act, we are able to temporarily ensure, till the time the Finance Bill gets passed, no speculative activities are happening, Sitharaman said.

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A REVIEW OF PARLIAMENT PROCEEDINGS FIRST FROM RAJYA SABHA