Author: aitc

Sir, I rise today to request the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions to reform the initiative
of Lateral Integration in IAS. The Government has said that lateral recruitment is aimed at achieving the twin objectives of bringing in fresh talent and augmenting the availability of manpower. In 2021, the Government made only 31 recruitments through lateral entry. This is not enough to radically professionalize the civil service.
With increased participation not only in the social sector but also in many new emerging sectors such as telecommunications, information technology, climate change and road transport, there is an urgent need for more officers in the general administration. However, due to the overall shortage of officials, most States are unwilling to release senior IAS officers for Central deputation leading to a bizarre situation where a Railway Traffic Officer works as Joint Secretary in the Health Department and an Ordnance Service official finds himself in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. Governance is not a contractual work; it is a commitment to the country. I urge the Government to provide incentives to young civil servants to acquire knowledge and improve their skills in order to build a healthy
bureaucracy. The Government should formalize a criterion to decide what skills, qualities and experiences a particular role requires as it will allow the Government to assign roles more confidently.

I thank you, Mr. ViceChairman, Sir, for this opportunity to speak on the National Anti-Doping Bill, 2022. I appreciate the Minister’s attempt to deal strictly with the dangerous problem of doping and to comply with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s International Convention against Doping in Sports. This is also timely, since our country is also performing spectacularly at the Commonwealth Games. I would like to begin by congratulating the Indian contingent for its performance thus far, and wishing them luck for the rest of the games. Sir, according to the latest World Ant-Doping Agency Report released in 2021, India ranks third in doping and has 152 cases across disciplines, only marginally below leaders – Russia (167) and Italy (157). Just last week some of our Commonwealth Games athletes were disqualified after failing routine tests for performance enhancing drugs. We were all witness to the scandal in another country where athletes were taking these drugs with
State sanction and administrative support. It is important that Indian sportspersons do not fall prey to the lure of easy wins and engage in dishonest behaviour. The administrative set up of sport in the country should work to identify and nurture talent fairly and provide an environment of encouragement and guidance so that young players are not led astray. The Ministry, sports administrative bodies, coaches, former players and seniors all have a responsibility towards new players in this regard. For example, even before the present Commonwealth Games, members of the Women’s Cricket Team were awaiting Visas till the last minute. Such administrative kinks should be ironed out with domestic bodies working in tandem with the international bodies. Sir, I agree with the concerns raised by my fellow Members. The Bill does not make a sufficient distinction between minors and majors and this
should be addressed under subordinate legislation so as to protect impressionable minors. The panels mentioned in the Bill should be independent and change must be made to separate the disciplinary panel and appellate panel as well as to give the disciplinary and hearing panels protection from arbitrary removal by the Ministry. Sir, while the Government has attempted to take a holistic view of the problem and by countering it from multiple fronts through this Bill, the socioeconomic reasons for doping have been overlooked. Research shows that one of the major reasons behind doping is a sportsperson’s desperation to register significant performances. Such performances determine the quality of the Government jobs and incentives they receive after their career in sports, and, therefore, fuel an intense desperation to register quick wins in the shortest time possible. A limited professional shelf-life, combined with the unrelated and unsatisfactory desk jobs that await them post their professional careers, has always been a worry for our sportspersons. Thus, the Government must change their perspective on the career of our athletes.
Provisions must be made for better monetary support during training and career periods as well as for post-retirement options to them in order to curtail their desperation. Our sportspersons must be humanized. They
cannot be looked at wins dispensing vending machines. Their needs and aspirations must be given the time and space they need as they strive to take our country to new heights each day.I would also like to point out that
there must be provisions to prevent harassment of players. While carrying out raids is necessary, NADA should ensure that appropriate safeguards are implemented to protect the rights of athletes and to address the issues of
privacy. There is also a need to lay down clear guidelines on what constitutes the Anti-Doping Rule violation. I would also insist that more dope testing laboratories should be opened up, preferably at least one lab in each State to ensure better accessibility and speedy test results. In Bengal, we have a long history of encouraging sports and
sportspersons. Trained in gymnastics and wrestling as a kid, the nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore was a great admirer of Jiu-Jitsu and even invited Judo instructors to teach them at Shantiniketan. Our football clubs
are legendary, and just last month, a trophy tour for the Durand Cup was launched from Kolkata in the presence of the State Minister for Youth Services and Sports. Sir, in conclusion, I would like to commend the Ministry for bringing forward this Bill to deal with this dangerous problem, and I hope it works for both, to prevent doping and to support and encourage promising players. Thank you, Sir.

Thank you, Sir, and, Good afternoon to one and all. Sir, through you, I would like to put forward certain important
points for kind consideration of our learned Minister, and, I propose these points to be incorporated or accommodated or considered for effective implementation of this Bill. Sir, as we all know, WADA, that is, the World Anti-Doping Agency, was formed in 1990 under the International Olympic Committee. Then, WADA considered that there should be a doping agency in each and every country, and, accordingly, NADA was formed in November, 2009 and it was registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act. After that, it was felt that as there was no legislation, certain decisions taken by this agency could be taken to court by some of the parties. So, there was a
need for legislation, and, accordingly, it was proposed by the Standing Committee in 2020, and, thereafter, it has been converted into a statutory body. Sir, there are certain drawbacks of this Act. Firstly, there is a provision
of Director General of NADA but his qualifications are not yet mentioned in the Bill. Secondly, it has been mentioned categorically in the Bill that the Government may remove the Director General at any point of time from the
office ‘on such grounds’ but those ‘grounds’ have not been mentioned in this Bill. Thirdly, it has been mentioned that the term for Director General would be three years but it might be extended subject to the decision taken by the Government of India. There is a clear cut meaning that Director General will be bound to work as per the directives of the Government of India and he will be unable to work independently. Also, Sir, there is a provision of National Board, and, within the National Board, there is a provision of Disciplinary Panel. If there is a case of doping, this Disciplinary Panel can take the decision so far as punishment is concerned. There is also a provision for the Appeal Panel. If that particular athlete feels that injustice has been done to him, he can go to that Appeal Panel. Unfortunately, it has been mentioned that the Board can remove the members of this panel at any point of time and even they might not be given any chance of being heard. Here lies the question once again so far as independence of the authority is concerned. Sir, as far as qualifications of its members are concerned, WADA has categorically mentioned that there should be specific guidelines for the qualification but this aspect is missing in the existing Bill. In Clause 11(2) and Clause 11(5) of this Bill, it is mentioned that the Disciplinary Panel will consist of one Chairperson and four Vice-Chairpersons and it has been mentioned that in the absence of the Chairperson, one Vice-Chairperson will take the lead role. But who will be this ‘one Vice-chairperson’ out of the four has not been mentioned clearly. There are certain Standing Committee recommendations. Number one, Selection and Appointment mechanism should be clear and transparent. Number two, there should be clear cut discrimination between major and minor athletes and physically challenged athletes. Specific SOP are needed regarding the therapeutic use exemptions. There is much confusion and even an athlete does not know whether he can take a simple paracetamol or not. So, there should be adequate awareness as well. Penalty of an athlete should be proportionate to the amount of the offence done by that athlete. After the period of his punishment, he should be once again entitled to participate in each and every competition so far as medals and other things are concerned because we know that the duration of any athlete is very short. My next point is regarding the dope testing laboratory. It was very unfortunate to note that the only laboratory in India was banned for nearly one year. There are 29 accredited laboratories in the world while Asia is having six laboratories. Our suggestion is that each State should have one laboratory. Sir, I sincerely endorse the statement made by my Congress colleague that we should give our best possible effort to have one unit in our country instead of having it in Switzerland, and, if not possible, at
least, have it in Asia.Sir, there is another confusion regarding ‘athlete support personnel’. Who are the persons to be considered as ‘athlete support personnel’? It needs to be mentioned clearly in the Bill. My humble submission before the learned Minister will be this. We should look into it, so that these bodies and these organisations can act
neutrally and independently and they are not directly governed by the Government of India. We have had enough discussion regarding Khelo India. I believe some day there will be enough discussion on and thereafter in the country there will be khela hobe. We are waiting for that.I strongly contradict the statement made by my BJP colleague who said that the MCI was corrupt and for the same the NMC was formed. I can cite several examples where NMC is being accused of so many irregularities. I strongly contradict him. Last but not the least, I believe our Minister will take necessary steps so that this organization can work independently.

Sir, as per the Notification No.01/2017-Customs (ADD) of the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, as amended from time to time, imposition of definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of jute yarn/twine, hessian fabric and jute sacking bags originating in or exported from Nepal and imported into India has been recommended. As per the said notification, ADD on hessian fabric is either nil or lower than ADD on sacking bags. To circumvent the
actual levy, a section of traders in Nepal are reportedly resorting to the unfair practice of passing off jute sacking bags as hessian fabric, as a result of which our domestic jute industry is not only suffering but also our Government is losing huge revenue on account of legitimate duty. I would, therefore, urge upon the hon. Finance Minister to have the matter inquired into for appropriate remedial measure. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, Sir, I wish to inform that prior to the liberation of Goa, 1961, Goa’s economy was a ‘money order’ economy because, virtually, every Goan was working abroad. Every alternate house, there was a seafarer who was working abroad. I am very happy that the seafarers’ community in Goa has played a very immense contribution not only for the economy of Goa but also for the economy of the country because they used to remit foreign exchange which is very precious for the country. During Covid-19, we are very proud that the Goan seafarers have played a yeoman service all over the world. They worked hard. Today, what pains me is that even though every alternate
house in Goa is a seaman, their condition is very bad. Because of overall economic meltdown, there is rampant unemployment and there is hardly any system to give them pension. Today, I request Mr. Chairman that the
Shipping Ministry should look into the matter. They were getting a pension of Rs.200/- per month. That also has stopped. It is a shame that these people who have played such a great role in the history of this country are
today not having any pension scheme and also not having any ex-gratia. The Rs.200/- ex-gratia has also stopped now. So, I request you to please either enhance this amount or bring an honourable pension scheme so that they and their families can live a life of honour and dignity for having contributed so immensely for the economy of this country.

Sir, it is really good to see that the Parliament is functioning and I am really delighted to have the opportunity to
speak on Zero Hour because my point of order despite waiting for nearly 20 minutes was.My point is, we all know, we all admit that the women literacy is one of the most important indicators for the development of a country. Unfortunately, in our State, the women literacy is only 65 per cent which is far away from the expectation. Especially, in the bigger States like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, and Madhya Pradesh, the women literacy rates are extremely poor which are leading to more fertility, more mortality, more hardships and lack of knowledge for their rights as well. So far the knowledge goes; the reasons are negative attitude, patriarchal psychology, poverty, accessibility to the schools and lack of female teachers. As far as the budgetary allocation is concerned, it
is very unfortunate to note that in such a big country, the budgetary allocation for education as a whole is very meagre. If we compare the Budget of 2022 with that of 2021, there was a sharp decrease by 6 per cent. As far as health expenditure per capita in respect of women is concerned, it is also very poor. So far as the world is concerned, it is at 140 out of 190 countries. Sir, there is a project called ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’. Unfortunately, the Parliamentary Committee on Empowerment of Women in Lok Sabha said that 80 per cent of the total budgetary allocation was spent on advertisement only. Our learned Minister, *has herself admitted… From a period of 2014 to 2019, 54 per cent of the total Budget was spent on advertisement only. From 2014-15 to 2021, the expenditure for the project is Rs.740 crore out of which Rs.401 crore was spent on advertisement only. The Parliamentary Committee has categorically mentioned that no monitoring or periodic upgradation has been done as far as this project is concerned. Sir, I must cite some examples. If you come to our State of West Bengal, the internationally awarded
Kanyashree Project is there. What is under this project? Sir; there are k1,k2 and k3 categories. From the age group of 13 to 18 years, Rs.759 for allowance; 18 to 19 years group, Rs.2,500 as one term grant and for the University students, Rs.2,500 for the science students and Rs.2,000 per month for the arts students. Sir, my humble submission is that there are few other projects like Sabooj Sathi which gives more accessibility… My humble submission…

My special mention is on the need to address the widespread increase of anemia. I lay it on the table.

Sir, my special mention is about the MGNREGA dues owed to states by the Indian government. Sir, new reports suggest that as on July 1, 2022, the rural development ministry under the Union Government owe 15 states varying amounts of MGNRAGS has been a vital … of poor households crippled by the pandemic induced lockdown and economic shocks following reopening of normal functioning. Many households have found themselves unable to find work as … in the 7.1 unemployment rate … 2022

Sir, I would like to move that Government funded universities for Christians in Goa. Demand for the establishment of a national Christian university at Goa.