Author: aitc

Sir, I am referring to Rule 29(2). And, we are not disputing the authority of the Chair rather this rule empowers the Chair that any issue can be discussed with the permission of the Chair even if it is not listed in the List of Business. That is the rule. So, we accept that. This bickering, this exchange of heat could not have been there provided your Honour could have told, at the very beginning, that a communication was received from Shri Jayant Chaudhary… Sir, I am not creating any controversy. Please listen to me. We are not creating any controversy. सर, आप मुझे बोिने दीनजए। प्िीज़, मुझे एक नमनट बोिने दीनजए। महोदय, नजन्हें भारत रत्न नदये गये हैं, उनके निए हम सभी के मन में, हमारी पाटी के मन में श्रद्धा है। हम इस पर कोई नडरप्यूट नहीं चाहते हैं, िेनकन आज जो कु छ भी हुआ, वह ठीक नहीं हुआ। इसके निए पहिे ही बता देना चानहए था नक यह इश्यू नडरकस होना है।

Sir, thank you for giving me the time to say a few words on the Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Castes Order (Amendment) Bill, 2024. Sir, I would start by noting that gujjars and bakarwals are among the STs who are being given reservation under this Order. It is very strange that selective Muslim tribes have been brought in into the Scheduled Tribe Order whereas Muslims are debarred by and large from availing of SC and ST facilities. If there is a Christian ST, a tribal who has adopted Christianity as his religion by volition or by whatever historical reasons, he is debarred. But here you bring a constitutional order bringing one section of the Muslims as ST to give them security, reservation privilege. Basically, Sir, I can submit that it is divide and rule. When you talk of gujjars and bakarwals, this Government has made a lot of outreach to them. We are aware of it. We are also aware of the firing on civilians that took place recently after an encounter incident which is very sad because the victims were the same gujjars and bakarwals. Of course, enquiries have been taken up. Now the issue that I would like to raise, if you kindly permit, in the context of J&K and in the wider context is that the politics of castes and tribes is a colonial hangover. When you speak of colonial hangover, why do you perpetuate it? Either you accept the fact that certain people in India who are deemed to be Scheduled Tribes today have gone through the same experiences of repression, deprivation, subjugation and non-entitlement. Just because a part of them have moved on to accept some other religion, you cannot go on penalising them. You burnt them when they were Hindus. You boiled them. Now they have left Hinduism. You can’t have it two ways. छाती बड़ी कीिजए, िदल बड़ा कीिजए। This is not the way to run a country. When I look back at the steps taken by the Government, even in J&K, I am tempted to point out developments in my State of West Bengal. The literacy rate of SCs and STs in West Bengal is at least 8-10 per cent higher. If you want, I can quote it. The all India SC Gross Enrolment rate is 75 and ours is 85. On every count, when you wonder why West Bengal stands ahead of certain other States in terms of social equity and justice, you must look back at these figures. It is good that you have gone in for reservation. I hope that the Scheduled Castes that you are talking about are locals. There is a feeling that the locals are being pushed back to the wall. There is a feeling that this Government is blase, is indulgent when it comes to reservation. My good friend Neeraj Dangi mentioned about the De-reservation Order that the UGC had drafted. Sir, I express the apprehension of the House across the Benches at the fact that the reservation policy is being nibbled away and is sought to be diluted. It is not in the interest of the nation to seek excuses and to keep diluting the order. It was started with De-reservation Order on SCs and STs in education. Tomorrow, it will extend to employment. Tomorrow, it will extend to other area. Please take a firm resolve across the table that de-reservation is a crime. It should not be touched. Whereas if you do not find suitable candidates even after the second or third attempt, dilute the provision by 10-20 per cent. But please do not touch reservation. Please do not go in for any step that militates against centuries of oppression. Sir, about Kashmir, I would humbly submit this. I would not get into the politics of a State in which security is involved but I would humbly submit that there is a vast and a strong impression that we are acting almost as an occupation force. This impression should not be there. We should get into the hearts of the people and not talk down to tell them what is wrong with them. No people anywhere in India would accept a forceful order telling them how to behave. We have to make sincere attempts to give the feeling that law and order is a select subject, is a surgical matter and not a boxing glove. That is all. With that, I have made my comment on both the Orders. Thank you, Sir.

Six minutes, Sir; it is a two-hour Bill. We have only one speaker. It is two-hour Bill, ना? No; it is only one speaker. Yes, it is only one speaker. Sir, I rise to stand in support of the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024. As we know, the Bill seeks to curb paper leaks and malpractices in recruitment examinations and entrance tests such as NEET and JEE. It is good that besides UPSC, SSC, Railways Recruitment exams, Banking and Government Departmental exams, this Bill covers all online exams conducted by the NTA, that is, the National Testing Agency. Sir, we are all against unfair means because this is something which, essentially, harms the future of the youth of the country. The problem of using unfair means has nowadays become endemic. This is a very serious problem and we do not want to politicise such an issue. It is a very appropriate and timely Bill and we all should be on board on this. Sir, all of us, cutting across party lines, have come together and we wish to eradicate this malice. Sir, I would like to highlight how Bengal has been harnessing technology to work towards eradicating such malpractices. Recently, during a Class X Board-level examination, all the question papers were marked with small QR codes besides each question. What happened in the process was, the moment a picture was taken and circulated, the particular question centre was known and soon, within one hour, we were able to apprehend two culprits. The whole process, which could have blown out of proportion, could be brought under control. So, Sir, this is one positive example from my State and I believe all of us should use the good practices from all the States for a better future. I am sure many other States and the Union Government will also use technology in innovative ways to eliminate such malpractices. Sir, I would like to say that we stand in support of the Bill, but just passing the Bill and having a new law in place will not solve the problem. The real challenge lies in its implementation. We have often seen how even officers are complicit in the whole affair. We have to change the whole ecosystem and the way of our thinking because the magnitude of this problem is large. A recent report studying documented instances of 41 leaks over the last five years across 15 States revealed that these leaks affected the future of around 1.5 crore aspirants. These range from Teacher Eligibility Tests in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, the Police recruitment examinations in Assam, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, a Forest Recruitment Examination in Uttarakhand and Engineering Recruitment Examinations in Telangana, Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Sir, I am not blaming any State. I don’t intent to blame anyone, but I am sure every State Government is doing what is best at their disposal to tackle this problem. Sir, what the aspirants go through when something like this happens is, just as the previous speaker, Shri Prakash Javadekar was referring, years and years of their hard work is wasted. It is tragic that some students even commit suicide. That is most deplorable. All of this is happening at a time when the country is already witnessing an unprecedented job crisis. Sir, in the recently concluded quarter of October to December, 2023, joblessness among youth in the age group of 22 to 24 has grown to 45 per cent, which means that two out of five Graduates under the age of 25 are unemployed. On the other hand, there are a lot of vacancies in Government departments. So, the priorities need to be sorted first. We all remember who promised two crore jobs every year. So, Sir, while we welcome this Bill, we must address the more serious problem of joblessness in this country. Thank you, Sir.

Sir, there is a recent event from Meghalaya, which I wish to highlight in this august House. At the start of the current Budget Session of the Meghalaya Assembly, it was announced that the hon. Governor would deliver his Address to the House in Hindi. This was supported by the BJP in Meghalaya and the Meghalaya Leader of the BJP even incorrectly claimed saying, ‘Hindi is our national language; so, what is the problem?’ Let me highlight here that Hindi is not our national language. The official language of the State of Meghalaya is English. Meghalaya also has a proud linguistic culture that includes the native languages of Garo and Khasi. Despite repeated demands by the people of Meghalaya as well as my Party, Trinamool Congress, the Union Government has not yet included Garo and Khasi in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India. Now, in this context, the hon. Governor of Meghalaya choosing to address the Assembly in Hindi, instead of the State’s official language English, is nothing but a brazen Hindi imposition and an attempt to undermine the linguistic pride of Meghalaya. Sir, we have recently seen the Government passed three new criminal laws in Parliament after suspending 146 MPs. For some strange reason, these laws have been given very complicated Hindi names like Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, etc. Let me remind the House here that outside of North India, Hindi is not the native language of crores of Indians. This is precisely why our Constitution chose to retain English as an official language along with Hindi. The imposition of Hindi by the Union Government has even led to an hon. Judge of the Madras High Court saying, ‘I do not know how to pronounce the names of these new criminal laws. I am going to keep calling them I.P.C. and Cr.P.C.’ Sir, Bangla, which is spoken in my State of West Bengal is India’s second most spoken language after Hindi. Similarly, languages from the South and the West like Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Telugu and Tulu have their own rich and cultural heritage and our people take pride in our languages. There is a reason that English has been retained as an official language in our Constitution along with Hindi. However, the attempts by the current Government to forcibly impose Hindi, which is barely spoken by 46 per cent of the population, on the rest of India is a matter of * Sir, there is absolutely no respect for local languages. Every new name that this Government gives is given in Hindi for some reason. Are languages of the West, the South and the East not important in this country and our regional languages have no meaning? Sir, I would, therefore, like to appeal that English as an official language must be used for Government Business that extends to all of India including non-Hindi speaking States. When our Constitution mandates both Hindi and English as official languages, the imposition of Hindi over English and vernacular languages by the Government is an affront to our federal structure and a shocking disregard of the States that do not speak Hindi. Thank you, Sir.

सभापित महोदय, my subject is ‘Regarding Land Deed (Patta) to Tea Garden Workers in West Bengal’. प�श्चमी बंगाल मेंलम्बेसमय सेचाय बागान मजदूरों की चली आ रही जो िडमांड थी, उसके िलए राज्य की माननीया मुख्य मं�ी सु�ी ममता बं�ोपाध्याय ने Land Acquisition Act पािरत कर िदया िक चाय बागान मजदूरों को जमीन का प�ा िमले। उनको जमीन का प�ा िदया जा रहा है, लेिकन Plantation Labour Act, 1951 के तहत कु छ ऐसेिनयम हैं, िजनके आधार पर कु छ कम्पनीज़ एवं मैनेजमेंट जमीन का प�ा देनेसेइनकार कर रहेहैं। िजन-िजन कम्पनीज़ नेजमीन का प�ा िदया, वहाँ राज्य की माननीया मुख्य मं�ी सु�ी ममता बं�ोपाध्याय के �ारा उनको के वल प�ा ही नहीं, ब�ल्क िजतनी जमीन पर लोग रहते हैं, जहाँ उनका क्वाटर्र है, उसका demarcation करके, उसका जो टोटल एिरया है, उसकी जो बाउंडरी है, उस टोटल जमीन को भी �िमकों को िदया जा रहा है। जमीन का प�ा देनेके साथ ही साथ, उन गरीब चाय बागान मजदूरों को बंगला आवास योजना के 1,20,000 �पयेभी िदयेजा रहेहैं। Approximately 22,000 चाय बागान �िमकों को यह सुिवधा दी गयी है। सर, माननीया मुख्य मं�ी जी नेचाय बागान �िमकों के िलए जो उ�म िकया, वह सराहनीय है। 1951 मेंजो अमेंडमेंट था, PLA के तहत जो ए�ीमेंट था, उसमेंलोग दो िकस्म के components पातेथे। एक cash component था, जो 250 �पया हैऔर दूसरा, additional component है। लोग जो अभी HRA नहीं पाते हैं, मेिडकल अलाउंस नहीं पातेहैं, सैिनटेशन की सुिवधा नहीं पातेहैं, लेिकन राज्य की माननीया मुख्य मं�ी जी ने�त्येक चाय बागान को के �न्�त करके करीब 44 हॉ�स्पटल्स बनाये, िजनमेंअब एमबीबीएस डॉक्टसर्की सुिवधाएँउपलब्ध हैं। चाय मजदूरों के िलए िबना पैसेके पेयजल, िबना पैसेका राशन और िबना पैसेके स्वास्थ्य पिरसेवा की व्यवस्था की गयी है, यह सराहनीय है। महोदय, हम के न्� सरकार सेदरख्वास्त करतेहैंिक PLA Act, 1951 का जो िबल पािरत हुआ, उसको ठीक करेएवं वहाँजो मािलक एवं चाय बागान का मैनेजमेंट उनको जमीन का प�ा देनेके िलए NOC देना नहीं चाह रहेहैं, उसको ठीक करे। साथ ही साथ उनकी िरटायरमेंट की उ� जो 58 साल है, उसको वह 60 साल करे, क्योंिक सरकारी िनयम के आधार पर 60 साल मेंही िरटायरमेंट होती है। राज्य सरकार हरेक काम कर रही है, लेिकन के न्� सरकार को भी गरीब चाय बागान मजदूरों के िलए सोचना पड़ेगा। वहाँिविभ� �कार की जो समस्याएँहैं, िविभ� �कार की उनकी जो �ॉब्लम्स हैं, हर �ॉब्लम को राज्य की माननीया मुख्य मं�ी जी नेबखूबी देखा हैएवं वह अिधकार, जो िक 200 साल पुराना था, उन लोगों को िमला। इसिलए हम माननीया मुख्य मं�ी जी को धन्यवाद ज्ञापन करतेहैंिक उन्होंनेगरीब मजदूरों के िलए काम िकया। …. जय िहन्द, जय माँ, माटी, मानुष!