No report of defence sector networks being attacked: Parrikar

Parrikar further said said the government has taken a number of steps to protect confidential information pertaining to the defence sector from cyber attack.
  
"There are no reports of defence sector networks being attacked by cyber hackers and foreign intelligence agencies,” Parrikar said.
  
"However, cyber attacks are faced by Internet connected personal computers and these relate to unauthorised data access, denial of service, compromise of logic credentials," he added.
  
He was replying to a query on whether reports of defence networks being continuously attacked by cyber hackers and foreign intelligence agencies have come to the notice of the government.
  
"To protect important and confidential data from cyber attack, the operational networks of the Armed Forces are air gapped from Internet.
  
"Further, Defence Services have established Cyber Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) to prevent and react to cyber attacks," Parrikar said.
 
The Minister also said that safeguards have been instituted in the form of audits and physical checks.
   

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Congress will continue to oppose Land Bill: Jairam Ramesh

Ramesh also dubbed as "totally rubbish" the claim of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that under the 2013 Act, it will not be possible to acquire land for hospitals, schools and roads among others and clarified that there was no bar on acquiring land for government, including defence projects.

"We are against the amendments made in the 2013 Land Act by the Modi government through Ordinance without calling an all-party meeting, despite the fact that it was passed with the consent of all parties," he told reporters here.

"In the current scenario, it is impossible for this Bill to get passed in the Rajya Sabha as the SP, BSP, JD(U), TMC, DMK and even NDA allies like Shiv Sena and Akali Dal are opposed to it," the senior Congress leader said.

The Congress is opposing these amendments on five grounds, he said.

Elaborating further, he said the Bill dilutes the consent clause of securing consent of 80 percent farmers for acquiring land for private companies and 70 percent for projects to be implemented on PPP (Public, Private Partnership) mode.

The present Bill dilutes provisions of Social Impact Assessment for private projects to check the practice of acquiring land for a government project and handing over to private players after sometime, he said.

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Rahul Gandhi takes jibe at PM Modi's foreign tours; triggers uproar in Lok Sabha

"Again his (PM's) tour is on the cards. He has come here for sometime. He should visit Punjab and he will know first hand what is happening to farmers," the Congress Vice President said, triggering uproar as BJP members protested.

Raising the issue of farmers during Zero Hour a day after his visit to mandis in Punjab, Gandhi said he wanted to apprise the House of the pain and problems of the state's farmers whose produce is lying in mandis and is not being procured by the government.

   
The refrain of Gandhi was that the NDA government had left the farmer to fend for himself.

Amid protests by BJP members, Gandhi took a swipe at the Prime Minister's 'Make in India' initiative, questioning whether farmers are not contributing to 'Make in India' by providing food to the entire country.
   
"When there was hailstorm, the government did not help. State governments used to give bonus, farmers tolerated its non-payment. Farmers were lathicharged when they asked for fertiliser. Now their produce is not being lifted from mandis," he said.

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Giriraj Singh rejects reports of crying before PM Modi

"No," he told reporters who had asked him whether he had become emotional during  a meeting today with Modi, who television channels earlier had reported that he had pulled him up for his racist remarks against Congress President Sonia Gandhi last month.
     
"The meeting had not taken place.  Who told you I had met him," Singh said when asked about his reported meeting with the Prime Minister.

Singh was on Monday forced to express regret in the Lok Sabha for his  remarks against Sonia Gandhi after Congress members staged vociferous protests on the issue.
    
"I never meant to offend anyone. But if my comments hurt anyone's sentiments, I regret it," Singh said when Speaker Sumitra Mahajan asked him to respond after the House saw loud protests by Congress members, who termed his remarks as an insult to womanhood and sought his resignation.
    
Singh,  minister of state for micro, small and medium enterprises, was under fire for his racist barb at Gandhi asking whether Congress would have accepted her leadership had she not been white-skinned.

"Had Rajiv Gandhi married a Nigerian woman and if she was not a white-skinned woman, would the Congress have then accepted her (Sonia's) leadership," he had said recently.
   
Even when the controversy broke out earlier this month, Singh maintained that it was an 'off the record' conversation with journalists but expressed regrets if it had caused hurt to Gandhi.
   
Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu sought to play down the issue saying  "the issue is closed".
   
"The only worry is he me and told him he had not made any public comments.  The moment a television channel reported them, the same day he had disowned them. The only worry is nobody has taken note of it," he said.

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First part of Budget Session 'productive', says Naidu

Naidu also said the first part of the session has been the most significant and rewarding of the four sessions of Parliament since the Government assumed office in May 2015.
  
"Parliament has enabled the beginning of a new era of transparent governance in the country by ending government's discretion in allocation of minerals which has come to be a cesspool of corruption and malpractices," he said on the passing of Mines and Minerals, and Coal Mines bills replacing respective Ordinances.
  
"I would rate these two legislations at the top of the major outcomes of the Budget session so far," he said, adding that passing of the Insurance Bill hiking FDI in insurance sector is the next major outcome. "I thank Congress for their support."
  
"I would like to have these two legislations passed unanimously. But our friends in some parties had different ideas. They in effect, wanted us to ask the states if they wanted to end or not the discretion in allocation of minerals and the attendant corruption. I am happy that this contingency has been averted," he noted.
  
On the Land Bill, he said it was a collective demand of states who wanted changes in the Land Acquisition Act of 2013 to enable land acquisition with less hurdles and keeping practicality in view like in the case of the number of years after which the land acquired is to be returned to owners if it was not used.
    

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Mines Bill passed by Parliament despite protests

The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2015, was passed by the Rajya Sabha earlier on Friday and later approved by the Lok Sabha within 20 minutes.
   
The Bill was cleared by the Lok Sabha but was referred to a Select Committee in Rajya Sabha by a united Opposition. After a day of high drama on Thursday, the Bill was cleared by the upper house as the government agreed to the amendment recommended by the Select Committee on March 18.

The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, seeking to hike FDI in insurance sector was the first reform measure passed by Parliament.
   
Government had promulgated ordinances on insurance and mines and minerals in December last and January, which were converted to bills.
   
In the upper house all parties, barring Congress and the Left, supported it. JD-U members walked out before the voting saying they did not want to be part of the procedure.

The Bill was passed in Rajya Sabha by 117 members voting in favour and 69 against it, after Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar moved it for passage.
   
The House earlier saw a lot of discussion on a motion moved by P Rajeeve of CPI(M), which sought that the measure be re-sent to the Select Committee as it had not taken the views of all stakeholders including state governments.
   
This amendment was voted out after a division, with parties like TMC, NCP, SP, BSP, BJD, AIADMK, DMK and JMM, besides allies Shiv Sena and SAD supporting the government.

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Blackmoney Bill introduced in Lok Sabha; 10 years jail for concealing foreign funds

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley introduced 'The Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of Tax) Bill, 2015,' proposing that it would come into effect from April 1, 2016.
   
"Recognizing the limitations of the existing legislation, it is proposed to introduce a new legislation to deal with undisclosed assets and income stashed away abroad," said the Statement on Objects and Reasons of the Bill.
   
The Bill provides for criminal liability with enhanced punishment with 3-10 year imprisonment for willful attempt to evade tax in relation to foreign income, along with a fine.
   
Second and subsequent offence would be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term of 3-10 years with a fine of Rs 25 lakh to Rs 1 crore.
   
"In prosecution proceedings, the wilful nature of the default shall be presumed and it shall be for the accused to prove the absence of the guilty state of mind," it added.
   
The Bill also provides for a penalty of three times the amount of tax for concealment of income in relation to a foreign asset.
   
Further, a penalty of Rs 10 lakh would be levied for failure to furnish return of income by persons holding foreign asset, failure to disclose foreign asset in the returns or furnishing of inaccurate particulars of such asset.

The Bill proposes a limited window to persons who have any undisclosed foreign assets who wish to come clean.
   
"Such persons may file a declaration before the specified tax authority within a specified period, followed by payment of tax at the rate of 30 per cent and an equal amount by way of penalty," it said.

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