New Delhi: The Finance Bill, 2017 came up for discussion in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday a day after finance minister Arun Jaitley proposed 40 amendments, sparking protests from many regional parties like the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and others.
These parties allege that by tagging many important bills such as amendments to the Employees Provident Fund, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, Companies Act and the Information Technology Act, Smuggling and Foreign Exchange Act, to the Finance Bill, the government is attempting to bypass the Rajya Sabha where it is not in majority.
Jaitley has also proposed making Aadhaar, mandatory for filing of income-tax returns as well as for obtaining the permanent account number (PAN), allowing only cheque contributions to electoral trusts, and capping the limit for cash transactions to Rs2 lakh from 1 April, from the earlier proposed Rs3 lakh.
Here are the latest updates and highlights on the Finance Bill, 2017:
■ 3.15pm: Rajasthan BJP MP Subhash Chandra Baheria seeks clear information on cash withdrawals and other transactions. He says there is unnecessary burden on common tax payers.
■ 2.45pm: Rajya Sabha takes up discussion on electoral reforms.
Earlier during the Zero Hour, members raised concerns about “data brokers” who they claimed were selling personal information to companies for an amount. SP member Sanjay Seth said that companies were calling up people offering loans or other schemes after purchasing such data from these operators.
Another SP member Naresh Agrawal said he had also got such phone calls and the callers never disclosed where they had got the numbers from. He also raised concerns relating to hacking and said in some countries instances of fraud have also occurred.
■ 2.15pm: Aamir Khan-starrer ‘Dangal’ will be screened for MPs on Thursday to send across a message of women empowerment while providing a slice of entertainment.
The movie will be screened on the initiative of Lok Sabha Speaker Sumita Mahajan.
It will be screened in Parliament’s Balayogi auditorium in the evening after the session gets over.
■ 2pm: Some of the major issues discussed before the session was adjourned:
– Separation of powers is as binding on the judiciary as it is on other pillars of democracy, the government told the Lok Sabha today as members claimed the Supreme Court was getting into the domain of law-making through some of its verdicts.
Asking supplementaries on pending cases and vacancies in courts, Sanjay Jaiswal (BJP) remarked that the Supreme Court was getting into law-making through its verdicts on issues ranging from cricket management to medical entrance tests.
His remarks drew thumping of desks from members across the House. Prasad refused to offer any comment on the apex court orders on cricket management or NEET entrance examination.
But at the same time, he pointed out that in the Kesavananda Bharati vs State of Kerala judgement, the top court had clearly laid out separation of powers between the three organs of democracy.
He said while the legislature will formulate law, the executive will execute it and the judiciary will interpret the law. “If it is binding on all, sorry to say, it is equally binding on the judiciary,” he said. (PTI)
– Aadhaar has not been made mandatory for senior citizens to avail concessions in train tickets but the Railways have initiated a process to create a database of senior citizens, Lok Sabha was informed.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu made it clear that Aadhaar number has not been made mandatory for senior citizens to avail concessions in train tickets.
