The Lok Sabha has taken up discussion on the motion of thanks to the President's address to the joint sitting of Parliament. Initiating the discussion, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also present, Tourism Minister Dr Mahesh Sharma highlighted the achievements of the government. <br/><br/>He said, the government is committed to provide good, transparent and corruption free governance. He said, schemes launched by the Centre are focusing towards poor, farmer and deprived sections of the society.<br/><br/>Dr. Sharma said, nearly 11,000 villages have been electrified in last two years and all villages of the country will be electrified by 2018. Launching a scathing attack on the opposition for not supporting the Prime minister on demonetisation issue, the Minister said, they should have shown magnanimity by hailing the move.<br/><br/>Dr Sharma termed the demonetisation move as historic as it aims at curbing corruption, black money, terror funding, and putting a check on counterfeit currency. He urged the opposition to speak in one voice in the matter of national interest.<br/><br/>Dr Sharma said, the government has launched Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Yojana, Atal Pension Yojana and many other schemes to improve the lives of people. He said, the government is also committed to upgrade the skills of youth to make them employable. <br/><br/>Before Dr Sharma started speaking, Congress Leader Mallikarjun Kharge wanted to raise issues related to death of former Union Minister E Ahmad as the House met after the first adjournment at noon. The Speaker did not allow. Protesting against this, Congress, RJD and Left members staged a brief walkout. <br/><br/>Speaking on the motion, BJP MP Birendra Singh lauded the government's efforts for the betterment of the people particularly farmers of the country.<br/><br/>Participating in the debate, Mallikarjun Kharge of Congress tried to corner the government on issue of demonetisation. He accused the government of implementing it without any concrete planning resulting in hardship to the common man. <br/><br/>He also sought to know from the government how much black money has been unearthed post- demonetisation. He said, the government's move towards leading the country on digital transaction is not practical as all people are neither educated nor have smartphones. <br/><br/>While Mr Kharge was making allegations, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar several times objected to his remarks saying that his allegations are baseless. Dr P Venugopal of AIADMK asked the government to remove the hardship of people living in rural areas hit by demonetisation. <br/><br/>He said, the situation is still not normal in rural areas. Mr Venugopal said that after the merger of Rail Budget in General Budget members will have no opportunity to seek new projects in their areas. Sougata Roy of TMC termed the President's address as half truth as it does not speak about the reality. <br/><br/>He charged the West Bengal Unit of BJP with depositing three crore old currency notes just before the announcement of demonetisation. The debate is continuing.<br/><br/>The BJP said, the country has become prosperous and the governance corruption-free during the past two and half years while making strides on development path. <br/><br/>Speaking in the Rajya Sabha on the resumed discussion on the Motion of Thanks, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Muktar Abbas Naqui said, all measures have been taken to make the country scam-free.<br/><br/>Rejecting allegations levelled by opposition parties that sufficient funds were not allocated to SC, ST and Minorities, the minister said, the share of minorities in the central government employees has gone up from 5.3 per cent to over 9 per cent.<br/><br/>Quoting the Minority commission report, he said, the communal incidents have decreased by over 200 per cent during the past two and half years.<br/><br/>Earlier, Sitaram Yechury of the CPI (M) alleged that deception, disruption and deviation are the essence of the President's address. He said, the Government is not allowing people to think by its unwarranted measures like demonetisation. <br/><br/>He said, the charges on the digital transactions are hurting the people. Alleging irregularities, Ahmed Patel of Congress demanded a through enquiry into the exchange of notes after demonetisation. <br/><br/>Rajeev Shukla of the same party said the Government has failed to take proactive steps to reform judiciary and in ensuring minimum support price to farmers for their produce. Referring to Swachh Bharat Mission, he asked the government to set up a green brigade to ensure cleanliness and create employment as the Government is collecting Swachh Cess. <br/><br/>Earlier, La. Ganesan of BJP said, the demonetisation of high value currency notes was supported by people. Expressing concern over the long-time gender disparity, Mr Ganesan suggested for adopting- one son two daughters -policy to end the discrimination.