All that was discussed in the House through the day
A national survey conducted under Niti Aayog has identified at least 54,130 manual scavengers from 170 districts of 18 states in the country, said Ramdas Athawale, minister of state (MoS) for social justice and empowerment, in the Rajya Sabha.
Homeless urbans
The total number of urban households without homes in India is 2,56,896, according to the Census 2011.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), the government has so far sanctioned 83,68,861 houses. Of this 49,54,357 are at various stages of construction and 26,13,799 are completed, Hardeep Singh Puri, MoS for housing, stated in Rajya Sabha.
Import of uranium
The government is likely to increase the import of uranium from other countries apart from the existing ones, Jitendra Singh, MoS for Prime Minister's Office, said in the Lok Sabha.
The decision will be taken after assessment of long term demand of uranium in the country and supply of uranium from indigenous sources, he added.
Impact of AI
The government is aware that artificial intelligence (AI) is an emerging technology having critical impact on various sectors stated Ravi Shankar Prasad, minister for information technology.
He said that the technologies relating to AI such as machine learning, big data analytics, image or speech recognition etc, are evolving at a fast pace and are finding increasing applications.
The government set up four committees of experts from academia, industry and government to look implications of AI. The committees identified five sectors that are envisioned to benefit the most from AI in solving societal needs: healthcare, agriculture, education, smart cities and infrastructure, smart mobility and transportation.
Plywood industry
The goods and services tax on plywood has been reduced from 28 per cent to 18 per cent in November, 2017, to promote the industry, Piyush Goyal, minister of commerce and industry informed in the Lok Sabha.
Goyal added that while there are no specific schemes to promote the plywood industry, the department for promotion of industry and internal trade under ministry of commerce and industry has notified North East Industrial Development Scheme (NEIDS), 2017.
This scheme is meant for granting incentives to new industrial units established in north east states, which also includes plywood industry.
Livestock exports not banned
The government has not banned the export of live goats and buffaloes to foreign countries, Piyush Goyal, stated in the Lok Sabha.
Live buffaloes are in “restricted” category where export is permitted under license from Directorate General of foreign trade, according to Schedule-2 of Chapter-I of the ITC (HS) Based Export Policy, 2018.
Export of live goats is “free” under the policy.
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