Real Estate (Regulation and
Development) Bill
1)
The Union Cabinet approved the Real Estate (Regulation and
Development) Bill, which will address a long-standing demand to set up a
regulator for the real estate sector.
2)
The real estate Bill seeks to :
i.
protect the interests of consumers
ii.
establish regulatory bodies at the Centre and the States for
ethical and transparent business practices in the sector
3)
Salient Features of the bill :
a)
Mandatory registration with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority
of all projects and real estate agents who sell plots, apartments or buildings.
b)
Disclosure of all information about registered projects such as
details of promoters, layout plan, land status, schedule of execution and
status of various approvals will be mandatory.
c)
The Bill seeks to enforce the contract between the developer and
the buyer
d)
A fast-track mechanism to settle disputes
4)
The Bill is expected to ensure greater accountability on and reduce
frauds and delays. Also, it is expected to promote a regulated and orderly
growth of the sector.
5)
These measures are expected to boost domestic and foreign
investment in the sector and help achieve the objective of the Government of India
to provide ‘Housing for All by 2022’, through enhanced private participation.
6)
Difference between
new bill and the earlier bill :
i.
The earlier Bill mandated that a developer put 70 per cent of the
buyer’s investment into an escrow account to be used only for the construction
of the particular project. The Housing Ministry brought this down to 50 per
cent in the new bill.
ii.
The other major change was to bring the commercial segment of the
real estate sector within the ambit of the Bill, which was earlier limited to regulating only the
residential segment.
iii.
The new Bill now includes a condition that prohibits a developer
from changing the plan in a project unless two-thirds of the allottees have
agreed for such a change.
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Call '112' for all emergency services
1)
TRAI recommended the use of a single number ‘112’ for all
emergency services in the country, including police, fire brigade and ambulance.
2)
Presently, callers in India need to dial in different numbers for
different emergencies such as 100 for police, 101 for fire, 102 for ambulance
and 108 for emergency disaster management.
3)
From a user’s perspective, it is simpler and desirable to have a
single number for all types of emergencies.
4)
The regulator proposed that existing emergency numbers be retained
as secondary numbers and the calls made to them be re-routed to ‘112’. However,
once calls to the secondary numbers reduce significantly, they can be withdrawn
gradually.
5)
Callers seeking help will be able to dial ‘112’ even from mobile
or landline phones where outgoing facility has been debarred or the service
temporarily suspended.
6)
SMS-based access for the emergency services has also been proposed.
7)
TRAI has recommended setting up of Public Safety Answering Points
(PSAPs), which will be akin to a call centre, through which all calls to ‘112’ will
be routed.
Ø When an emergency call is
received at the PSAP, it would be answered by a specially trained officer/call
taker/ operator based on the type of emergency, dispatchers activate police, fire,
medical and other response mechanisms.
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