A REVIEW OF TODAY’S PARLIAMENT PROCEEDINGS

News On AIR | December 5, 2023 10:19 PM | A REVIEW OF TODAY'S PARLIAMENT PROCEEDINGS

A REVIEW OF TODAY’S PARLIAMENT PROCEEDINGS

Union Home Minister Amit Shah asserted in the Lok Sabha today that the concept of "one Flag, one Prime Minister, one Constitution" was not merely a political slogan as the BJP firmly believes in the principle and finally implemented it with regard to Jammu and Kashmir by nullifying Article 370. ” ”     He made the remarks in response to Trinamool Congress member Saugata Roy's statement during a discussion on the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill. ” ”     Roy had claimed that "ek nishan, ek pradhan, ek samvidhan" was a political slogan of the BJP. ” ”     Shah criticised his remarks as objectionable and wondered as to how a country can have two prime ministers, two constitutions and two flags. ” ”  He said Roy's remarks were "objectionable". ” ”     Whosoever allowed it was wrong and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has corrected it, he said, asserting that approval or disagreement of some opposition members do not matter as the entire country wanted it. ” ”     The BJP and the Jana Sangh, the forerunner to the ruling party, had been saying since 1950 that a country should have one PM, one flag and one constitution. The Modi government has implemented it, he said. ” ”     Soon after Roy ended his speech on the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said while the TMC leader mentioned Syama Prasad Mookerjee, he should have also recalled his sacrifice. ” ”     Roy said he had taught in a college named after Mookerjee and "ek nishan, ek pradhan, ek samvidhan" was his slogan and it was a political slogan. Shah then rose to hit back at the TMC member. ” ”     During the discussion, various opposition members, including Amar Singh and Manish Tewari, both Congress asked the home minister to tell the House when assembly elections will be held and statehood will be restored to Jammu and Kashmir, which was made a union territory in 2019. ” ”     Tewari wondered if the government has been violative of the Constitution in its handling of Jammu and Kashmir. Singh criticised the government for not giving people of the union territory their full democratic rights. ” ”     Shah said it is the Congress which imposed President's rule in a state by dismissing elected governments. ” ”     Union Minister Jitendra Singh in his intervention hit out at the Congress for not letting the Indian constitution and laws be implemented fully in Jammu and Kashmir due to its selfish political interests when the party was in power at the Centre. ”     He said Nehru had assured Mookerjee that Article 370, which gave special rights to Jammu and Kashmir and allowed its erstwhile Assembly to decide which Indian law will be implemented, will slowly fade away. ”     Article 370 never faded away and the Congress should instead thank the prime minister for scrapping it. The Congress due to its compulsion for family politics and selfish interests did not remove Article 370. Pro-people laws were not implemented in Jammu and Kashmir then, he said. ” ”     Speaker Om Birla cautioned Members against bringing placards in the Lok Sabha and said dignity and discipline need to be maintained in the House. ”     The comments by the Speaker came a day after Bahujan Samaj Party member Danish Ali hung a placard around his neck in protest demanding action against BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri for allegedly making derogatory remarks against him. ” ”     In the business advisory committee meeting yesterday, he said, there was a consensus among parties that they will not bring placards in the new Parliament House. He appealed to everyone to maintain dignity and discipline in Parliament. He will have to take action against MPs bringing placards, he said. ” ”     As Ali protested with a placard hung around his neck yesterday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi had brought it to the notice of the Speaker and requested him to ask Ali to remove the placard. ” ”     The speaker then told Danish Ali that it was against Parliamentary rules to come to the House with placards and asked the Bahujan Samaj Party Member to immediately go out of the House. ”     However, Ali continued with his protests demanding action against Bidhuri. ” ”     Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told the Lok Sabha that the Swaminathan Commission's report on agriculture reforms came during the UPA regime but it was the Narendra Modi government which started working on its recommendations and fixed the MSP at 50 per cent more than production cost. ” ”     Tomar said a committee, set up by the Centre following farmers' protest against three farm laws to examine various issues including minimum support price (MSP), has held 30 to 35 meetings so far. ” ”     The recommendations of the committee are yet to come, he told the Lok Sabha ” ”     The Union agriculture minister was replying to a query by the Congress' Leader in the House Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury during the Question Hour. The Congress leader had asked if the Centre had taken any decision on the farmers’ demand to make MSP a legal right. ” ”     In response to Chowdhury’s question, Tomar said the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government had set up the commission under MS Swaminathan but its report came when Congress-led United Progressive Alliance was at the helm under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. ” ”     The Manmohan Singh government then set up a group comprising then Union agriculture minister to consider the recommendations of the commission, Tomar said.  ”     He said the Swaminathan Commission had made 201 recommendations. Of them, the NDA government is working on 100 recommendations. But, the main recommendation was on MSP. Swaminathan had said MSP should be declared by adding 50 per cent profit on the cost. ” ”     He noted the UPA government was there till 2014. During the UPA regime, this recommendation was not considered and work on it began after Narendra Modi came to power. Today, MSP is declared by adding 50 per cent profit on the cost of production, the Agriculture Minister told the Lok Sabha. ” ”     The government spends 2.28 lakh crore rupees in purchases today, Tomar said, adding that there has been continuous progress so far. ” ”     Union minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay sparred over the issue of MGNREGA dues to West Bengal, with the BJP leader saying TMC members were only interested in politics and least bothered about the welfare of the people of the state. ”     Raising the issue during Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, Bandyopadhyay urged the rural development minister to clear the pending dues for West Bengal on account of the rural jobs scheme MGNREGA. ”     Bandyopadhyay said a Trinamool delegation had sought to meet Jyoti in October, but she had left without meeting them. ”     Hitting back at Bandyopadhyay, Jyoti, the Union Minister of State for Rural Development, said the Trinamool leader was levelling false allegations against her and she was in fact waiting for two-and-a-half hours in her office for the delegation from West Bengal. ” ”     She said they had sought an appointment for a five-member delegation and she agreed. ” ”     Ten minutes later, they said 10 members would come and she agreed. The minister said she waited for over two hours in the office and they later said all TMC Members will come. She said she agreed to that as well but the fact was that they were not interested in a meeting, they were only interested in propaganda. ” ”     The Trinamool Congress has been claiming that the Centre had not cleared 18,000 crore rupees due to West Bengal under various central schemes, including MGNREGA, PM Awas Yojana and National Health Mission. The Trinamool claims the dues have not been paid for the past two years. In response to this, Trinamool Congress members staged a walk-out from the Lok Sabha over Jyoti’s response. A DMK of Member in Lok Sabha sparked a controversy today by describing Hindi heartland states as "gaumutra states", and said the BJP can win elections only there and not in South India. ” ”     BJP leaders hit back at the DMK and asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi if he agreed with the insulting remarks of its INDIA bloc partner against the North Indians. ”     Participating in a debate in the House on two bills related to Jammu and Kashmir, D N V Senthilkumar said people of this country should think that the power of the BJP is only winning elections in the heartland states of Hindi and what we generally called as gaumutra states. ” ”     The comments come in the backdrop of some referring to the recent assembly election results as a 'North-South divide' after the BJP trounced the Congress in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and the Congress won in Telangana. ” ”     During the elections, the row over some DMK leaders' remarks against Sanatan Dharma had been latched on by the BJP to target the Congress. ” ”     Earlier this year, Congress had wrested Karnataka from the BJP, while other southern states are ruled by non-BJP parties including Tamil Nadu where Congress ally DMK is in power. ”     Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Senthilkumar said the BJP cannot come to South India. See all the results of what happens in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and the opposition is very strong over there, he said. ” ”     He went on to claim that it will not be a surprise if the BJP has an option of converting all these states into Union territories so that it can come into indirect power because it can never dream of setting foot over there and taking control of all the southern states. ”                                           ” REVIEW OF TODAY’S PROCEEDINGS ” ” The Rajya Sabha today discussed the current economic situation in the country after Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar admitted a notice for a short duration discussion on the issue. ” ” While the members of the BJP and its allies lauded the steps taken by the government to make India the fifth largest economy in the world overtaking the United Kingdom, the opposition parties raised concerns over the state of the economy and the growing unemployment and the price rise. ” ” This is the second day of the winter session of Parliament and he admitted a notice given by Derek O'Brien of Trinamool Congress for a short-duration discussion on 'bolstering the economy to boost equitable growth'. ” ” The discussion lasted four hours beginning at 2 PM and the chairman announced that it will continue tomorrow, given that opposition members are keen to participate in the discussion. ” ” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to reply to the discussion on tomorrow. ” ” Participating in the discussion, Congress MP and former finance minister P Chidambaram accused the government of steering jobless growth and asked whether the policies were skewed in favour of the rich. ” ” He said despite India becoming a large economy, growing at the fastest rate in the world with the largest FDI inflows, the growth is not seen on the ground. ” ” He said India's worker population rate — the number of workers to the total population — is 46 per cent which is quite low but acceptable given the various circumstances in the country. ” ” He said this means that only 23 per cent of the people work. This is more or less constant in the last nine and half years of the BJP government. ” ” Citing official data, he said the unemployment rate in the age group of 15-24 is 23.22 per cent; 42 per cent among graduates under the age of 25; 23 per cent among graduates between the age of 25-29 and nearly 10 per cent in graduates between the age of 30-34. ” ” Why is this spirited growth, scintillating growth not turning into jobs, he asked. ” ” Keeping in mind most employment in this country is self-employment 57 per cent, he said even regular-wage employees have declined from 24 per cent to 21 per cent. ” ” On price rise, he said even today the inflation is above the tolerance limit of 4-6 per cent of the RBI and food inflation is 9.2 per cent. ” ” Chidambaram also claimed that the net financial savings of people has come down to a historical 50-year low of 5.1 per cent. ” ” Ultimately, the question is who is this government for? Is it for the poor, or is its policy so skewed that it is in favour of the rich, the former finance minister asked. ” ” Alleging that this shows inequality, he claimed the bottom 50 per cent of the population own 3 per cent of national wealth and gets 13 per cent of the national income. ”     The Congress leader said this kind of growth is unacceptable, asserting that, "We need more balanced growth". ”     Sushil Kumar Modi of BJP said that if Chidambaram will see with the glasses of his Congress party, then he will not see the ground reality, as he lauded the steps taken by the Modi government in handling the economy. ”     GVL Narasimha Rao of BJP and Independent member Kartikeya Sharma said the GDP of the country has grown to USD 3.5 trillion with the economic initiatives taken by the current government. ”     The average inflation rate was 4.4 per cent while in the UPA period, it was almost in double digits, Rao said, adding that even the RBI had forecasted 5.4 per cent. ”     When the world is witnessing the highest inflation, India's inflation number is even below RBI level, he noted. ”     There is a turnaround in the economy, a transformation in the system and now money reaching needy people, he said. ”     Narasimha Rao compared the inflation and economic growth during UPA, saying they claim to have given great growth during the Manmohan Singh regime, but Prime Minister Modi in nine years has taken India to the fifth rank. ”     He said that by the completion of his next term, India will be the third largest economy in the world, claiming that it is what gives the BJP a fillip in elections. ”     In comparison, he alleged, the UPA has given 'double digit inflation' and a 'banking mess'. ”     The 'Amrit Kaal' has begun and 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' is India’s strategy for achieving its desired position in the global economy, the BJP member said. ”     Earlier initiating the discussion, O'Brien of TMC said how India's economy is looking good if it is seen from the perspective of stock market growth, the rich and billionaires and also from a GDP growth point of view. ”     O'Brien asked if the wealth that has been created is passed on equitably to the citizens while highlighting that rural inflation has turned higher than urban inflation for the first time in six years. ”     Ashok Kumar Mittal of Aam Aadmi Party member said that we should not only see Gross Domestic Product figures but we have to see facts also. ”     Sujeet Kumar of BJD stated that it is jobless growth and agreed with Mittal over the issue of rising unemployment in the country. ”     V Vijayasai Reddy of YSRCP pointed towards the widening trade deficit of India. ”     Manoj Jha of RJD stated that all taxation and other numbers do not reflect the true picture if the poor's food plate does not have anything. ”      Elamaram Kareem of CPI -M said tax concessions and incentives given to rich corporates are widening the gap between two Indias, the rich and the poor. ”     Aneel Prasad Hegde of JDU called for a permanent solution to the issues related to the economy in the country. ”     Abdul Wahab of IUML said that the government needs to see the real problem. ”     Rajeev Shukla of Congress also raised concerns over "growing" trade deficit and said inflation needs to be checked as people are facing difficulties. ”     Amee Yajnik of Congress also raised issues related to landless farmers and MSMEs. Following the Covid pandemic, thousands of MSME units, considered the backbone of the economy, closed down but the government does not have proper data on it, she claimed. ”     Earlier, G.V.L Narasimha Rao of BJP asked the Tamil Nadu government to register FIR, sack ministers for giving 'hate speech' against Sanatan Dharma. ”     He said the Constitution allows every religion, every member and every sect to practice their faith and even propagate it, he said, and demanded the sacking of the state ministers for their objectionable remarks. ”     Raising the issue during the Zero Hour in the Upper House, he said that a minister in the Tamil Nadu government indulged in hate speech against Sanatan Dharma and the Hindu religion. ”     "This is the agenda of the INDIA alliance," he said, adding that such statements constitute "hate speech". ”     Tiruchi Siva of DMK in his Zero hour mention demanded that an interim Central assistance of 5,000 crore rupees has been sought by the Tamil Nadu government to provide relief to people and rebuild infrastructure damaged by incessant rains in Chennai and some other districts of the state. He said heavy rains due to severe Cyclone Michaung have submerged Chennai and other districts. ”     At least nine people, including a child, were killed in the flooding and the havoc caused hours before the cyclone was due to make landfall. ”     The Enforcement Directorate has confiscated assets worth 15,186.64 rupees crore under the stringent prevention of money laundering law and almost all of these have been restituted to public sector banks, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed the house during question hour. ”     Replying to supplementaries, the minister said specific actions through various legal provisions are being taken against defaulters and as a result, "huge monies" are going back to the banks. ”     Sitharaman informed the House that as of March 31, 2023, legal suits were filed for recovery against 13,978 loan accounts, action under the SARFAESI Act has been initiated in 11,483 cases, FIRs have been filed in 5,674 cases, and an aggregate amount of 33,801 rupees crore has been recovered.

News On AIR | December 5, 2023 10:19 PM | A REVIEW OF TODAY'S PARLIAMENT PROCEEDINGS

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A REVIEW OF TODAY’S PARLIAMENT PROCEEDINGS

A REVIEW OF TODAY’S PARLIAMENT PROCEEDINGS