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LOK SABHA ___ SYNOPSIS OF DEBATES (Proceedings other than Questions & Answers) ______ Monday, August 1, 2016 / Shravana 10, 1938 (Saka) ______ SUBMISSION BY MEMBERS Re: Need for Government intervention to evacuate large number of Indians stranded in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. THE MINISTER OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS (SHRIMATI SUSHMA SWARAJ) responding to the issue raised by several hon. Members, said: I got to know the day before yesterday that our workers are stranded in Saudi Arabia and they have no food to eat. I, immediately, contacted Indian Embassy at Riyadh and CG at Jeddah and asked them to distribute free ration to the workers in all the five camps. I made an appeal to the Indian community there to pitch in. I sought report on the issue on the hourly basis. I got the last message at 2.45 A.M. this night confirming completion of ration distribution work in all the five camps. Every camp has sufficient ration for 8-10 days. But this is not the permanent solution to the problem. In fact, these are the companies which have shut their factories and left the country. Saudi laws require an NOC from the employer if we want to facilitate emergency exit visa for our people. But since there is no employer now, who will issue the NOC? So, we have requested the foreign office to authorize us to bring our people from Saudi Arabia. However, they have huge amounts of outstanding salaries. We have told the Labour Office there that all these persons will sign a contract that whatever dues those companies have towards them, they would first pay the outstanding salaries of these labourers then settle the dues. Gen. V.K. Singh himself is going to Saudi Arabia. He will bring all these persons back. Not even a single unemployed labourer there will remain hungry. I want to assure you all through this House that everyone will get enough food. *MATTERS UNDER RULE 377 (i) SHRI MAHEISH GIRRI laid a statement regarding need to increase the punishment and fine for offences of cruelty to animals. (ii) SHRI DUSHYANT SINGH laid a statement regarding relocation of villages in Critical Tiger Habitat (CTH) in Rajasthan. (iii) SHRIMATI REKHA VERMA laid a statement regarding need to construct a wall along village Ratauli in Sitapur district, Uttar Pradesh to regulate the course of river Sharada. (iv) SHRI KANWAR SINGH TANWAR laid a statement regarding need to construct embankment on river Ganga in Amroha parliamentary * Laid on the Table as directed by the Chair constituency, Uttar Pradesh to prevent looming threat of flood in the region. (v) SHRI SHYAMA CHARAN GUPTA laid a statement regarding need to undertake research to explore the medicinal/Ayurvedic value of Tendu leaves. (vi) SHRI CHINTAMAN NAVASHA WANGA laid a statement regarding need to cancel the proposed Vadodara-Mumbai Express Highway. (vii) SHRI CHHEDI PASWAN laid a statement regarding need to set up a big industry in Rohtas Udyog Punj, Dalmainagar, Rohtas, Bihar. (viii) SHRI RAHUL KASWAN laid a statement regarding need to provide water to Ravi and Beas rivers to Rajasthan as per agreement. (ix) SHRIMATI RAKSHATAI KHADSE laid a statement regarding need to check the menace of substandard drugs. (x) SHRI PASHUPATI NATH SINGH laid a statement regarding need to set up a high-power Radio Station in Dhanbad parliamentary constituency, Jharkhand. (xi) SHRI SHARAD TRIPATHI laid a statement regarding need to ensure transparency and standards of works as per specified norms and standards in construction of school building for the girls in Sant Kabir Nagar Parliamentary constituency, Uttar Pradesh. (xii) SHRI DEVENDRA SINGH BHOLE laid a statement regarding need to provide houses to all the eligible persons under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojna (Grameen) in Kanpur dehat district, Uttar Pradesh. (xiii) SHRI GOPAL SHETTY laid a statement regarding need to release arrears of funds for disbursement of scholarships to students belonging to Backward Classes in Maharashtra. (xiv) SHRI ADHIR RANJAN CHOWDHURY laid a statement regarding implementation of Kandi Master Plan in Murshidabad district of West Bengal. (xv) SHRI RAVNEET SINGH laid a statement regarding need for strict implementation of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood & Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014. (xvi) SMT. R. VANAROJA laid a statement regarding the repair of National Highway No. 66 in Tamil Nadu. (xvii) SHRI S. R. VIJAYA KUMAR laid a statement regarding Chennai Metrol Rail Project. (xviii) PROF. SAUGATA ROY laid a statement regarding the visit of Union Home Minister to Pakistan. (xix) SHRI TAPAS PAUL laid a statement regarding need to check the discharge of polluted water into the Jalangi river in West Bengal from Bangladesh side. (xx) SHRI CHANDRAKANT KHAIRE laid a statement regarding need to start a Vividh Bharti Radio service in Sambhaji Nagar in Aurangabad Parliamentary Constituency, Maharashtra. (xxi) SHRI MUTHAMSETTI SRINIVASA RAO (AVANTHI) laid a statement regarding need for expeditious development of LNG Terminal at Gangavaram Port in Andhra Pradesh. (xxii) SHRI P. K. BIJU laid a statement regarding pricing of life saving drugs in the country. (xxiii) SHRI PREM SINGH CHANDUMAJRA laid a statement regarding the problems faced by Non-Resident Indians. THE ENFORCEMENT OF SECURITY INTEREST AND RECOVERY OF DEBTS LAWS AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2016 THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND MINISTER OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI ARUN JAITLEY) moving the motion for consideration of the Bill, said: In the last Session, this hon. House had approved the bankruptcy law. The law is now becoming operational. One of the big challenges that we face is with regard to the enforcement of securities and the recovery of debt by financial institutions. That having been done, two important laws, namely, the securitization law and the DRT law require to be amended. These laws were initially legislated in order to give a quick disposal remedy as far as banks and financial institutions are concerned. DRT as a law was meant to be an alternate or a substitute for a civil court. The procedures before the DRT cannot be similar to that of a civil court. Otherwise, the very purpose of creating the DRTs itself if getting defeated. So, the present law simplifies the procedures by which there will be a quick disposal of claims of banks and financial institutions before the DRT itself. As far as the securitization law is concerned, this was enacted really with the idea of a bank or a financial institution being entitled to enforce a security because earlier the concept was that if the creditor required to recover his money from the debtor, he had to chase the debtor. The procedure under this law was that the bank would enforce the security after giving a notice that 'we will take possession of whatever asset or property has been securitised'. Thereafter, it is for the debtor now to start chasing the creditor for a settlement or for a scheme of repayment or move an appropriate remedy as far as the Debt recovery Tribunal is concerned. In the budget this year, I had announced several reforms with regard to the asset reconstruction companies because as a part of the enforcement of the security, these companies have a very important role to play. Therefore, those norms are being liberalized which have been in the current amendments. These amendments were all referred to the Joint Committee, the same Joint Committee which recommended the enactment of bankruptcy law, has recommended the changes to these laws and consequential changes to the Stamp Act and the Depositories Act itself. The Report of the Joint Committee is unanimous. The Government has accepted all the suggestions which the hon. Members of the Joint Committee have given. Along with those amendments, the Bill is before this hon. House. KUMARI SUSHMITA DEV initiating said: This Bill seeks to amend four Acts which the hon. Minister has just stated. These changes actually became imminent due to the passing of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2015 that this House passed after the same Joint Select Committee had given its recommendations. The Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Bill makes it clear that this has become necessary because of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2015 and some of the changes that we see will confer powers upon the Reserve Bank of India to regulate Asset Reconstruction Companies. This was the requirement of the changing business environment. Apart from that, once you transfer the assets to an ARC then that transfer will be exempt from the Stamp Duty. Apart from that, we actually enabled non-institutional investors to invest in security receipts, which was not there earlier. Debenture Trustees have been included as secured creditors, and specific timelines have been given to take possession of those secured assets. Today this Bill may seem comprehensive when it comes to reforming the financial sector yet again. But we do need to ask ourselves as to despite consistent reforms in this country what is the state of our banking sector, in particularly the public sector banking? I refer to a report of the Standing Committee on Finance chaired by Mr. Veerappa Moilyji which tabled its report on the 5th of February 2016. It states that as on September 2015, 6.2 per cent of the total loans of the public sector banks have been categorized as bad loans or NPAs, another 7.9 per cent is restructured loans. We all have a consensus on this Bill, we all agree that threes changes have to be made, but we also need to rethink the governing structure that today manages these loan accounts. The larger point that I am trying to make is that we need to do to inject life into our Bills, into our Acts.

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