government was bent on adopting a confrontation attitude towards the states. He lamented the unilateral decision to establish NCTC despite opposition from the Chief Ministers of several states and said the decision to give police powers, a state subject, to the Railway Protection Force constituted interference in the affairs of the state. He criticized the government for failing to check inflation, unemployment and corruption and blamed the government for not taking effective diplomatic steps to counter Chinese interference in Arunachal Pradesh. Referring to the proposed NCTC, Shri Kalyan Banerjee (AITC) said the law and order matter was vested with the state government and the central government could not encroach upon the power of the state. He asked for special grants for the development of border areas. Stating that all corruption
THIRD READING: INDIA
The Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2010 The Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992 was enacted to provide for the development and regulation of foreign trade by facilitating imports into and augmenting exports from India and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. Since its enactment, certain
requirements have necessitated amendments to the said Act. These included providing a statutory provision for safeguard measures enabling imposition of Quantitative Restrictions (QRs) and bringing in tighter export or trade control in the case of dual-use goods and related technologies. The proposed amendments
would enable the government to impose quantitative restrictions as a safeguard measure to provide the domestic industry a level playing field, in case a surge in imports led to, or threatened to seriously injure
domestic industry or rationalize the system of penalty leviable under the Act. The provision of notifying all
restrictions on imports and exports through the Foreign Trade Policy would ensure that information was available at one place, therefore, ensuring conformity with India’s commitments to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The power of review would
ensure transparency and public accountability in the system, and the amendments would also ensure that trade in sensitive technologies is regulated and India’s growing trade in services is facilitated. During debate on the Bill in
both Houses of Parliament, the proposals in the Amendment Bill met with broad approval. The Bill was passed by Rajya
Sabha on 9 August 2010 and by Lok Sabha on 12 August 2010. The Bill as passed by both
Houses of Parliament was assented to by the President of India on 19 August 2010.
144 | The Parliamentarian | 2012: Issue Two
that had taken place since 1947 could be traced back to the Congress rule, Shri Rattan Singh Ajnala (SAD) asked the government to frame stringent laws to check the menace of corruption. The NCTC law was an attack on the federal structure of the constitution. Shri Inder Singh Namdhari (Independent) said both the state governments and the union government should work together to eliminate terrorism. Arunachal Pradesh was an integral part of the country and China had no basis to object to the visit of the Defence Minister to that state, he asserted. Shri Sanjay Nirupam(INC) observed even though terrorism affected the entire country, the issue of terrorism was being politicized and it was said that setting up of an institution like NCTC would interfere with the rights of the states and disturb the federal structure. Shri Tathagat
The presidential procession making its way through Parliament.
Satpathy (BJD) said the central government was acting in an autocratic manner on issues like NCTC. Shri Shailendra Kumar
(SP) believed progress could be hampered unless there was a check on population growth. He suggested for providing employment allowance to the educated unemployed youths and proper investigation of various corruption cases noticed in centrally funded schemes. Shri Gorakhnath Pandey (BSP) suggested for giving severe punishment to people involved in the generation or transaction of black money and asked the government to provide education, health and drinking water facilities to people in rural areas. Shri Sharad Yadav (JD- U) regretted that the English educated youth gained employment while those who were taught in Indian languages did not. Poverty and unemployment had increased during the seven year regime of the UPA government and corruption was rampant. Nothing had been done to ensure that the centrally- sponsored schemes like the National Rural Health Mission, MNREGA, Total Literacy Campaign, etc. produced the desired results. Shri Anant