Parliament watch: No proposal on transaction charges for UPI, Navya scheme launched for adolescent girls and more

No Proposal on Transaction Charges for UPI
There is no proposal to levy transaction charges on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transfers, minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary told the Lok Sabha. In a separate reply, Chaudhary said that as on March 31, 2025, outstanding unsecured retail loans of scheduled commercial banks stood at `15,08,586 crore. Their share remains modest—25% of retail loans and 8.3% of gross advances — and does not pose a systemic risk to banks’ asset quality, he added.

NAVYA Scheme Launched for Adolescent Girls
The NAVYA (Nurturing Aspirations through Vocational Training for Young Adolescent Girls) scheme, a joint initiative of the skill development and entrepreneurship ministry and the women and child development ministry, was launched in June 2025 to empower girls aged 16–18 in aspirational districts. The programme aims to provide them with skills for socio-economic independence, minister of state (independent charge) for skills development Jayant Chaudhury told the Lok Sabha on Monday.

AI upskilling 8.65 lakh candidates
Artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to create jobs in areas such as data science and data curation. So far, 8.65 lakh candidates have been enrolled or trained across courses, including 3.20 lakh in AI and big data analytics, minister of state for labour and employment Shobha Karandlaje told the Lok Sabha on Monday.