The 2021 Winter Session of Parliament began today and is scheduled to continue till December 23, with a total of 19 sittings scheduled..Here's a look at events from the first day of the session..A question was tabled by Member of Parliament Anurag Sharma directed at the Minister of Culture with regard to encroachment of temples in South India. The MP enquired as to the number of Hindu temples registered in South India along with a question on the nature of management of these temples - whether they were private or administered by the government.Further, details were sought on the encroachment of registered temples, instructions by the State to remove any such encroachment and compliance with these instructions.Responding to this question, the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Development of the North-Eastern Region, G Kishan Reddy brought on record that there were 1,097 monuments and sites that were centrally protected in the states and union territories of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, out of which 448 were temples.Attaching an annexure with details of such encroachments, the Minister informed that on receipt of a report, notice is given to the defaulter to remove the same. If not removed, a demolition order is issued as per provisions of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958. However, sometimes litigation in various courts also cause delay in removal of encroachments, the reply stated..A question was tabled by MP Prajwal Revanna as to whether the government was aware of a multi-crore Bitcoin scam recently unearthed in Karnataka wherein a person was arrested in connection with hacking of bitcoin worldwide.Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance of India Pankaj Choudhary responded that the information available publicly suggested that a case of cybercrime involving Bitcoin was under examination by the Karnataka Police. He noted that ‘Police’ and ‘Public Order' are State subjects and states/UTs are primarily responsible for the prevention, detection, investigation & prosecution of such crimes. It was noted that a case was registered by Bangalore Zonal Unit of the Directorate of Enforcement, but further disclosure of information was not in larger public interest..In another question related to cryptocurrency, MPs Sumalatha Ambareesh and DK Suresh asked whether the government had any proposal to recognise Bitcoin as a currency. It was also questioned if the government was aware of Bitcoin transactions silently blooming in the country.In a short response, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that the government had no proposal to recognise Bitcoin as currency and was not collecting data on Bitcoin transactions..After a contentious year of back and forth between the government and protestors, Parliament passed the Farm Laws Repeal Bill 2021, which proposed to repeal the three contentious Farm Laws.The Bill was tabled by Union Minister of Agriculture Narendra Tomar, with the objective to repeal:- The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020;- The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance, Farm Services Act, 2020;- The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
The 2021 Winter Session of Parliament began today and is scheduled to continue till December 23, with a total of 19 sittings scheduled..Here's a look at events from the first day of the session..A question was tabled by Member of Parliament Anurag Sharma directed at the Minister of Culture with regard to encroachment of temples in South India. The MP enquired as to the number of Hindu temples registered in South India along with a question on the nature of management of these temples - whether they were private or administered by the government.Further, details were sought on the encroachment of registered temples, instructions by the State to remove any such encroachment and compliance with these instructions.Responding to this question, the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Development of the North-Eastern Region, G Kishan Reddy brought on record that there were 1,097 monuments and sites that were centrally protected in the states and union territories of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, out of which 448 were temples.Attaching an annexure with details of such encroachments, the Minister informed that on receipt of a report, notice is given to the defaulter to remove the same. If not removed, a demolition order is issued as per provisions of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958. However, sometimes litigation in various courts also cause delay in removal of encroachments, the reply stated..A question was tabled by MP Prajwal Revanna as to whether the government was aware of a multi-crore Bitcoin scam recently unearthed in Karnataka wherein a person was arrested in connection with hacking of bitcoin worldwide.Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance of India Pankaj Choudhary responded that the information available publicly suggested that a case of cybercrime involving Bitcoin was under examination by the Karnataka Police. He noted that ‘Police’ and ‘Public Order' are State subjects and states/UTs are primarily responsible for the prevention, detection, investigation & prosecution of such crimes. It was noted that a case was registered by Bangalore Zonal Unit of the Directorate of Enforcement, but further disclosure of information was not in larger public interest..In another question related to cryptocurrency, MPs Sumalatha Ambareesh and DK Suresh asked whether the government had any proposal to recognise Bitcoin as a currency. It was also questioned if the government was aware of Bitcoin transactions silently blooming in the country.In a short response, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that the government had no proposal to recognise Bitcoin as currency and was not collecting data on Bitcoin transactions..After a contentious year of back and forth between the government and protestors, Parliament passed the Farm Laws Repeal Bill 2021, which proposed to repeal the three contentious Farm Laws.The Bill was tabled by Union Minister of Agriculture Narendra Tomar, with the objective to repeal:- The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020;- The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance, Farm Services Act, 2020;- The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
