<span style="color: #222222;">The Government today reiterated that the Life Insurance Corporation is not going to be privatized and only the initial public offering, IPO will be issued.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Responding to a discussion on the second batch of supplementary demands for 2020-21, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur said, the government has taken a series of measures for the welfare of people during the Covid-19 pandemic.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">He said, more than Rs. 31 thousand crore have been transferred to around 20 crore bank accounts of women.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">He said, 80 crore people have been provided free foodgrains over a period of eight months during the pandemic.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Participating in the discussion, Prof. Sougata Roy of Trinamool Congress raised the issue of rise in inflation saying that the government is silent on this issue.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">He said, fiscal deficit is continuously rising which is not a good indicator for the overall health of the economy.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Echoing the same view, Vinayak Raut of Shiv Sena asked the government about the measures taken for controlling the rise in inflation.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">He said, the government should focus on allocation of more funds for the development of rural areas.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">NCP MP Supriya Sule wondered as to why the government is in a hurry to disinvest PSUs.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">She alleged that the Centre is not releasing the GST share of the State governments on time which is hampering the implementation of various social sector schemes.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Tapir Gao of BJP said that the government has done tremendous works in various sectors under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">He demanded to open AIIMS at every north-eastern States.</span><br />''