Rs 1 crore fine and 10 years jail on paper leak-cheating - bill passed by Lok Sabha

Parliament Session: For paper leaking and copying in government recruitment examinations, the accused will have to pay a maximum of 10 years in jail and a fine of Rs 1 crore. The Central Government on Tuesday (February 6) passed the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill to ban these. Now it will be sent to Rajya Sabha. If this bill becomes law, the police will have the right to arrest suspects without any warrant. The accused will not get bail and these crimes cannot be resolved through compromise. However, those children appearing in competitive examinations will not be targeted, who do not intentionally participate in it.

While presenting the bill in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said - Offenses like leaking of question and answer sheet, helping the candidate directly or indirectly have been included in the Public Examination Bill.

Apart from this, illegal activities like creating fake websites for cheating and earning money wrongly, issuing fake admit cards or offer letters for conducting fake exams have also been included in this bill.

Competitive examinations related to the central government are within the scope of the bill.

If the bill takes the form of law, many examinations including UPSC, SSC, Railway Recruitment Board, Banking, NEET-Medical and Engineering will remain under its purview. This bill will not apply to class 10th or 12th examinations. Along with this, it will also not be applicable on state examinations, because many states have their own laws regarding cheating.

Reservation discussed in local elections of Jammu and Kashmir

Before this, on Tuesday, the fifth day of the budget session of Parliament, the proceedings of the House started with the discussion on reservation in local elections (Municipal Corporation and Panchayat) of Jammu and Kashmir. Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai had introduced the Jammu and Kashmir Local Bodies Laws (Amendment) Bill 2024 in the Lok Sabha on Monday, February 5.

Here, discussion started in Rajya Sabha on Consideration of the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Orders (Amendment) Bill 2024 and the Constitution (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Orders (Amendment) Bill 2024.

At the same time, in response to a question in the Lok Sabha, Nityanand Rai said that our government is continuously encouraging women. There are 41 thousand 606 women soldiers deployed in Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Assam Rifles.

Government has not yet told the date of Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections - National Conference

Discussing the bill, National Conference leader Hasnain Masoodi said that the government has not yet decided the date of assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. After removal of Article 370, Jammu and Kashmir has been made a Union Territory. The Supreme Court had set the deadline for holding elections in Jammu and Kashmir, but the government did not take any decision on this, it is a matter of shame.

On the other hand, TMC's Saugata Roy alleged that BJP does not have faith in local body elections. The government should conduct elections in Jammu and Kashmir soon. The Supreme Court has spoken in a strict tone regarding what happened in the Chandigarh Mayor elections.

ED action also echoed in Parliament

The action of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was also discussed among the opposition MPs. On Tuesday, February 6, ED raided 10 places of the party including Arvind Kejriwal's private secretary and AAP MP. Recently, former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren was arrested by ED.

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram said- ED is working more than necessary. They should also make new recruitments in the department, so that every opposition leader can be raided before the elections.