GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS RAJYA SABHA QUESTION NO 393 ANSWERED ON 20.11.2019 Proposal to implement NRC in entire country
393 Shri Prabhat Jha Will the Minister of HOME AFFAIRS be pleased to state :-
(a) whether National Register of Citizens (NRC) is imperative for national security and there is a provision of NRC in almost all the countries of the world;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether there is a proposal to implement National Register of Citizens in the entire country post Assam and whether the necessary process and action are being taken in this regard; and
(d) if so, the details thereof?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI NITYANAND RAI)
(a) to (d): On the recommendation of Group of Ministers, constituted to review the national security system, Section 14A prescribing compulsory registration of every citizen of India, was inserted in the Citizenship Act, 1955 w.e.f. 03.12.2004.
The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is being updated at present in the State of Assam only as per the provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the provisions contained in the Schedule framed under Rule 4A(4) of Citizenship Rules, 2003.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT RAJYA SABHA QUESTION NO 442 ANSWERED ON 20.11.2019
Restoration of commutation of pension under EPS
442 Shri S. Muthukaruppan
Will the Minister of LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT be pleased to state :-
(a)whether it is a fact that the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has approved a proposal to restore commutation of pension or advance part withdrawal under the Employees Pension Scheme (EPS);
(b)if so, the details thereof; and
(c)whether it is also a fact that the said move will benefit 6.3 lakh pensioners under EPS?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE (IC) FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT (SHRI SANTOSH KUMAR GANGWAR)
(a) to (c): The provision of commutation was deleted vide notification G.S.R. 688 (E) dated 26.09.2008. At present, no such proposal has been approved to restore the provision for commutation of pension under the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS), 1995.
However, a proposal for restoration of the commuted value of pension after expiry of 15 years for EPS pensioners who had opted for commutation is under consideration.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 478
ANSWERED ON: 20.11.2019
Privatization of Trains
Manoj Kumar Tiwari
S. Venkatesan
M. Selvaraj
Kirit Premjibhai Solanki
Uday Pratap Singh
Harish Dwivedi
Gaurav Gogoi
K. Subbarayan
Andimuthu Raja
Behanan Benny
Will the Minister of
RAILWAYS be pleased to state:-
(a) whether the Government is mulling over to allow other corporates to commence luxury rail within the country like Tejas Express;
(b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
(c) whether the Government has formed an Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS) to identify more routes for private train operators across the country and whether 24 potential routes have been identified;
(d) if so, the details thereof, State/UTwise including Tamil Nadu;
(e) the time by which the Government is planning to invite bid from interested and qualified entities;
(f) whether it has been opposed in some of the States and if so, the details thereof along with Government’s stand thereon; and
(g) Whether the fares of train tickets would increase as a result of privatization and if so, whether subsidies would be retained to citizens travelling in these routes from various categories in Railway and if so, the details thereof?
ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)
(a) to (g) Ministry of Railways have constituted a Group of Secretaries (GoS) with a term of one year inter-alia to permit private passenger train operators to operate trains with world class technology over Indian Railways Network, with the following broad term of reference:-
i. Approval of the bidding process along with Bid documents and
ii. Monitor the bidding process and to take decisions to ensure the award of projects in a time bound manner.
As of now, the GoS has held three meetings and as such, Modalities regarding routes, fare structure, subsidies, etc. have not been finalized. There have been a few representations from the two recognized Railway Staff Federations along with their affiliated Trade Unions and other Trade Unions in Zonal Railways about privatization of passenger trains.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 490
ANSWERED ON: 20.11.2019
Merger of BSNL and MTNL
Bharatiben Dhirubhai Shyal
Shobha Karandlaje
Ajay (Teni) Misra
Queen Oja
Sunil Kumar Pintu
Khagen Murmu
Will the Minister of
COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:-
(a) whether the Government has given in-principle approval to the merger of State run Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) MTNL and BSNL and if so, the details thereof and the time by which these two TSPs are likely to be merged;
(b) whether the Government has any action plan to strengthen/revive/bailout the aforesaid TSPs and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor along with the steps taken by the Government in this regard;
(c) the extent to which the condition of these TSPs is likely to be improved by the aforesaid action plan;
(d) whether BSNL has been reporting losses continuously since 2009-10 and has been declared incipient sick and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
(e) whether the Government has formulated any scheme to equip mobile towers of the said TSPs with 4G services and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
(f) the steps taken by the Government to leverage the spectrum allotment to make BSNL and MTNL competitive in the telecom market; and
(g) whether both TSPs will offer voluntary retirement to their employees aged fifty years and above through attractive VRS options and if so, the details thereof?
ANSWER MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS, LAW & JUSTICE AND ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)
(a) The Cabinet in its meeting held on 23-10-2019 approved the revival plan for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) which inter-alia includes in-principle approval for merger of BSNL and MTNL. The process of merger is likely to be completed in 18-24 months.
(b) & (c) A Cabinet Note for the revival of BSNL and MTNL was prepared by Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and submitted for the consideration of the Cabinet. The Cabinet in its meeting held on 23-10-2019 approved the revival plan for BSNL and MTNL.
The revival plan inter-alia includes measures to reduce the staff cost through a Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS), administrative allotment of spectrum to BSNL and MTNL for providing 4G services, monetisation of assets of BSNL and MTNL, debt restructuring by raising of sovereign guarantee bonds and in-principle merger of BSNL and MTNL. With the implementation of the revival plan, it is expected that both PSUs will turnaround in future.
(d) BSNL is incurring losses since 2009-10. Based on the financial performance of BSNL, Department of Telecommunications (DoT) classified BSNL as “Incipient sick” in September 2017. Stiff competition in mobile segment, high employee cost and absence of 4G services (except in few places for BSNL) in the data-centric telecom market is adversely affecting the competitive strength of BSNL.
(e) & (f) The Cabinet has approved administrative allocation of spectrum to BSNL and MTNL for providing 4G services through capital infusion by the Government.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 529
ANSWERED ON: 20.11.2019
Privatisation of Ordnance Factories
S. Jagathrakshakan
Will the Minister of
DEFENCE be pleased to state:-
(a) whether the Government has taken decision to privatise Ordnance Factories in the country including OCM, HVF, Engine Factory at Avadi, Gun Factory, etc. at Tiruchi;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether the Government has thought of the future of thousands of workers working in those factories, who are protesting for more than a month;
(d) if so, the details thereof and whether the Government is reconsidering its policy of privatizing those sensitive factories in view of military strategy; and
(e) if so, the details thereof?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE (SHRI SHRIPAD NAIK)
IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
(a) to (e): At present, there is no proposal to privatize ordnance factories.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 651
ANSWERED ON: 20.11.2019
Retrenchment of BSNL and MTNL Employees
Prataprao Govindrao Patil Chikhalikar
Will the Minister of
COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:-
(a) whether the Government proposes to merge the two public sector Telecom Service Providers (TSPs), BSNL and MTNL and if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government in this regard;
(b) whether the Government proposes to retrench employees of these two TSPs and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; and
(c) whether the Government is aware that the number of BSNL subscribers is very less in comparison to other private sector TSPs and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor along with the steps taken by the Government in this regard?
ANSWER MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS, LAW & JUSTICE AND ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)
(a) & (b) The Cabinet in its meeting held on 23.10.2019 approved the revival plan of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) which inter-alia, includes in-principle approval for merger of BSNL and MTNL and measures to reduce the staff cost by offering Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) to the employees of age 50 years and above of BSNL and MTNL.
(c) BSNL has informed that as on 31.08.2019, market share of BSNL in landline and mobile services is 49.67% and 9.98% respectively. BSNL has further informed that the reason for less connections in comparison to other private Telecom Service Providers is due to not having separate spectrum for 4G services. The Cabinet in its meeting held on 23.10.2019 approved administrative allotment of spectrum to BSNL for providing 4G services through capital infusion by the Government.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF FINANCE
RAJYA SABHA
QUESTION NO 204
ANSWERED ON 19.11.2019
Investment of Pension Funds in share market
204 Shri Ritabrata Banerjee
Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state :-
(a) whether Government is planning to invest the Pension Funds in the share market; and
(b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor?
ANSWER
The Minister of State (Finance)
(a) & (b) Section 14 (2) (b) of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 2013 (PFRDA Act), empowers PFRDA to formulate investment guidelines for National Pension System (NPS) and pension schemes to which the Act applies. The pension funds under the NPS are invested in various asset classes including Government Securities, Corporate Debt instruments, and Equities as per the investment guidelines issued by PFRDA in this regard.
The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) under Ministry of Labour has informed that the Central Board of Trustees’, Employees Provident Fund in its 207th meeting held on 31.03.2015 decided to invest in Exchange Traded Funds in the category of Equity and related investments (Category (iv) of Investment Pattern notified on 23.04.2015) so as to generate higher returns for EPF members.
Fixation of pay from pre revised grade pay – Rajya Sabha QA
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF FINANCE
RAJYA SABHA
QUESTION NO 230
ANSWERED ON 19.11.2019
Fixation of pay from pre revised grade pay
230 Shri Neeraj Shekhar
Shri Ravi Prakash Verma
Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state :-
(a) whether Government has issued general orders for fixation of pay for officials who were promoted from pre-revised grade pay of ₹ 4,200/- to ₹ 4,600/- between 01/01/2006 to 29/08/2008 to minimum at ₹ 18,460/- as per the orders of Hon’ble Supreme Court in Union of India and others versus Rajkumar Anand dated 14/03/2019 to avoid unnecessary litigation and expenses incurred thereon;
(b) if so, the details thereof along with the date and number of the said orders;
(c) if not, the reasons therefor; and
(d) by when said orders would be issued?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE (SHRI ANURAG SINGH THAKUR)
(a) No, Sir.
(b) Does not arise.
(c) Hon’ble Supreme Court’s Order dated 14.03.2019 in Civil Appeal No. 3052/2019 – Union of India & Others Vs Raj Kumar Anand & Others, is specific to pay fixation matter of Shri Raj Kumar Anand & Others and is in consonance with Central Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2008. Therefore, no general order/Office Memorandum is required to be issued by this Department.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 459
ANSWERED ON: 19.11.2019
Swatantrata Sainik Samman Pension Scheme
Srinivas Kesineni
Will the Minister of
HOME AFFAIRS be pleased to state:-
(a) the number of beneficiaries under the Swatantrata Sainik Samman Pension Scheme, especially in Andhra Pradesh;
(b) the amount of funds released for the scheme during the last five years and
Andhra Pradesh’s share out of the total funds during the said period, year-wise;
(c) whether the amount of pension has been increased after 2014;
(d) if so, the details thereof; and
(e) if not, the reasons therefor?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS
(SHRI G. KISHAN REDDY)
(a): Total 28248 number of beneficiaries are receiving samman pension under the Swatantrata Sainik Samman Pension Scheme (now renamed as Swatantrata Sainik Samman Yojana) out of which 795 beneficiaries are in Andhra Pradesh.
L.S.US.Q.NO.459 FOR 19.11.2019
(b): Total funds disbursed during the last five years towards Swatantrata Sainik Samman Yojana is as under:-
Year Amount (in Crore)
2015-16 789.44
2016-17 761.85
2017-18 748.09
2018-19 842.46
2019-20 (upto Oct, 2019) 553.04
State wise expenditure is not maintained by this Ministry.
(c) to (e): The central freedom fighter pension/family pension has been revised and increased by the Central Government with effect from 15.08.2016. The amount of pension being given under this scheme to different categories of freedom fighters and their dependents is at Annex. Dearness Allowance/Relief, as given to the Central Government employees/pensioners twice a year, has been made applicable to the central freedom fighter pensioners also.
