Robery Incidents In Trains

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF  RAILWAYS

QUESTION NO  1530

ANSWERED ON  12.08.2011

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to satate :-


(a) whether incidents of robbery and other related incidents are on the rise in Railways;

(b) the details of robberies that have taken place in trains during the last three years;

(c) the number of persons booked / convicted for robbery during the last three years;

(d) whether security arrangements are adequate for the passengers in trains; and

(e) the steps taken / being taken by Government to provide adequate security to the passengers in the trains?
  

ANSWER 

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(SHRI BHARATSINH SOLANKI)



(a): There is increase in the incidents of robbery reported during the year, 2010 in comparison to the years 2009 and 2008. However, there is decrease in the incidents of robbery reported during the year 2011 (Upto June).

(b) and (c): The number of cases of robbery reported during the years 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 (Upto June) in trains along with number of persons arrested and convicted over Indian Railways are as under:-

Year No of cases of Robbery reported in trains Persons arrested Persons convicted 2008 172 441 28 2009 198 615 52 2010 302 525 58 2011 (Upto June) 126 197 4

(d) and (e): Prevention of crime, registration of cases, their investigation and maintenance of law and order in Railway premises as well as on running trains are the statutory responsibility of the State Police, which they discharge through Government Railway Police (GRP) of the State concerned. As such the cases of crime on Railways are reported to, registered and investigated by the Govt. Railway Police. However, Railway Protection Force (RPF) supplements the efforts of GRP by deploying their staff for escorting of important trains in affected areas and access control duties at important and sensitive railway stations.

The following measures are being taken by the Railways for security of the passengers:-

1. On vulnerable and identified routes / sections, 1275 trains are escorted by Railway Protection Force daily on an average, in addition to 2200 trains escorted by Government Railway Police of different States daily.

2. An Integrated Security System consisting of electronic surveillance of vulnerable stations through Close Circuit Television Camera Network, access control, Anti-sabotage checks has been approved to strengthen surveillance mechanism over 202 sensitive and vulnerable Railway stations.

3. Regular coordination meetings are held with State Police at all levels to ensure proper registration and investigation of crime by Government Railway Police (GRP).

4. Public awareness against crime like Drugging of passengers is done through regular announcements at stations and in trains.


5. An amendment in the Railway Protection Force Act to enable Railway Protection Force to deal with the passenger related offences more effectively is under active consideration.

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Loss Due To Software Piracy

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF  COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

QUESTION NO  1441

ANSWERED ON  12.08.2011

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to satate :-
(a) whether it is a fact that software piracy rate is on rise in the country;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether it is a fact that Government has lost about $ 866 million in taxes due to software piracy in the year 2009 alone; and
(d) if so, the steps taken/being taken by Government in this regard?
   

ANSWER

     
MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI SACHIN PILOT)
(a): There is no official estimate available to ascertain the extent of software piracy in the country.
(b): Does not arise.
(c): Many of the software packages used in India are being imported. Software is exempted from basic custom duty. There is no explicit data available on financial losses arising out of software piracy.
(d): The steps taken by the government to curb software piracy include the following :
(i) Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) for software in the country is covered under Copyright Act, 1957 as amended and violations attract penal action under Section 63 of the Copyright Act.
(ii) Government has set up a Copyright Enforcement Advisory Council under Ministry of Human Resource Development (the nodal Administrative Ministry), which reviews the progress of enforcement of Copyright Act and also advises on measures – both on the policy & implementation front for its better enforcement. Special Cells for monitoring the enforcement of copyright have been set at Police Headquarters in the States / UTs.
(iii) Instructions have been issued to various Government departments to use legal copies of software.
(iv) Zero custom duty on application software has contributed in reducing costs.
(v) Government is promoting Free & Open Source Software (FOSS) in e-governance applications in the country. A National Resource Centre for Free and Open Source Software (NRCFOSS) has been set up to carry out Research & Development, Human Resource Development, FOSS deployment, Support and Awareness in the country. NRCFOSS has brought out an indigenous GNU / Linux based operating system named as Bharat Operating System Solutions (BOSS) with Indian languages support.

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Financial Crunch In Air India

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF  CIVIL AVIATION

QUESTION NO  1277

ANSWERED ON  11.08.2011

Will the Minister of CIVIL AVIATION be pleased to satate :-
(a) whether Air India is facing financial crunch for the last two/three years.
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c)whether Government/Management of Air India have taken any steps to improve the financial performance of the Company;
(d):whether the Government has sanctioned Rs.250 crore as advance infusion; and
(e) steps taken/being taken by Government to improve the financial performance of Air India?
  

ANSWER

      
MINISTER OF OVERSEAS INDIAN AFFAIRS & MINISTER OF CIVIL AVIATION
( SHRI VAYALAR RAVI )
(a) and (b): Yes, Sir. Air India incurred a loss of Rs.2226.16 crore during 2007-08, of Rs.5548.26 crore during 2008-09, of Rs.5552.55 crore during 2009-10 and the estimated loss for 2010-11 is Rs.6994 crore.
(c) and (e): In order to improve its financial performance, Air India has taken various steps such as Rationalization of routes to cut losses, return of leased capacity, reduction of contractual employment, review of all agreement between management and staff on all technical and operational matters and constitution of Turn Around Committee (which includes representatives from senior management and unions) to look at all areas of reduction.
(d): Pending payment of outstanding dues for VVIP operations, Government has paid an amount of Rs.500 crore on ad-hoc basis from the equity provision of Rs.1200 crore to Air India.

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Finish Technology For Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF  ATOMIC ENERGY

QUESTION NO  1249

ANSWERED ON  11.08.2011

Will the Minister of ATOMIC ENERGY be pleased to satate :-
(a) whether Government is planning to introduce Finnish technology for Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether this technology has ever been used in India; and
(d) whether Finnish technology would ensure nuclear safety?
   

ANSWER

     
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES & PENSIONS AND IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE (SHRI V. NARAYANASAMY)
(a) No, Sir.
(b) does not arise.
(c) No, Sir.
(d) The nuclear power reactors planned to be set up at Jaitapur are not based on Finnish technology but are 1650 MW evolutionary pressurised water reactors (EPRs) developed by Areva, France. The EPR design has been evolved from the several years’ operational feedback of N4 reactors in France and KONVOI reactors in Germany. The first EPR is under construction in Finland. EPRs are also under construction in France and China. The EPRs have not been set up in India earlier. The EPRs are reactors with advanced safety features, which include four independent safety trains housed in independent seismically qualified buildings, a core catcher, passive core cooling provisions which will ensure cooling of the fuel even in the worst case of fuel melt down thus preventing radioactivity releases, and hydrogen re-combiners to prevent hydrogen explosion.

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Vacancies In The Office Of The Registrar Of Companies

FILLING UP OF VACANT POSTS IN REGISTRAR OF COMPANIES IN HYDERABAD

The Registrar of Companies, Hyderabad, in Andhra Pradesh, was established in the year 1956 with staff strength of 10. After taking over of 600 companies from Nizam, at present, about 72,000 companies are registered with this RoC in Andhra Pradesh. However, the staff strength remained more or less at 1956 level. Though the staff strength has been increased, more than 50 per cent posts are lying vacant with the RoC, Hyderabad, due to resignation or retirement of the employees. As a result, the RoC is facing difficulty in handling its daily operations leading to inconvenience to entrepreneurs and others concerned.

I, therefore, request the Government to issue suitable directions to the concerned authorities to fill up the vacant posts, so that problems of RoC, Hyderabad, could be mitigated.

Protect The Irrigation Projects And Farmers

Take suitable measures to protect the irrigation projects and farmers' interest in Andhra Pradesh in
view of the verdict in Krishna River water dispute

DEMAND TO TAKE SUITABLE MEASURES TO PROTECT THE IRRIGATION PROJECTS AND INTERESTS OF FARMERS OF ANDHRA PRADESH IN VIEW OF VERDICT IN KRISHNA RIVER WATER DISPTUE

Justice-Brijesh- Kumar-lead tribunal (II) was set up about six years ago to decide upon the surplus water sharing of Krishna River among Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka. The tribunal gave its verdict on December 30, 2010. The award given by the tribunal says that about 1001 tic feet water will be given to Andhra Pradesh, 911 tmc feet water to Karnataka and 666 tmc feet to Maharashtra. From the surplus water, Andhra Pradesh will receive 190 tmc feet, Karnataka will have 177 tmc-feet and Maharashtra 81 tmc feet.

The award came as a shock to Andhra Pradesh, as the State will have to be at the mercy of upper riparian State Karnataka; and, it has lost total right over utilization of surplus water. Even though the tribunal indicated 1,001 tmc feet allocation for a State, a study of the award indicates that no safeguards were ensured for utilizing the water. It would be seen that the Tribunal virtually upheld the strongly opposed by Andhra Pradesh.

With this order of the Tribunal, the construction of seven ongoing irrigation projects, including Nettampadu, Galeru_Nagari, Kalwakurthy, Handri-Neva and Veligonda, on the Krishna River would be grounded and agriculture in the State would be severely affected.

I, therefore, urge upon the Central Government to take suitable measures/ steps to save the above said irrigation projects and also protect the interest of the agriculturists of Andhra Pradesh.

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Motion of Thanks On President's Address

 Motion of Thanks On President's Address On 24 Feb 2011

Respected Sir, at the outset, I express my gratitude through you to the hon. President and the Government for at least now acknowledging in the form of Presidential Address to both the Houses about various problems confronting the nation and the common man of the country. But I am disillusioned to note that the Government has not given any ray of hope to address any of the problems confronting the country.

The Address refers to problems of inflation, poverty, energy shortage and so on as if these issues surfaced only yesterday. The Congress Party is in the front for maximum part of our post-Independence governance, either directly or indirectly, and has been deceiving the people of this country with the slogan of ‘Garibi Hatao”. If the intention of the Congress Party and, more particularly of the UPA Government, is really to relieve the country from poverty, inflation and other social problems, they should have informed the Members of the House as to what held them back from delivering their promises.

The President has mentioned that the aam aadmi has to be protected against the ravages of the worst ever global economic crisis since the great depression and also against the failure of the monsoon in large parts of the country in mid-2009. But I am dismayed to mention that this Government has done the least for the aam aadmi. The price rise is the glaring example. During the last two years, the prices of essential commodities have risen and in spite of the public outcry, the Government has done the least on the price front, what to mention on the ravages of the global economic crisis. Session after the Session, the price situation in the country is mentioned and discussed and the Ministers and the Prime Minister give assurances in the Parliament to curb the prices. This is the most glaring failure of this Government.

It is unfortunate that the statistics clearly prove the fact that though the Government boasts of economic growth in successive Plans, if we see the Planning Commission’s Report, in the context of the growth of the economy, from First Plan to Tenth Plan, we will find that it is from 3.5 per cent to 7.7 per cent.

If our economic growth has been so consistent, obviously, the levels of poverty ought to have come down proportionately. However, the harsh fact remains that in 1973, there were 32.13 crore people below poverty line and this number stood at only 30.17 crores in the year 2004.

The above facts clearly indicate that our Plans hardly did anything to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor. I would like to mention here that the time has come for serious introspection as to whether our Plans contributed towards strengthening of the rich or the poor.

Sir, the views expressed by the Government regarding protection to the farming community in the form of Minimum Support Price, supply of inputs at a subsidized prices and food security did not reflect the correct scenario at the ground level. Though the Government goes on for an ambitious plan of food security, it has not been able to reduce the wastage and increasing the storage capacity for the foodgrains. In fact, Sir, our farmers want level-playing commercial environment to sustain their income. It is unfortunate that the Government failed to mention the number of suicides by farmers in various States, more particularly, in my State, Andhra Pradesh, where the current Government boasts of spending a lakh crore rupees for the benefit of farming.

I am perplexed if the Government has initiated so many measures for the benefit of farmers, then, why have we not been able to address the problem of suicides by the farmers?

Sir, the President in her Address mentioned that the Government has worked single-mindedly to build on the achievements of its earlier term to deliver the promise of faster and more inclusive growth.

But I am constrained to mention that the major achievements of the earlier term of the Government are very glaring now before the country in the form of 2G spectrum and the Commonwealth Games scams. If this is inclusive growth, I wonder where this country is heading. It is amusing that the Government made a statement that it is committed to (Time-bell) quality governance, transparency, probity and integrity.


If that is the case, the people of this country are anxious to know as to why it has costed them one full session of Parliament in securing a JPC probe against the scandal related to 2G spectrum involving...

It is unfortunate to hear the Prime Minister saying that the JPC was agreed to only in order to run the House even after the CAG had given a report.


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