Author: aitc

Hon. Shri Samirul Islam, ‘Need to address the conditions of Tea Plantation Workers in West Bengal’. Respected Sir, there are around 300 tea estates across Darjeeling, Alipurduar, Kurseong and Jalpaiguri. More than 3 lakh labourers work in nearly 400 tea gardens in North Bengal, and none of them has land rights on estates where they have been living for generations. The Union Government is responsible for securing better working conditions for the workers. It has the authority to take over the management of a tea company which fails to comply with the Tea Act, 1953. The West Bengal Government is proactively acting against organisations which are not paying Provident Fund and Gratuity. Under Cha Sundari Scheme, the Bengal Government is building over 4,000 homes for tea garden workers. We have already finished construction of 1200 houses. On the other hand, Tea estates in other parts of the country such as Assam need urgent attention of the Union Government. There is no provision of ensuring or giving them their due Provident Fund by the Union Government. Moreover, there are no scholarships and stipends promised to tea garden workers’ children. There is a dire need to address the conditions of tea plantation workers. I urge the Government to discuss the same and work towards ensuring better working conditions for tea workers to promote the industry. Thank you, Sir.

Madam, we are discussing the state of economy in India, but, anyone listening to this debate since yesterday will realise that when it comes to facts and figures and insights, Members of the Opposition parties are giving clear arguments to make a strong case. On the other hand, the BJP is having a competition; competition of what, Madam! It is as to how many times they can mention the name of hon. Prime Minister. Well, of course, we do not have any problem regarding that, but, I would like to know why they do not give us facts and figures. The previous three speakers from my party have made common points. What are the points; why is the wealth that is being created not being equally distributed and where? Firstly, equally among all the people of the country and secondly, among the States, irrespective of their political ideologies. Now, let me make a chart which I can substantiate with data. The non-BJP States like Bengal, Tamil Nadu and the Congress-run States are deprived. The unspoken catchline seems to be ‘support us politically and we will raise funds’, ‘support us politically and we will not send CBI and ED behind you’. Madam, I will give you one example about MGNREGA. I will raise five points about MGNREGA. Firstly, as we all know, it is an Act of Parliament. It is a right and not a gift depending on the whims and fancies of the Central Government. Secondly, as per the Act, the payment to a worker who has worked under this scheme is to be made within fifteen days. So, if hundred people have worked on a scheme and if there is any discrepancy arising out of it, if two of them are found guilty, I would like to know why the rest 98 people are deprived. This is most unfortunate and most undesirable. But, this is what is being done. The budget of MGNREGA has been cut by about 30 per cent with respect to last year. But, we are not surprised as in 2014, on the floor of the Parliament, hon. Prime Minister had called it ‘gaddha khodne ka scheme’; most unfortunate. Fourth point, Madam, is that MGNREGA man days all over the country are falling, but, the Ruling party, the BJP is celebrating it. Today, one of the MPs has called this an indicator of development. This is their way of looking at the economy, but, our approach is different. Fifth point is about job cards. About 7,40,000 job cards have been found to be fake in Uttar Pradesh that means of the total figures, about half is accounted for by Uttar Pradesh. Bengal had about 5,000 fake job cards. I would like to know whether the funds to Uttar Pradesh have been stopped. I am sure the answer is known to all. Now let me read from the BJP manifesto of 2014, I am mentioning it. They had spoken of doubling farmers’ income. Did it happen in 2019? No. Again, did it happen in 2023? No. At current growth estimates, the farmers’ income will not double before 2030. In Bengal in 2011, a promise was made by the hon. Chief Minister. Most interestingly, it was about doubling farmers’ income and I take pride as I come from Bengal in mentioning that as of today it is not doubled, but it has increased three-fold as in the current date. Now, Madam, let me come to public sector undertakings, the PSUs. We have withstood the shock and trauma of demonetization, but how many of us have heard of monetization? This is the instrument of the NITI Aayog to sell out the people’s assets, as the name reflects, public sector undertakings. It belongs to the public, it is the asset of the public and the Government is hell-bent upon selling it. Madam, it is like selling the family’s jewellery. As you can name it, rail, Air India, BHEL, BSNL, LIC and the list is unending. These were created over decades but now we want to strip the nation of these assets. I proudly belong to the Scheduled Caste community and every time this happens I am hurt and hurt dearly. As every time a PSU is sold, a young SC boy or girl is deprived of his or her right to secure a job. And worst still, there is also unemployment and contractual employment engaging is taking the front seat. However, you are not going for reservations. That is a very big concern. And moreover, whenever a PSU is sold, often these people are rendered jobless and it creates unending miseries for the families. Madam, now in understanding the condition of the current economy, we have to understand the condition of States’ economies. So, it is very important to discuss cooperative federalism. Our present hon. Prime Minister and hon. Home Minister were both Chief Minister and Home Minister of a State. So, they should understand better what the problems of the States are. ∗ But, as we all know, it is to be done as per constitutional guidelines which are flouted day in and day out. Madam, I appeal to you that next week we should have a Short Duration Discussion on the issue of cooperative federalism. Madam, if you notice the House is running so smoothly and it is so good for all of us. Next week also, the opposition should get one Short Duration Discussion or one Calling Attention wherein they can express their concern as opposition and they can at least speak out the pain that the States are in. They can make their points so that the States are benefited. But also there is a fillip side to it. The BJP will also benefit from this as if their speeches remain devoid of facts, figures or any reasoning, at least, their speeches will have multiple mentions of the name of the hon. PM. To summarize, I would say that the way the Government is conducting itself, in a nutshell, we can say that their catch-line is that rich should get richer and the poor should get poorer. Now the way the present Government is exploiting the financial interests of the States that is most probably much higher than the colonial rule. So, I expect that there will be a change of stance. We would think much more about cooperative federalism and act in that direction for the benefit of one and all and the nation as a whole. Thank you, Madam.

Sir, Mr. Jethmalani, before me, has described statistics. There is a fourth category that I would like to bring to your attention. Sir, I modify it, but to the extent that I would like my friends in the House on both sides to be aware of the realities. They keep talking about GDP growth I would not contest it because it is too complicated for many to understand. But what does GDP growth mean where I am concerned and you are concerned that is per capita GDP, per person GDP. The GDP of Ambani and GDP of Adani does not matter to me. We just had the G-20 meeting and there we made a calculation that the US has 63000 dollars by way of their per capita GDP, Australia has 61000 dollars, Indonesia has 4000 dollars plus per person and India is the lowest, I repeat India is lowest among the group that has just 2085 dollars per GDP. So, look at realism, do not go in for bravado and bragging. When you talk of GDP, you must remember that you are taking the wealth of the upper five per cent to inflate your figures. I have just given the example of how the upper crust has increased its wealth. The Ambani wealth was Rs. 1.6 lakh crores in 2014, I repeat Rs. 1.6 lakh crores in 2014. It is Rs. 8.6 lakh crores today, five times more. Please show me an Indian who has grown his income in the last nine years by five times before you make further statements. Adani’s went up from Rs. 1.2 lakh crores, this is more phenomenal, but, I will not get into the details. From Rs. 1.2 lakh crores, they have gone up to Rs. 6 lakh crores plus which is again another five times growth. No Indian has ever grown to this growth during the last nine years. So, don’t take credit for enriching the oligarch, don’t take credit for enriching and fattening the capitalist class and then say, ‘we grew as a whole’. Now look at your reality. World Bank’s unemployment figures, I am quoting from the World Bank because most Indians and foreigners have given up on Indian statistics. It is so punctuated with untruth. The World Bank’s 2022 unemployment rate it shows that in India there is 23.2 per cent unemployment. Compare it with Pakistan, a failed state, Pakistan is 11 per cent, less than half; compare it with Bangladesh, once upon a time a basket case, Bangladesh is 13 per cent and we are 23 per cent. Bhutan is 14.9 per cent. So, where are the realities that you are drum drumming about GDP and becoming the fourth biggest and the third biggest in the world? Come to reality. We have the annual survey of industries pointing out that we are steadily moving towards contractual labour. We are turning a rightful, respectful wage earner into a product that is at the mercy of employer so far as labour timing and everything is concerned. I come to the labour participation ratio. The labour participation ratio – the Labour Minister was here, but does not seem to be unduly interested — the LFPR in India is one of the worst in the world. I repeat at the cost of perjury, one of the worst in the world. 42 to 45 per cent was the participation of labour. That means the vast majority was outside the network of labour. Mercifully, it has gone up to 50 per cent now. 50 per cent! But look at the other countries; Nepal 83 per cent. Nepal is able to provide labour force participation of 83 per cent; again, Bangladesh, twice more, China 60 per cent. What are we talking about? This much, of course, relates to the female labour participation ratio, where I repeat the figure, India is only 20.5 per cent, Nepal 83 per cent, Bangladesh 30 plus per cent, China 60 per cent and even Sri Lanka that was on the verge of collapse, they have a female labour participation of one-and-a-half times of ours. When it comes to male and female combined, we have been 42 and 45 per cent during the entire regime of the last nine years. I repeat 42 to 45 per cent, one of the lowest in the world. It has just gone up to 50 per cent. We look at gender gap. Jebi already mentioned about the gender gap. I repeat that compare the gender gap of India at 28 per cent with double that in Bangladesh. She also mentioned about the rising debt. I repeat debt is increasing at a phenomenal rate as we are binding future generations, your grandsons, your sons, my sons and my grandsons to a debt that we are not entitled to. One more minute, Sir. Debt ratio has come to almost 90 per cent. Sir, just one last word, one last word on defaulters, on banks, just one word; we were coming around to the banks, defaults of the banks and there yesterday’s figures, that is why I am giving it to the House, is 14.5 lakh crores of rupees have been written off. Dr. Karad is sitting there. He insists that writing off means nothing, but I insist that writing off is actually the legitimization of the destruction of your funds, my funds kept with the banks. The corporate sector. I will give the calculations. Thanks to the cooperation, thanks to the transparent reply given by Dr. Karad and others, the corporate sector alone has liquated ten lakh crores rupees in nine years. Sir, Rs. 10 lakh crores have gone down the drain to save the corporate sector! Whereas, NREGA – hon. Minister is sitting somewhere here who alone has.

Sir, before I come to the subject, I would like to strongly protest the pose and posture of one of our Cabinet Ministers targeting the only lady Chief Minister of the country just a few minutes back regarding one film festival. I can show you the video if you want. I strongly protest it. I am coming to the subject but it should be noted. So far as economy is concerned, there are two pictures of Indian economy. One is the picture of privilege and the other picture is of the poverty. Sir, we live in India where six out of ten people survive on less than 260 rupees a day. So far as Global Hunger Index is concerned, out of 125 countries, it is very unfortunate to remind you that India ranks 111th. India witnesses thirty suicides a day due to poverty or unemployment. We live in India where, on the one hand, we talk about multi-trillion economy while, on the other hand, almost 550 lakh people are pushed into poverty due to healthcare cost and mainly due to out of pocket expenditure. At the same time, you are targeting a few States by withholding the money for National Health Mission, which is depriving the common people of particularly targeted States like West Bengal. It can be won over by political path. We live in India where it would take more than 200 years for a minimum wage worker in a rural area to earn what a top paid executive in an Indian company earns in a year. So far as NREGA is concerned, it is very unfortunate that though a sizable Indian population depend on NREGA, in the last Budget, the budgetary allocation for NREGA has been curtailed by more than 33 per cent and we have heard our learned Prime Minister talking about NREGA when he said, यह तो माटी खोदनेका काम है। We have seen in the Budget that it has been decreased. Sir, 154 farmers, daily wage earners and labourers commit suicide every day. So far as NREGA is concerned, let me tell you that in our State of West Bengal, there are more than 21 lakh of people who have already done their job but they are still deprived of their wages for the last two consecutive years despite repeated, official and formal intimation. So many teams have come and in the name of investigation, they have made many excuses. Let me give you a recent example. Let me share with you today’s reply given in Lok Sabha regarding fake job card. Out of 7.4 lakh fake job cards found in the country as a whole, 3 lakh were from Uttar Pradesh, a State having double-engine sarkar; 1.15 lakh were from another State being run by an unofficial ally of BJP, that is, Odisha; and, 47,000 were found in another State being run by another friendly political party of BJP, that is, Andhra Pradesh. So far as West Bengal is concerned, it is only 5,000. So far as job card and Aadhar linking is concerned, West Bengal ranks second. In Andhra Pradesh, it is 99.7 per cent and in West Bengal, it is 99.68 per cent. Even then, Bengal is being deprived of its funds. Sir, 21 lakh people are getting deprived including one lady from Hoogly District, Nupar Hati, which was mentioned by our leader, Shri Derek O’Brien yesterday. Sir, I was not here to raise the issue of gini coefficient but I have seen my colleague, a BJP Nominated Member, a renowned lawyer talking about the gini coefficient while addressing our Party leader, Derek O’Brien who does enough research before putting forward any fact or figure. Let me give you the facts. You were talking about gini coefficient targeting West Bengal. I will give you data of gini coefficient in the whole country. The Gini coefficient in India is forecast to amount to 0.35 in 2023. Number of people in India, who are earning less than 2 dollars per day is forecast to amount to 0.16 billion in 2023. This is for my beloved colleague. Sir, we live in India where we are having the maximum possible unemployment in the last 45 years. Per capita income in India is even less than one-fifth of that of China and less than one-thirty two of that of the USA. We live in India where green curtains gracefully conceal the harsh truth that over 40 per cent of India’s urban populace calls slums their homes. We can recall that day of Namaste Trump when a four feet wall was built just to conceal the actual scenario because the friend of learned Narendra Modi ji, Donald Trump, was supposed to visit our country. That is the harsh reality. Sir, in India, on November, 2016, we found demonetization. We know what its effect was and how the poor people suffered from this. Sir, we live in India where 2 per cent of wealth tax on hundred billionaires can feed the children under the Mid Day Meal Programme for 3.5 years and where 3 per cent of wealth tax on the Indian billionaires can fund the National Health Mission for three years. So far as the Awas Yojana is concerned, eleven lakh and thirty three thousand people are being deprived. Several teams visited our State of West Bengal in the name of national-level monitors, in the name of Central team. What did they do? Sixty-nine teams visited, Sir. Our Minister came on 7th November, 2022. Then, on 24th November, entire data was supposed to be given, and it was put on the portal in due course of time. Several enquiries were there. Action taken report was submitted in due course of time. Again, on 25th of November, questions were raised which were replied on 28th of November. But till date, no fund has come. Once again, on the 1 st of December, another intimation has come to our Government of West Bengal that again 7 teams will visit 14 districts of our State of West Bengal. Why, Sir? Is it the only reason that it is being run by the Trinamool Congress, and Madam Mamata Benerjee cannot be defeated politically? Is it the only reason? Just tell me one State other than West Bengal which is being deprived in the same fashion. You can’t. Now, Sir, let me tell you India’s external debt. It rises up to 629 billion dollars. The report given by the RBI in June, 2023 says this. Total debt per Indian over nine years has increased by 2.5 times. The outstanding debt on the Government of India was 55.87 lakh crore rupees on 31st March, 2014 and it has become 155.31 lakh crore rupees on 31st March, 2021, courtesy our BJP Government. Sir, every Indian has a loan which he has not taken. In 2014, the per capita loan was Rs. 43,214 and in 2023, it has become Rs. 1,09,373, courtesy our BJP Government. Sir, let me tell you another fact. So far as houses are concerned, 63 per cent of women of India and 35 per cent of men don’t have their own house. So far as cooperative federalism is concerned, it hardly exists in the recent scenario. We are talking about the economy. Covid has unveiled the real scenario. We have seen the migrant labourers who were walking from one place to another. They were carrying their parents on their shoulders. Our Government has taken no step to solve the issues of these migrant labourers. Covid has shown the path, but unfortunately, our Government never takes any lesson from this incident. So far as the unemployment is concerned, Centre for Monitoring of Indian Economy speaks about unemployment. There is highest unemployment in the last 45 years. More than 40 lakh sanctioned Central Government posts are there. Around 30 lakh employees are there and more than 9.6 lakh posts are lying vacant till date. That is the real scenario of Indian unemployment. Unfortunately, so far as literacy is concerned, there is a tremendous gender disparity in literacy. We don’t know when Census will take place. Sir, just give me thirty seconds more. Sir, I will finish by saying that we are celebrating 75 years of Independence. We have two different ideas in India. And the story is called ‘survival of the richest’. Let us strive for true equality and create a society where not a single individual is left behind. My final comment will be this. We are very happy to take part in the Short Duration Discussion. Earlier it was for four hours. Now it has been extended for eight hours. We are really very happy. My two suggestions are: Why can’t we have the same type of Short duration Discussion on Cooperative Federalism? Lastly, I have got one question in my mind. If I can be satisfied by your reply. The Government is giving so much time for Short Duration Discussion. Are they not having any Business? That is the question in my mind. Thank you, Sir.

Sir, we all know that a few days back, a circular has gone to all the universities and colleges from the UGC that there should be a selfie stand with the photograph of our respected Prime Minister in the background. Through you, with all humility, I would like to know from the learned Minister as per which rule or guideline of the UGC, this could be done. As is apparent, this seems to be nothing but a political publicity before the 2024 elections.

Sir, since the question pertains to the tribal communities, which are vulnerable, especially in the State of Meghalaya, protection of vulnerable languages is also a big constituent of protecting tribal communities. Through you, I would like to ask the hon. Minister as to what the current status of including the Garo and Khasi languages of Meghalaya in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India is. And, by when does the Government plan to bring Garo and Khasi languages into the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India? Since we are asking about the tribes of Meghalaya and we are asking about the tribal population, the protection of language. But, they have received a proposal. They have received a proposal from the Government of Meghalaya as recently as two months ago.