February 2, 2024
Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar’s Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address
Hon. Speaker, Sir, I stand here on behalf of All India Trinamool Congress in great reverence towards the speech of Mahamahim Rashtrapati Shrimati Droupadi Murmu. But I would like to ask a question also. Why is this the first time that she came here and not on the day that this grand building was inaugurated? What is the reason? Why was she not present, why was she not invited for the inauguration is a question. The other question is this. As her speech commented a lot on the nari shaktihere, we would like to say that when Nari Shakti Adhiniyam was passed by this House, there was a demand to increase the reservation beyond 30 per cent as my leader Mamata Banerjee has done in West Bengal without reservation being in force at that time. So here, when the Reservation Bill has been passed, it should cross that number. At this juncture, even day before yesterday, women have been molested and killed in the North eastern Region of the country, in Manipur. Can we really say that nari shakti is being revered and nari shakti is being propagated or is given an equal opportunity in this country? I do not think so. Beyond that, Mahamahim Rashtrapati ji was talking about the Constitution. I would like to quote here that the fabric of our Constitution is being violated every day in the nation today. The nation is seeing an unforeseen betrayal to democracy, an indifference to respect for individual liberty and a deafness and blindness to the cries of the tormented. But we do not see any action being taken by this Government. I take this opportunity to congratulate the scientists of this country, the scientists who successfully carried out the Chandrayan Mission and Aditya Mission. It is through their efforts that India became the first country to hoist its Flag on the Southern Pole of the Moon. It is the result of the hard work of the scientists — nobody else, no politician — who might have stayed away from many family reunions and might have given up on many nights of family life to take our country to this glory. In the same voice I would like say that a draconian notice is given by the National Medical Commission (NMC) to the doctors of service all over the country to act like bonded labours. They have to sign at 9 o’clock in the morning and sign at 4 o’clock in the morning. Now, doctors cannot be compared to any other professionals, not even the people who are working so hard. We have the judicial system. We have the teaching system. We have advocates. They all have a time of working. But doctors can be called at the middle of the night, at 2 a.m., to treat a patient of arrhythmia or a patient having atrial fibrillation. If all the doctors of the country, every doctor of the country, put down their pens, or they do a pen-down or a stetho down so to say one day, then who is going to treat the emergency patients? When a doctor is called at the middle of the night to do a caesarean to save a mother and child, a mother who is suffering from pre-eclamptic toxaemia, then the next morning he cannot be expected to be present in the hospital at 9 o’clock because he was working till 5 o’clock in the morning, between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. So, I would like to request the Government that this NMC should not be allowed to bring this notice and serve it on the doctors. I oppose it completely. It has happened and the notice has reached the different hospitals of the country. I would also like to bring to the notice here that in this country there is a demographic deficit. Nearly 44 per cent people who are seeking jobs are jobless. In the democracy, there is a shift of electoral autocracy. As far as the job market is concerned, in the last one fiscal, 135 million labour force was added which amounts to 450 million people looking for jobs. But there is no job market. There is no job. This is the first time possibly in Independent India that more than 45 per cent reverse migration is happening. People are going away from cities and towns towards villages looking for jobs in the farmland. But there also, the farming sector is being affected adversely by the increase in FDI. The farmers are also committing suicides. Farmers’ suicides are rising so much. It is the report of the NCRB that the farmers’ suicides are approximately rising to 11,290, one suicide per hour. This is a very serious note to be taken care of that we are not by the nari shakti and we are not standing by the farmers under the regime of this Government. I quote the speech of the hon. Rashtrapati ji when she says, ‘That this Government has made a contribution towards the wealth creators and believes in the private sector’ Then, why is it that more than one lakh families who were engaged industrially in this country as wealth-creators have given up their citizenship of this country and relocated to other countries? Is it in protest against the violation of human rights and respect to diversity in this country? It is a serious question. Today, she quoted another thing. I quote her:- “Forty-six per cent of the world’s total real time digital transactions took place in India.” Now, this digital transaction is also opening a death trap. Due to these digital transactions, suicide rate among the adolescent and young adults is increasing so much. She said that Rs. 1200 crore transactions were done through Unified Payment Interface (UPI). It has become the centre of the biggest UPI scam and the Government does not bother. How is that happening? It is happening because of the Apps. There are Apps which are being put up by one other country – I do not want to name the country – by a different country, a neighbouring country. There is no vigilance over those Apps. Due to this, there is a major rise in suicides and young people are falling into the trap by using those Apps and they are applying for loans. When they cannot repay the loans, they are committing suicides. She talked about the high-speed trains. But what about the tracks? These tracks were laid during the British Raj. After that, the tracks have not been repaired. पिरी इिनी सड़ी हुई हैतक जानलेवा दघुािनाएंहोिी रहिी हैं। हम इसकेऊपर वंदेभारि चलाएं या िास्ि रेन्स चलाएं िो एक्सीर्ेंि्स होिेरहेंगेऔर we will lose so many people. Without repairing the tracks, without laying new tracks, we should not be going in for these fast-moving trains. Then, again, coronary stents, knee implants, cancer medicines, prices have been reduced. Maybe the Government is self-congratulatory on that. But they mention that more than 12 per cent increase in costs of many life saving drugs has happened which is making it very difficult for those patients who have to take medicines related to hypertension and medicines related to diabetes because diabetes is rampant in India. India might be called diabetic capital of the world. The prices of medicines have increased in the whole of the nation. The highest number of diabetic cases are in our country. Mahamahim Rastrapati ji also talks about Nari Shakti again but women are paraded unclothed like we have seen in Manipur. They have been manhandled and nothing happened. This Government did not interfere in Manipur. Even day before yesterday, we have seen three people shot dead. Last month, we saw open fighting on the roads in Imphal. Business transaction is at its nadir in Manipur and also in the other Eastern States. So, what is the Government doing about it? We would also like to point out that if we want the womenfolk to come forward further, their remuneration should be paid on time. Time and again I have mentioned it here and written personally to the hon. Minister of Education that the premier institutes are seeing their students, their research scholars going without pay. In places like Indian Institute of Technology, the researchers, the PhD scholars are not getting paid. That is not mentioned here. The other thing is about the daily wage earners. It was decided that they would be given hundred days of work. But in the budgetary allocation of this very fiscal, their provision is only for 42 days. The total amount required would be Rs. 2.72 lakh crore but only Rs. 60,000 crore has been given. Why are the States not getting paid? In West Bengal, we have the hundred day workers who have not been paid for months together and they have worked. The statute is that they should be paid within 15 days after finishing the work. Now, months have turned up but they have not been paid. These people are being tortured familywise because they cannot run their home and hearth. The Government should sit up and take into cognisance the poor people of West Bengal who are suffering. Farmers’ deaths due to suicide, as per NCRB Report of 2022, are rising. The number was 11,290 in 2022. When you say that making farming more profitable is the intention of this Government, why is then FDI increasing? Foreign Direct Investment in farming sector in 2016-17 was 727.22 million dollars. In 2019-20, it was 904.70 million dollars. It shows that the farmers are not getting any benefit out of it because FDI is entering the farming sector also. Then, we see that the Government talks about the grain storage plan. In 2022-23, crop produced in the country was 3,296.87 lakh tonnes. But the storage capacity of the country was only 145 MMT. So, we have the capacity to store only half of the grains we produce and the remaining half is rotting on the streets in rain and sun. So, we are not equipped to give respect to the produce of the farmers. The farmers are producing the crops by their own toil but they are not getting any help from the Government at all. As far as Northeastern States are concerned, I do not know how this could be included in the speech. The Northeastern States have no development. There is no proper facility for their medical treatment; there is no proper facility for their education. I myself have visited three to four of the seven sister States. Their condition is very pitiable. The children do not have schools to go to; women do not have proper facilities for healthcare. So, North-east is not something we can boast of. This should not have found the place here. The renewable energy installed capacity has found the fourth place. It is congratulatory. But there is no mention about the grid conversion of renewable energy which is formed through the renewable sector. We are saying here that previously we had seven AIIMS and 390 medical colleges, and now the number has increased to 16 AIIMS. But where are the faculties? I know very well, being a doctor myself and being in the teaching line myself, that this NMC’s direction will further shrink the number of faculties. They are going to leave their jobs if NMC does not withdraw their draconian directions. We do not have faculties. So, you should organise teachers, get them from abroad and pay them properly. The doctors are not paid properly in the country. The doctors are working throughout the day and night. When a doctor’s telephones on the bedside table rings at 3 in the morning about a known patient who is getting pain in the chest, the doctor will not look at anything else. He will not think of anything else and he will just get up, take his car and go to the patient to perform cardiac resuscitation. But the doctors are being underpaid. This NMC regulation is like an added tension for the doctors. So, more people will leave the job. There is no faculty. You are making college buildings. But where is the faculty to teach the students? Students with lot of dreams will get into the medical line to learn about medicines, to stand by patients, to treat them and to get them well. But there is no teacher. There is no infrastructure. The building is not the infrastructure in medical field. It is the equipment. In the medical infrastructure, we have to have the technicians who teach you as to how to put the Ryle’s Tube in a patient. They should teach how to do a cannula and start the IV fluid. We do not even have that. So, the manpower and the infrastructure are lacking. Having building for AIMMS will not suffice. Then, again, we talk about the historical places which are being renovated and then there are many sites which are being discussed to be upgraded. In my Constituency, there is a place called Chandraketugarh. This is supposed to be nearly 3000 years old and after repeated requests to this Government, the Central Government, for 10 years, nothing happened. Then, my Chief Minister, hon. Mamata Banerjee allotted funds by which we got a site museum made and we have executed certain things that we found were relics in Chandraketugarh. A small museum is working there. I worked very hard for almost 10 years to get this museum put up. But, the excavation has been stopped. This was either in the Gupta Period or in the Mauryan Period. It has a port city also as shown in the relics and important structures to prove that there was business through the rivers up to Europe. We found the seals and statues also. But, the excavation has been stopped in Chandraketugarh by ASI. If you say that they are doing a lot, then, the first thing they should do is to take up Chandraketugarh and declare it a heritage site or a world heritage site. As they put forward arguments and Mahamahim Rashtrapati ji comes in and reads, I would like to say that the Government is really not doing justice to all segments of the people in the country like farmers, industrialists, students and naari shakti. Thank you, Sir.
