The Union Cabinet at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday approved the introduction of a bill to ban unregulated deposit schemes and tackle the menace of illicit deposit taking activities in the country. The bill seeks to ensure that companies and institutions running such schemes to exploit existing regulatory gaps and lack of strict administrative measures to dupe poor and gullible people of their hard-earned savings are stopped.

The Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2018, will provide a comprehensive legislation to deal with the menace of illicit deposit schemes in the country through complete prohibition of unregulated deposit taking activity, deterrent punishment for promoting or operating an unregulated deposit taking scheme and stringent punishment for fraudulent default in repayment to depositors, a release said.

The Cabinet also cleared the introduction of the Chit Funds (Amendment) Bill, 2018, in Parliament so as to facilitate orderly growth of the chit funds sector and remove bottlenecks being faced by the chit funds industry, thereby enabling greater access of people to other financial products.

Mahanadi tribunal: The Cabinet approved the proposal for adjudication of dispute on Mahanadi river waters. The Tribunal shall determine water sharing among basin states on the basis of the overall availability of water in the complete Mahanadi basin, contribution of each state, the present utilisation of water resources in each State and the potential for future development.

Housing fund: The Cabinet also approved creation of National Urban Housing Fund (NUHF) for Rs 60,000 crore. This fund will be situated in Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC), an autonomous body registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

The ministry has so far sanctioned 39.4 lakh houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban).

Nearly 87,000 housing loans have been sanctioned in the last eight months under the Scheme and over 40,000 applications are under consideration for approval. The target is to cater to the demand of housing shortage of nearly 1.2 crore and make available housing to all by 2022, when the country celebrates its 75th Anniversary of Independence.

The Cabinet approved de-notification of land overlapping with NHAI for setting up of a bus bay near Indian Defence University Land in Gurugram, Haryana. The Cabinet also approved refund of Rs. 1,82,719 by Government of Haryana towards de-notification of land to Ministry of Defence, which was paid to Government of Haryana at the time of acquisition in 2011.

The Cabinet gave its ex-post facto approval to an Agreement on Film Co-production between India and Israel signed during the visit of Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu to India, in the presence of both the Prime Ministers.

It also gave ex-post facto approval to the Cooperation Agreement between India and the Moroccan National Railways Office (ONCF) to develop long-term cooperation and partnership in different areas of railway sector. The Cooperation Agreement was signed on December 14 last year.