Incidents of cybercrime have increased by more than 84 per cent in Punjab, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar said in reply to a query during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Interestingly, Himachal Pradesh witnessed a decline, during the same period, and Haryana also witnessed a minor rise.
In Punjab, the number of cybercrime increased from 378 in 2020 to 697 in 2022. As many as 551 criminal cases were recorded in 2021.
In Himachal Pradesh, the numbers decreased from 98 in 2020 to 77 in 2022. Comparatively, there has been a smaller increase in neighbouring Haryana. The number of cases increased from 656 in 2020 to 681 in 2022. In fact, the cases had fallen to 622 in 2021.
72 held for GST evasion
As many as 72 persons have been arrested in Punjab for the evasion of GST since the implementation of the tax in 2017, said Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in reply to a question by MP Vikramjit Singh Sahney in the Rajya Sabha.
Till December 2024, as many as 2,586 people were booked for evading more than Rs 6,454 crore in total in the state.
Central team to probe MGNERGS irregularities
A Central probe team will look into the alleged irregularities in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in Gurdaspur district, said the Minister of State for Rural Development, Kamlesh Paswan in reply to a query posed by MPs Sher Singh Ghubaya and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha. The team will focus on identified panchayats of Dera Baba Nanak and Kalanaur tehsils of the district.
‘No plan to open Central university in Sangrur’
At present, there is no plan to establish a Central university in Sangrur, according to Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale.
He said this replying to a question by MP Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer. He also said Punjab recorded 32 per cent Scheduled Castes population in the Census of 2011, which was the highest in the country.
