Author: aitc

Sir, thank you for giving me the opportunity to oppose the Bill. Sir, you have permitted me to have my say. I would submit to you, Sir, first and foremost as a citizen of India, see the devastation that environment laws have failed to control. You have air pollution, water pollution, environment sensitive zone, wildlife, Forest Act, etc. Each one remains a devastated pillar of failure. This one is just one more addition. We have seen Governments for the last seventy years-plus. But we have not seen such a determined Government, a Government so determined to use the legitimacy of law, of structure to destroy the heart and core of it. This one is just an act that brings in something to legitimise offences. You have mining, effluents, CO₂, etc. They are full of exemptions. There are 200-plus State and Central laws which have control but it was ultimately people and crusaders like M.C. Mehta who had to come before the Supreme Court to make them effective. The specific reason for objecting to this Bill is, as my hon. friend has mentioned, छुटकारा दो, exempt करो, भय खत्म करो – भय िकससेहै? The offender has to get scared in a State. A State cannot run, a Government cannot run on love and fresh air. Where there is a question of offending against human society, polluting the atmosphere, polluting water and destroying forests, the offender must have a sense of fear because he is offending against nature, against humanity. This Government cannot go on exempting offenders and granting them reprieves. This Bill is full of them. This Bill again goes in for centralization of powers. There is Section 21 in the mother Act which says that the State Government and the State Boards may take power. Here, there is an attempt to centralize everything by bringing all the powers to Section 25, Section 26 and Section 27. Section 25 is to stop effluents from spoiling the Ganga, the Yamuna and other water bodies. Section 26 is for those who have already got exemption like the Kanpur tanneries and others too go in for certain effluent discharge. All the sections are being diluted. There have been more exemptions under the environment sensitive zones than punishments. The mood of the Government is very clear. They have brought in a term called ‘Adjudicating Officer’. That could be a Central Officer or a State Officer. Incidentally, all the directions in a federal polity are to be consultative. But here there are absolute unilateral powers with the Central Government to determine whether a State Officer can be an Adjudicating Officer. आप कौन हैमुझेबताने वालेिक मेरी Îटेट मȂिकसको पावर दी जाए? This one is actually an anti-federal law. Clause 45C of the present Bill says that any act by an Adjudicating Officer, any decision by an Adjudicating Officer can be appealed against straight to the National Green Tribunal. Sir, between a town that has an effluent problem and the National Green Tribunal, there is a State. I have no objection if it goes to the NGT. The only question is of expenses. The poor man, who fights against industrialists, who is out there to destroy mining, to destroy those industries that discharge effluent and make the holy Yamuna look ugly, full of chemical foam..

Madam, while standing to speak on this Bill, it really gives me pain when I recall that the respected President of India who belongs to a tribal community is not invited during the inauguration of this New Parliament Building or during the Pran Prathishtha in Ayodhya. This reflects how this Government respect the tribal communities at large. I also recall about one BJP leader urinating on the face of a tribal person in Madhya Pradesh. This is very unfortunate. Sir, I once again thank you on behalf of my party and my leader Madam, Mamata Banerjee; I am here to speak on this Bill. This Amendment seeks to modify the list of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in relation to Odisha. The modification of the list is a recommendation from the State to the Centre, scrutiny by the Tribal affairs or Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry and consent from the National Commissions for SCs and STs. I trust that the Commissions have scrutinised this proposal adequately and are convinced of its merit. In 2011, the Census said that 8.6 per cent of the country’s population was composed of the tribal people amounting to 10.4 crore people. I urge the Government to conduct the 2021 census at the earliest so that we can update our data and provide benefits to our most vulnerable citizens. Madam, these legislations being planned cannot be based on a ten year old population data frame. The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of SC and ST students at the undergraduate level, standing at 23 per cent and 17.2 per cent respectively, is very unsatisfactory – both numbers being short of the national average of 26.3 per cent. The Central Educational Institutions (Reservations in Admission) Act, 2006 mandates 15 per cent, 7.5 per cent, 27 per cent quotas for SC, ST and OBC students. However, the acceptance rate of applications for SC, ST and OBCs in IIMs has been below four per cent for the past four years. IIM, Ahmedabad received 78 PhD applications from STs between 2018-19 and 2021-22, but only two have been accepted. IIM, Bangalore accepted only three out of 188 applications by SCs, STs and others. Only, 2.5 per cent or 137 ST students, out of 3430 eligible applicants, were admitted across all IITs last year. There are 23.51 per cent Scheduled Caste and 5.8 per cent Scheduled Tribe out of total population in my home State of West Bengal. The educational situation of ST communities also raises concerns. According to 2011 census reports, the SC’s and ST’s literacy rate in India was that for male, it was 75.2 per cent for SCs and 68.5 per cent for STs and, for female, it was 56.5 per cent for SCs and 49.4 per cent for STs. The West Bengal’s SCs and STs literacy rate for male was 84.54 per cent for SCs and 74.15 per cent for STs and for female, literacy rate was 64.9 per cent for SCs and 43.51 per cent for STs. Three Santali Medium Schools at Keshpur, Debra and Ghatal in West Medinipur have been set up. Coaching is provided for JEE, NEET exam through 36 centres across the State especially for the poor students belonging to the SC and ST community. We have put in place an SC/ST Pension Scheme, to take care of the vulnerable elderly in these communities. We have also established various lending programmes to help grow entrepreneurship in these communities. To ensure holistic and sustainable development of ‘Lodha Sabar’ Communities in Jungle Mahal areas, the ‘West Bengal Lodha Sabar Development Board’ has been formed. Bengal is the only State in India where under the leadership of Madam Mamata Banerjee, the hon. Chief Minister, the only lady Chief Minister of our country, a dedicated Scheduled Caste Advisory Council has been set up. That is our vision for the welfare of the Scheduled Castes which is sadly not being mirrored at the Union level. Our Constitution recognizes group identity and its importance for social empowerment of the marginalized. Via these provisions, the Constitution balances between history of injustice, faced by certain groups, and personal liberty. People must be given an assertion of their group identity. Treating every person as an individual would not be sufficient to gain equality and equity of personhood, as it will ignore their different lived realities and caste/tribe identity which require the protection of law. It is the duty of the State to ensure these protections reach people in the best way possible, in both letter and spirit. In our State of West Bengal, under the leadership of Madam Mamata Banerjee, there are two important schemes existing for these people. One is Jai Johar and the other is Taposili Bandhu. Cultural section of people has been tremendously improved by Madam Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal. I will take just 30 seconds. Tribal Board has been formed and especially, the eminent persons from this particular group are being encouraged by several in the West Bengal Government. Lastly, I will conclude by saying that there are few hill communities such as Bhujel, Gurung, Mangar, Newar, Jogi, Khas, Rai, Sunwar, Thami, Yakkha and Dhimal. These need to be included in the list which are already sent by our State Government long back. : My urge to the Government will be, kindly do the needful, so that these groups can also be included. Finally, I conclude by saying, if this Government really wants to do something good for the SC/ST community, keeping apart the ego, please come to our State of West Bengal, take a lesson from our Chief Minister, Madam Mamta Banerjee. Thank you very much.

Sir, several AYUSH Wellness Centres have been opened by the Government across hospitals in India. These centres offer alternative treatment, including homoeopathy. There is a huge body of global documented and peer-reviewed work across decades, which shows that there are no results, showing that homoeopathy is an illegitimate form of medicinal treatment. In fact, it is quackery. Several countries have even banned homoeopathy. So, on what basis, is a quack and untested treatment, like homeopathy, being promoted in Ayush Wellness Centres in hospitals over modern science-based medicines across India?

Thank you, respected Chair. Sir, it is really very good to learn, especially for publicity purposes. I am coming to the question, Sir. It is really very good to learn, especially for publicity purposes prior to the General Elections that many AIIMS are coming up, like the mushrooming of medical colleges. Through you, Sir, my supplementary question to the learned Minister is this. As a medical professional and as a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health, I am coming to the question, Sir. While on a visit to several AIIMS in different parts of the country, we found that the infrastructure in those AIIMS is far behind what it is supposed to be. There is an acute shortage of medical faculty, clinical and non-clinical staff. If you come to our State of West Bengal, there is an AIIMS which is suffering from acute crisis and shortage of staff. My question to the hon. Minister is this. Like the way Madam Mamata Banerjee, in our State of West Bengal, has, on the one hand, developed medical colleges, and is also coming up with several medical colleges and developing infrastructure.

Sir, I had asked a question in relation to the variable characteristic of renewable energy. As you know, solar energy goes up in spikes and then falls down; as you know, wind energy also has its variations. Renewable energy per se has a strong variability factor which the Minister himself has mentioned. But the answer to my question is, ‘No’; there is no problem of grid stability. Would the Minister like to hold on to the statement which is contradicted by several issues mentioned in his own reply? The reply is unusually big and there it mentions that generators are going out of grid. Would the Minister like to clarify or will the Minister like to stand by such a categorical statement? Sir, I had asked specifically about renewable energy system based grid RES-GGS. I had asked specifically about the health of DISCOMs which are in a terrible state and everybody knows that DISCOMs are in a terrible state but the Minister has chosen not to reply to RES-GGS. On DISCOMs, he replies to me on GENCOs. Sir, my supplementary is this. What is his position on the new technology, RES stable renewable energy grids? And what is the health of DISCOMs which is going through a terrible phase? The DISCOMs are unable to honour their commitment because their bills are delayed. Instead of going in for DISCOMs, he has gone in for GENCOs.

Madam, the Union Government has withheld the release of Rs. 7,000 crores to our State of West Bengal to procure paddy under the National Food Security Act. The State Government has successfully acquired 8.52 lakh tons of paddy for the central pool this fiscal year. The State aims to achieve 80 per cent of its annual procurement target during the ongoing kharif season, which extends until the end of February. So, timely release of funds is crucial. Otherwise, the entire procurement process may be affected. The halt of funds to West Bengal stems from the need for NFSA logos and the Prime Minister’s pictures to be put up across all ration shops in the State. Madam, it is ridiculous that the Union Government is willing to jeopardise an entire State’s food security over the delay in plastering the Prime Minister’s image which is a time-taking task. This is the Union’s rationale to withhold the funds. Madam, let me read out a quote from Prime Minister Modi in 2018, and I quote, “Federalism is no longer the faultline of Centre-State relations but the definition of a new partnership of Team India.” However, since the current Government has come into power, there has been a systematic deprivation of States, pushing people into distress in regions where they are incapable of winning elections democratically. Madam, the Union Government has blatantly carried out anti-federal policies and engaged in fiscal federal terrorism, denying West Bengal funds worth rupees one lakh crores under several schemes. Despite pleas from our Chief Minister, party leaders and beneficiaries, the Union has chosen to remain indifferent. This goes against the very spirit of the Constitution. This goes against the people of West Bengal. I challenge you to fight us democratically, fight us in elections, but do not make crores of people suffer for your political vendetta. I urge this Government to immediately reimburse Rs. 7,000 crores for procuring paddy under the National Food Security Act. Thank you, Madam.