A strong demand was made in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday to eliminate online betting and gambling applications that keep mushrooming under new names to bypass government controls.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, YSR Congress Party member Maddila Gurumoorthy urged the government to set up a dedicated task force under the cyber crime department to take action against betting and gambling apps.
Gurumoorthy also wanted the government to draft regulations for such applications which are often found to be endorsed by influencers and celebrities.
The idea of making quick money through these platforms is inspiring frauds, thefts and other illegal activities. Incidents of youngsters committing suicide due to serious losses are also increasing, said the Lok Sabha MP from Tirupati.
He also asked the government to launch awareness campaigns across the country about the dangers of online betting.
BJP member Tejasvi Surya urged the government to amend the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) Act to cover bank deposits above Rs 5 lakh in banks facing financial trouble.
Surya said nearly 78 percent depositors of the Sri Guru Raghavendra Cooperative Bank in Bengaluru had received insurance payouts up to Rs 5 lakh as per the DICGC Act.
However, the remaining 22 percent depositors having more than Rs 5 lakh in their accounts were yet to be compensated.
The scam involving the cooperative bank came to light in 2020 when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed withdrawal restrictions on the bank, revealing misappropriation to the tune of Rs 2,500 crore by the bank management.
Surya said there was a dire need to increase the deposit insurance coverage to cover 100 percent of the deposits made by senior citizens.
He urged the government to ensure full deposit protection for senior citizens, extend the DICGC Act to cover all banks and cooperative banks, and also bring NBFCs under its purview to protect depositors.
Congress member K Suresh said the Kerala government did not have a single representative from the Scheduled Castes and the community was facing discrimination under the Left Democratic Front in the state.
The absence of an SC minister is a clear deviation from the constitutional assurance of fair representation in governance. This decision silences the voice of SC communities and weakens their access to policymaking, welfare programmes and affirmative action incentives, Suresh said.
Another Congress member K C Venugopal raised the issue of challenges faced by nurses, which affect their work and the quality of healthcare in the country.
Currently, if a nurse is registered in one state, they must go through a separate registration process in every other state where they wish to work. This makes it difficult and time-consuming, and creates unnecessary hassles for skilled nurses to move across states, Venugopal said.
He proposed a single National Registration System for nurses, eliminating the need for separate registrations in each state.
Venugopal said the National Unique Identity Number (NUID) process must be expedited and hospitals must be mandated to follow the Supreme Court's salary guidelines to ensure nurses are treated fairly.
BJP member Manish Jaiswal raised the issue of recent communal violence in Jharkhand and demanded that the government deploy paramilitary forces in the state during the upcoming Hindu festivals such as Ram Navmi on April 6.
Trinamool Congress member Sharmila Sarkar wanted the government to posthumously award the revolutionary Rashbehari Bose, considering his contribution to the Independence movement.
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