Review of proceedings in Lok Sabha

Lok Sabha on Thursday (7th December 2023) passed the Central Universities (Amendment) Bill by a voice vote. Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan thanked members of different parties who extended support to the Bill. ”      ”Addressing their concerns, he said the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ensured that seats under reserved quotas in education institutions are filled and interests of the students are prioritised. ”      ”The House has taken up a discussion on the Central Universities (Amendment) Bill,2023 with members across the party lines supporting it. ”        ”The Bill seeks to establish the Sammakka Sarakka Central Tribal University in Telangana in pursuance of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. ”      ”Various members used the occasion to highlight related issues in their states with Rajiv Pratap Rudy of BJP regretting dismal state of higher education in Bihar. ”      ”Saugata Roy of TMC attacked the Union government for what he described as the poor state of Visva-Bharati University, which is a central university. ”      ”Shashi Tharoor of Congress urged the government to consider hiking significantly the stipend of non-NET research fellows, asserting that their contributions are pivotal in advancing the country's growth in research and development. ”        ” Raising the issue during 'zero hour', he highlighted the plight of non-NET research fellows in terms of insufficient resources in their institutions, inadequate support from their supervisors and absence of grievance redressal committees. ”        ”The government must address these and also ensure regular disbursements of stipend without delays, he said. ”      ” He sought the attention of the Education Minister and the chairperson of the University Grants Commission towards the plight of the non-NET PhD research fellows concerning the stipend they have received. ”      ” He said these are scholars that do not get scholarships through the UGC-NET exam, however, the researchers get a stipend of 8,000 rupees per month and a contingency of 10,000 rupees per annum for science subjects and 8,000 rupees per annum for humanities, social science subjects which has remained the same since 2006. ”  ”Unlike the other fellowship programmes, the stipend is yet to be subject to revision, he noted. ”        ”Normally revision takes place every four years, normally there should have been four upward revisions in the fellowship amounts they have been getting, he said. ”        ”Stressing that the University Grants Commission is responsible for ensuring conducive environment for scholars to conduct research, Tharoor said delayed revisions have imposed a financial burden due to the rise in inflation which has impacted their daily lives and their commitment to doing meaningful and impactful research. ”      ”Mahabali Singh of JD (U) raised the issue of justice to investors in the Sahara Group who have not got their money back. ”      ” He said thousands have committed suicide as they could not get back the money which they had set aside for things such as the wedding of their daughters and medical treatment. Despite this Sahara conglomerate has not returned their money ”      ”Maximum investors are from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, he said, requesting the government to ensure justice for the investors. ”      ”Speaking during the zero hour, Revolutionary Socialist Party MP N K Premchandran of urged the government to come up with a bill ensuring minimum allowance to the anganwadi workers and helpers, medical benefits and a pension on their retirement. ”      ”Dharambir Singh of BJP Termed live-in relationships a "dangerous disease" that needs to be eradicated from society and urged the government to make a law against it. ”        ”Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha during 'zero hour', he also said divorce rates in love marriages were high and the consent of the parents of the bride and groom should therefore be made mandatory for such alliances.   It is a very serious issue, he said. ”      ”Indian culture is known for its philosophy of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam and  brotherhood. Our social fabric is different from others in the world. The whole world is impressed by our unity in diversity, he said. ”        ”Noting that India has a long tradition of arranged marriages, Singh said a large section of society even to this day gives priority to marriages arranged by parents or relatives. ”      ”This has the consent of the bride and groom and arranged marriages are based on a match of several common factors such as social and individual values and likes as well as family backgrounds, he said. ”      ”Marriage is considered a sacred relationship that continues for seven generations, he said, adding that divorce rate is about 1.1 per cent in India as compared to America which has a rate of about 40 per cent. ”      ”It has been observed that the rate of divorce in arranged marriages is very less. However, there is a lot of increase in divorce rate recently and the main reason for it is love marriages, Singh said. ”      ”He suggested that the consent of mother and father of the bride and groom be made mandatory in love marriages because in large parts of the country marriage does not happen in the same 'gotra' and due to love marriages there are a lot of conflicts in the villages. Scores of families are destroyed in these conflicts, therefore the consent of both the families is important, he said. ”      ”Singh said a new disease has emerged and this social evil is called "live-in relationship". Under this, two persons, man or woman, live together without marriage, he added. ”      ”K Suresh of Congress asked the government to take steps to stop caste-based discrimination in higher educational institutes. ”      ”He said data reveals that around 13,500 students belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes have dropped out of central universities, IITs and IIMs in the last five years. ”      ”The figures would be much higher in the coming year as discrimination against SC, ST and OBC students by faculty members have increased and intolerance is being promoted by the government, he alleged during a discussion on the Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2023 ”        ”The number of student suicides in IITs and IIMs was 33, while in higher educational institutes it was 122 between 2014 and 2021, he said and demanded that an effective mechanism against caste discrimination be established by the government. ”      ” Every university, IIT and IIM must have a dedicated body, with quasi-judicial powers, to deal with atrocities against backward communities, he said.

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Review of proceedings in Lok Sabha