News Analysis India

Tag: Parliamentary Panel

  • Parliamentary panel on defence intents to visit Galwan Valley, Pangong in eastern Ladakh: Sources

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The parliamentary standing committee on defence intends to visit the Galwan Valley and the Pangong lake in the eastern Ladakh region which has been witness to a violent stand-off between the troops of India and China, sources said.

    However, it may seek the permission of the government before visiting the strategically-located areas, they said.

    The 30-member committee, chaired by senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Jual Oram and of which Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is a member, intends to visit the eastern Ladakh region in the last week of May or June, the sources said on Friday.

    The decision to visit these areas was taken in the panel’s latest meeting, they said.

    Gandhi did not attend it.

    The panel’s visit to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) depends on the approval from the government, the sources added.

    After a nine-month standoff, militaries of Indian and China reached an agreement on disengagement in the north and south banks of Pangong lake that mandates both sides to cease forward deployment of troops in a “phased, coordinated and verifiable” manner.

    On Thursday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh made a detailed statement in Parliament on the disengagement pact.

    ALSO READ: Full disengagement at Pangong to take more time than thought

    According to the agreement, China has to pull back its troops to east of Finger 8 areas in the northern bank while the Indian personnel will be based at their permanent base at Dhan Singh Thapa Post near Finger 3 in the region.

    Similar action will take place on the south bank of the lake as well, Singh said.

    India has not “conceded” any territory to China by firming up an agreement on the disengagement process in Pangong Tso in eastern Ladakh, and other outstanding “problems” including in Depsang, Hot Springs ad Gogra will be taken up at the upcoming talks between military commanders of the two countries, the defence ministry said on Friday.

    The statement by the ministry came hours after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that the government has “ceded” Indian territory to China and raised questions over the agreement on the disengagement process.

    The ministry also dubbed as “categorically false” the assertion that Indian territory is up to Finger 4 in the Pangong Tso area, adding the permanent posts of both sides in the area are “longstanding and well-established”.

    “India has not conceded any territory as a result of this agreement.

    On the contrary, it has enforced observance and respect for LAC and prevented any unilateral change in the status quo,” the ministry said in the strongly-worded statement.

    The MEA also said the two countries have agreed to convene the 10th round of senior commanders meeting within 48 hours after complete disengagement in the Pangong Lake area to address the remaining issues, and added that no date has been set for Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on India-China border affairs.

    The agreement on disengagement in the north and south banks of Pangong lake mandates both Chinese and Indian sides to “cease” forward deployment of troops in a “phased, coordinated and verifiable” manner.

  • MEA should make sincere efforts to enhance global cooperation on maritime piracy: Parliamentary Panel

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Ministry of External Affairs should make sincere efforts to enhance international cooperation on maritime piracy and ensure the welfare of Indian seafarers captured by pirates, a parliamentary panel said on Thursday.

    The parliamentary standing committee on external affairs made the assertion while approving the ‘Anti-Maritime Piracy Bill 2019’, subject to the inclusion of its 18 recommendations and suggestions in the paragraphs of the current Bill or through other appropriate methods like Rules or Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

    The government should now make all possible efforts for an earlier enactment of an anti-piracy legislation so that India becomes a part of an international endeavour to combat piracy and may provide for a sound legal basis for prosecuting and punishing persons committing acts of piracy, the panel said in its report presented in Lok Sabha on Thursday.

    In the report, the Committee observed that after a major spurt in piracy attacks in the extended region of the Indian Ocean after 2008, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) recognised piracy as a crime having universal jurisdiction under customary international law and was codified under UN Convention of Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), 1982.

    In a number of adopted resolutions, the UNSC urged member states to cooperate in investigation and prosecution of all persons responsible for acts of piracy and further called upon states to criminalise piracy under their domestic law and to favourably consider the prosecution of suspected and imprisoned pirates, said the panel headed by P P Chaudhary.

    India does not have a separate domestic legislation on piracy and prosecution for piracy as a crime has not been included in the Indian Penal Code or the Code of Criminal Procedure, it noted.

    The Ministry of External Affairs had first on April 24, 2012, piloted a separate comprehensive domestic Anti-Piracy legislation to deal with piracy.

    After getting lapsed in the previous two terms of Lok Sabha, the Bill got fresh Cabinet approval in November, 2019.

    It was re-introduced in Lok Sabha in December, 2019.

    “The Committee deplores such lackadaisical approach of the government in bringing such an important legislation when there is an urgent need of the comprehensive domestic legislation on piracy which can provide the necessary framework within the country for prosecution in piracy related crimes,” the report said.

    The panel is also not aware about the other efforts made in between by the government to enhance international cooperation on the issue of maritime piracy as well as to address the factors that have led to rise and spread of piracy in many more regions, it said.

    “The Committee, therefore, would like that the government should, now, make all possible efforts for an earlier enactment of anti-piracy legislation so that India becomes a part of an international endeavour to combat piracy as well as it may provide for a sound legal basis for prosecuting and punishing persons committing acts of piracy and also safety and security of India’s maritime trade including the safety of our vessels and crew members,” the report said.

    The panel also said it would also like to “reiterate their recommendation made in the 16th report on the Piracy Bill 2012, and desire that MEA should make sincere efforts to enhance international cooperation on maritime piracy and by taking adequate and proactive measures to ensure the welfare of Indian seafarers captured by pirates simultaneously”.

    It observed that the Bill has been drafted in accordance with UNCLOS, 1982 that is the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea adopted by India in 1982 and ratified in 1995.

    The committee hoped that the new proposed legislation will definitely enable the authorities to prosecute the apprehended pirates irrespective of their nationalities.

    It said it wants that in addition to an anti-piracy domestic legislation, the government should also make efforts on the issue of extradition of persons of Indian origin suspected for acts of piracy on high seas.

    The panel said it has a strong view in this regard that India must also be a part of every international cooperation created to combat piracy and smooth extradition of the guilty persons or agencies involved.

    Countries such as USA, Australia, Italy and Sri Lanka do not provide for death penalty inspite of passing anti-maritime law similar to India, it observed.

    The panel said it feels that committing an act of piracy in itself is a crime and to top it if the act of the accused causes a death it will be a double crime in nature and should be viewed very seriously as a crime nothing short of one against humanity.

    Therefore, it recommended that clause 3 of the draft bill should be reframed to make a provision of “punishment for death when death of any person is caused while committing or making an attempt of piracy”.

  • Health secretary briefs parliamentary panel on COVID vaccine’s development and distribution

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Union health secretary and the ICMR DG deposed before a parliamentary panel on health on Tuesday to brief its members on the development and distribution of the coronavirus vaccine and answer their queries.

    According to the listed agenda of the meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare, the health secretary and the director general (DG) of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) briefed the panel on “Vaccine Development, Distribution Management and Mitigation of Pandemic COVID-19”.

    The committee is chaired by Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Ram Gopal Yadav.

    The meeting of the panel is being held days before the start of the countrywide COVID-19 vaccination drive from January 16 in what Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called the world’s largest inoculation programme.

    In this drive, priority will be given to the nearly three crore healthcare and frontline workers in the country.

    India has recently approved two COVID-19 vaccines — Oxford’s Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) in the country, and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin — for restricted emergency use.

    According to the COVID-19 Vaccine Operational Guidelines, the shots will be offered first to an estimated one crore healthcare workers and around two crore frontline workers, and then to people above 50 years of age, followed by those below 50 years of age with associated comorbidities, based on the evolving pandemic situation.

    Meanwhile, the first consignment of the Covishield vaccine reached Delhi from Pune on Tuesday, four days ahead of the launch of the nationwide vaccination drive.

    A SpiceJet aircraft carrying the vaccines landed at the Delhi airport around 10 am.

  • Congress MPs, former Akali leader walk out from parl panel meeting on agriculture

    Express News Service
    CHANDIGARH: Three opposition MPs walk out of the meeting of the Standing Committee on Agriculture after they were allegedly not allowed to discuss the three central farm laws in the meeting on Monday. Congress MPs Chhaya Verma, Partap Singh Bajwa and former Akali leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa were miffed as the panel chairman refused to discuss the contentious laws.

    Referring to the protests at the borders of Delhi for over 45 days, the three Rajya Sabha MPs had raised the issue with the chairman of the standing committee.  “The government should never have let the situation continue for this duration. Now is the last chance for the PM to intervene in this matter. The Supreme Court should not be stepping in to fill the vacuum created by policy paralysis within the government,” Bajwa said. “If the PM doesn’t show magnanimity and agree to the demands of the farmers, the people will further lose faith in executive and legislative branches of the government.’’

    The Congress MP welcomed CJI S A Bobde’s observations on the issue. “Nevertheless, as an MP, it is unfortunate to see the depth of inaction from the executive. This inaction is a sign of how our democratic institutions have simply failed or have been ignored by the present government. Parliament should have been given enough time to further deliberate on these reforms.”

    Meanwhile, farmer union leaders categorically said they would continue their agitation even if the Centre or the Supreme Court stays the implementation of the three farm laws. Krantikari Kisan Union president Darshan Pal said the union leaders are consulting their lawyers and a formal response will be given after the SC pronounces its verdict.

  • Parliamentary panel examining Personal Data Protection Bill recommends 89 changes: Meenakshi Lekhi

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A parliamentary committee examining the Personal Data Protection Bill has recommended 89 amendments to the proposed legislation, including changing its title and schedule, the panel’s chairperson Meenakshi Lekhi said on Wednesday.

    The draft of the bill, approved by the Cabinet in December 2019, proposes to put restriction on use of personal data without explicit consent of citizens.

    Proposing a penalty of up to Rs 15 crore and up to three-year jail term for company executives for violating privacy norms, the bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in February last year.

    Later, it was referred to the Joint Committee of Parliament headed by BJP MP Lekhi.

    “The process of writing the report on the bill has begun. Eighty-nine amendments have been suggested by the panel, including changing its title and schedule,” Lekhi told PTI.

    The bill was drafted following a Supreme Court judgement in August 2017 that declared ‘Right to Privacy’ a fundamental right.

    The need for a strong personal data protection regime was further highlighted by the apex court in its judgement in September 2018 in which it held Aadhaar as a constitutionally valid scheme but struck down some provisions in the Aadhaar Act.

    According to the provisions of the bill, all Internet companies will have to mandatorily store critical data of individuals within the country.

    However, they can transfer sensitive data overseas after explicit consent of the data owner to process it only for purposes permissible under the proposed legislation.

    Critical data will be defined by the government from time to time.

    Data related to health, religious or political orientation, biometrics, genetic, sexual orientation, health, financial and others have been identified as sensitive data.

    A company’s executive in-charge of conduct of the data business would face a jail term of up to three years if found guilty of knowingly matching anonymous data with publicly available information to find out the identity of an individual, called as ‘re-identify de-identified data’ in technical parlance, under the proposed law.

    Social media companies will be required to come up with a mechanism to identify users on their platform who are willing to be identified on a voluntary basis.

    It will be voluntary for individuals if they want to get verified or not.

    The bill had provisions to grant the right to be forgotten to data owners as well as the right to erase, correct and porting of data.