Dec/07/2011

Two Bills introduced in Lok Sabha

A Bill seeking to give Scheduled Tribe status to Inpui, Rongmei, Liangmai, Zeme, Thangal and Mate communities of Manipur and substitute Galong with Galo - the right name of the tribe - in the list of Arunachal Pradesh was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

The Bill to amend the original the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 was introduced by the Minister of Tribal Affairs V. Kishore Chandra Deo

At present there are 33 communities appearing in the list of the Schedule Tribe in Manipur and the amendment will meet a long standing demand for considering grant of ST status to these communities.

In the Arunachal Pradesh list, Galong community was mentioned. The State government has been recommending for long that the name Galo be substituted in place of Galong.

"Galong is a distorted version of the original world Galo. A change is, therefore, required in the list of ST in Arunachal Pradesh," the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2011 said.

Another bill to bifurcate the joint cadre of IAS, IPS and Forest Service for the states of Tripura and Manipur was also introduced in the Lok Sabha.

The North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Amendment Bill, 2011, was introduced by Minister of State for Home M Ramachandran to amend the original Act of 1971.

One the new law comes into force, Tripura and Manipur will have a separate cadre of the IAS, a separate cadre of IPS and a separate cadre of Indian Forest Service, he said.

Presently there is a joint cadre of these services for the two States.

Govt suspends FDI decision

Under intense pressure from some of its own allies and the entire Opposition, the government on Wednesday announced suspension of its decision to allow Foreign Direct Investment in retail. Parliament was back to work after nine days soon after the government made its decision on suspension clear at an all party meeting this morning.

Normal functioning of Parliament had been stalled ever since the Union Cabinet allowed 51 per cent FDI in multi brand retail with some allies, primarily the Trinamool Congress, and DMK and the entire Opposition demanding a complete roll-back. The impasse finally ended at an all-party meeting this morning where the government announced its intention to put the Cabinet decision on hold till all stakeholders were consulted.

Soon after, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee made an announcement in the Lok Sabha that the government has decided to put on hold the decision on FDI till all stakeholders were consulted.

A similar statement was made in the Rajya Sabha by Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma.

"The decision to permit 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail is suspended till a consensus is developed among various stakeholders," Mr Mukherjee said in the Lok Sabha. He went on to explain that the stakeholders were political parties and State Chief Ministers without whose involvement this decision "cannot be implemented". "It can never be implemented without involving the States and decision would be taken only after Chief Ministers are taken into confidence," he said.

Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj welcomed the announcement to put on hold the decision. "Government has bowed to the wishes of the people. To bow before the will of the people is not defeat. It is strengthening of democracy", she said.

After the statement by the Leader of the House, Speaker Meira Kumar disallowed the adjournment motions moved by several opposition parties, including the BJP, the Left and BSP. BSP members were dissatisfied and staged a walkout.

The House then took up the Question Hour for the first time since the Winter session began on November 22.

As soon as a similar statement was made in the Rajya Sabha by Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, Leader of Opposition Arun Jeitley wanted clarification on who the ``stakeholders’’ would be. Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) saidSstate governments and political parties should be included in the consultation process.

Mr. Sharma’s response was that stakeholders will include state governments and ``it does not exclude but includes political parties’’.

A Bahujan Samaj Party member, however, expressed his opposition to the decision and saying his party wanted a complete roll-back of the policy, staged a walk-out along with all his party members.

When some other members attempted to raise some points, Chairman Hamid Ansari said he will not allow a discussion on the subject.

Earlier, at the all party meeting convened by Mr Mukherjee – just before Parliament assembled -- the Opposition agreed to the government proposal of suspending the FDI in retail decision till a "consensus" emerged after consultations with different stakeholders.

All the parties, including UPA allies TMC and DMK, which were opposed to the decision, agreed to support the resolution and allow the House to function.

The BJP and the Left were demanding a complete rollback but agreed to the government proposal contending that trying to build a "consensus" virtually meant that the FDI decision has been put on the backburner indefinitely.

Parliamentary Committee adopts report on Lokpal

A Parliamentary Committee on Wednesday adopted its report on the contentious Lokpal Bill leaving it to the wisdom of Parliament to decide on inclusion of Prime Minister in its ambit while Congress members gave dissenting notes demanding inclusion of Group C officials within its purview.

BJP, BJD and Left members gave dissenting notes demanding inclusion of Prime Minister with some safeguards.

Three Congress members Deepa Dasmunshi, P. T. Thomas and Meenakshi Natarajan gave their dissent notes during today’s final meeting demanding inclusion of Group C employees under Lokpal’s purview and making CVC accountable to the ombudsman.

The final report keeps out Group C employees from the ambit of Lokpal. The report, without taking a position, also recommended three options on the issue of Prime Minister: his inclusion without exception and qualifications, inclusion with no exclusionary caveats but after demitting office and inclusion of the PM with exclusions on issues like national security and foreign affairs.

In all, a total of 16 notes of dissent are believed to have been submitted to the Committee by members of BJP, BJD, SP, Congress, LJP, RJD and Left parties.

Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel and Law and Justice Abhishek Manu Singhvi said after the meeting that the report is likely to be tabled in Parliament on December 9.

Sources in the government indicated that the Lokpal Bill could be passed by Parliament in the ongoing Winter session.

Unit to exchange info on black money in IBSA nations set up

Even as the Government has got “authentic information’’ from nearly 10 countries including Germany and Switzerland on the black money stashed abroad by Indians, the government has set up an electronic centre unit in the Finance Ministry to deal with the unaccounted money issue in India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA).

This new unit, functioning under the wings of North Block, will deal with these Governments in exchanging information on tax evaders and black money in IBSA nations. “The government has received information from 10 countries on the issue. The information is being disseminated by the various government agencies. Already prosecution has been launched in 17 cases pertaining to LTG bank in Germany. The IBSA electronic centre unit is aimed at tackling this menace in these nations,’’ a senior official said.

This new unit, in close association with the revenue intelligence agencies of other countries, identify and share information on tax evaders, on “abusive tax schemes’’ and the people who are involved in promotion of such activities. Abusive tax schemes are those transactions that are designed to reduce or defer taxation. Officials of the three countries held prolonged talks recently before a decision was taken to set up this tax evasion prevention unit.

The revenue authorities of all the three IBSA countries will also study the latest trends in tax evasion, abuse of taxation laws and the trends that have emerged to avoid taxes. They will also help in tracing black money flow in these countries and get information in a speedy and accurate manner. It would also facilitate sharing of expertise, best practices and experiences in tax administration to combat abusive tax schemes.

At present, Indian has Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs) with Brazil and South Africa. “Representatives of all the countries will have an exchange of information and hold regular meetings in the three countries by rotation to work out a joint strategy on how to tackle this growing menace of stashing funds abroad and prevent ways of tax evasion.

This move comes in view of the increasing pressure on the UPA II government to act on the issue of black money and take strong measures to bring back billions of dollars kept in bank accounts illegally abroad. The opposition parties, civil society and social activists and also Supreme Court have kept up the pressure on the Government on the issue of black money. At present, India has revised DTAAs with 40 nations enabling sharing of information on banking and other tax-related information.

In May this year, the government had constituted the panel to look into strengthening of the law to curb black money generation. The committee is likely to submit its report soon. In fact, India is also considering signing the multilateral convention on mutual administration assistance in tax matters, which is backed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. This will promote automatic exchange of information and provisions for assistance in tax collection. Currently, there are 20 signatories to the convention.

Gorbachev calls for a new vote in Russia

Russian authorities should annul the parliamentary vote results and hold a new election, ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev urged on Wednesday as popular indignation grew over widespread reports of alleged election fraud.

Thousands of Russians have rallied in Moscow and St. Petersburg in the last two days, facing off against tens of thousands of police and Interior Ministry troops. Hundreds of protesters have been detained in both cities.

Mr. Gorbachev told the Interfax news agency that authorities must hold a fresh election or deal with a rising tide of discontent.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party won less than 50 per cent of Sunday’s vote, a steep fall from its earlier two-thirds majority, according to preliminary results. But opposition parties and international observers said the vote was marred by vote-rigging, including alleged ballot-box stuffing and false voter rolls.

“More and more people are starting to believe that the election results are not fair,” he told Interfax. “I believe that ignoring public opinion discredits the authorities and destabilises the situation.”

Mr. Gorbachev added that authorities “must admit that there have been numerous falsifications and ballot stuffing.”

Sunday’s parliamentary vote suggested Russians are tiring of Mr. Putin and his United Russia party, which has dominated all other political forces in Russia for the past dozen years and earned a reputation for corruption.

Mr. Putin, meanwhile, officially registered on Wednesday to run for the presidency in March, but the unusually sustained protests of the past two days suggested his drive to retake the job he held from 2000-2008 may not go as smoothly as he had expected.

More opposition rallies were expected on Wednesday, along with another new pro-Putin gathering in central Moscow.

Thousands of security forces were out in the Russian capital and helicopters roamed the sky on Wednesday, a show of force following two days of protest.

Authorities said on Tuesday at least 51,500 police officers and 2,000 Interior Ministry troops have been deployed in Moscow since the election. Unlike the police, Interior Ministry troops are an armed force, largely manned by conscripts.

The Russian Union of Journalists condemned police violence and called for a probe into the dozens of attacks and arrests of journalists, describing them as “an attempt to gag and intimidate society.”

On Wednesday, two video journalists working for the state-owned RIA Novosti news agency were briefly detained outside the Election Commission building where Putin was handing in his application to run.

The allegations of election fraud have fired up the opposition, which has long seen its protests crushed and its pleas ignored by the Kremlin-dominated media.

On Facebook, more than 12,000 people signed up to a page announcing an opposition rally for Saturday and many of them have never taken part in political demonstrations

Mariya Boyarintseva, a 24-year-old event manager, told The Associated Pressthat she has never been to a political rally before but she was going to Saturday’s protest.

Ms. Boyarintseva said she didn’t go to rallies on Monday or Tuesday in Moscow which ended with clashes with police and hundreds detained because “it felt a bit scary.”

“Now, I have a feeling that I ought to go,” she said.