New Delhi [India], May 26 (ANI): Former Principal Accountant General and BJD Rajya Sabha MP Amar Patnaik on Thursday hit out at the IAS officer and Delhi's Principal Revenue Secretary Sanjeev Khirwar, who vacated the Thyagraj Stadium for walking his dog, terming the incident as 'outrageous' and a violation of the right of sportsmen.

New Delhi Dec 23 PTI BJD MP Amar Patnaik wrote to GST Council members on Thursday seeking a reduction in GST on health insurance for senior citizensAmid the ongoing pandemic access to health services for individuals particularly senior citizens has been drastically affected and therefore this proposal to reduce GST on health insurance needs to be considered with sympathy and due indulgence he wroteCiting various studies Patnaik said senior citizens are some of the most under-insured people with only 15 per cent health cover buyers in the 60-80 age groupTo ensure timely and cost-effective treatment of age-related medical disorders senior citizens must have health insurance he saidIn order to provide relief to our senior citizens it is necessary to reduce the existing GST rates on health insurance policies from 18 per cent to five per cent or exempt senior citizens from any GST on purchase of health insurance Patnaik said in the letter written to the Union Finance Ministry and the state finance ministersHe urged the ministry and the members of the GST Council to duly consider the demand for reduction of GST rates on health insurance premiums for senior citizens and provide them some relief PTI JTR IJT

New Delhi Nov 22 PTI The Joint Committee of Parliament examining the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 has adopted its report on the bill with several opposition MPs including those from the Congress TMC and BJD submitting their dissent notes Sources said the report was adopted after almost two years of setting up of the joint panel when the bill was referred to it for further scrutiny and making recommendations The sources said four MPs from the Congress and two from the Trinamool Congress and one from the Biju Janata Dal opposed certain provisions of the panels recommendations Congress leader and chief whip of party in Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh gave his dissent note to the committee on the bill after the panel adopted its report at its meeting here The former Union minister also lauded the democratic manner in which the panel functioned under P P Chaudharys chairmanship for past four months Besides Ramesh Congress MPs Manish Tewari Gaurav Gogoi and Vivek Tankha also submitted their dissent notes along with TMCs Derek OBrien and Mohua Moitra and BJDs Amar Patnaik The report was delayed by the panel as its former chairperson Meenakshi Lekhi was elevated a minister and Chaudhary was appointed as its new chairperson The bill was referred to the JCP for scrutiny before it is taken up by Parliament for consideration and passage Ramesh shared the information that the report has been adopted by the panel Finally it is done There are dissent notes but that is in the best spirit of parliamentary democracy Sadly such examples are few and far between under the Modi regime he said He said he was compelled to submit a detailed dissent note on the bill as his suggestions were not accepted and he was unable to convince the members But that should not detract from the democratic manner in which the committee has functioned Now for the debate in Parliament Ramesh tweeted Tewari and Gogoi also said they had submitted their dissent notes to the Secretariat of the committee after the final meeting of the Joint Committee on Data Protection We started in December 2019 and finished in November 2021 Tewari said I have been constrained to submit a very detailed note of dissent since I do not agree with the fundamental design of proposed legislation It will not stand the test of law he said The Anandpur Sahib MP said his fundamental objection was that there is an inherent design flaw in the bills very construction A bill that seeks to provide blanket exemptions either in perpetuity or even for a limited period to the state and its instrumentalities is ultra vires of the Fundamental Right to Privacy as laid down by a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court he said Tewari said he did not think the bill in its present form especially most of its exception and exemption clauses including carve outs for governments that exempt these behemoths from the ambit of this legislation would stand the test of vires in a court of law I therefore am constrained to holistically reject the bill in its present form in entirety for this design flaw he said On his reservations about the bill that were part of his dissent note Gogoi said there was a lack of attention being paid to harms arising from surveillance and effort to establish a modern surveillance framework Ramesh in his dissent note said he had suggested amendments to Section 35 the biils most crucial provision as well as to Section 12 He has argued that Section 35 gives almost unbridled powers to the Centre to exempt any government agency from the entire act itself Under the amendment I had suggested the Centre will have to get parliamentary approval for exempting any of its agencies from the purview of law Even then the government must always comply with the bills requirement of fair and reasonable processing and implementing the necessary security safeguards Ramesh said This would bring about greater accountability and transparency but even that was not found acceptable Section 12ai creates certain exceptions for governments and its agencies from the provisions of consent he said The TMC MPs described the bill as Orwellian in nature and raised questions on the panels functioning They alleged it rushed through its mandate and did not provide sufficient time and opportunity for stakeholder consultations the sources said They also said they opposed the bill for lack of adequate safeguards to protect the right to privacy of data principles the sources said In the note they have also opposed the recommendations for inclusion of non-personal data in the legislation they said The TMC MPs said the bill provides overboard exemptions to Government of India without proper safeguards in place The MPs moved an amendment to Clause 35 which gives powers to the Centre to exempt any of its agencies from the acts application sources said But in the notice the two said not only has the panel failed to introduce proper safeguards to prevent misuse of the provision it has made recommendations to empower Centre with more unqualified powers Ramesh in his dissent note said the JCPs report allows a period of two years for private companies to migrate to the new data protection regime but governments and their agencies have no such stipulation He argued the bills design assumes that the constitutional right to privacy arises only where operations and activities of private companies are concerned PTI SKC ASG AAR