Author: aitc

: Thank you, Sir, for allowing me to speak on the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2021. I also thank my
party for giving me this opportunity. The Act also lists schedules of plants and animals that are afforded
various degrees of protection and monitoring by the Government. Today, through this Bill, this Act will be amended after 16 years. I welcome this step. The most important reason given by the Environment Ministry for introducing the Bill was the urgent need to provide legislative backing to commitments made by India over the past many years to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals that came into force in 1975. Now, I would like to discuss about theprovisions of the Bill. The Bill seeks to implement provisions of Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The Bill provides powers to the Central Government to designate a Management Authority, which grants export or import permits for trade of specimens. The Bill prohibits any person from
modifying or removing the identification mark of the specimen. Currently, the Act has six schedules for specially protected plants, specially protected animals, and vermin species. The Bill reduces the total number of schedules to four. The Bill empowers the Central Government to regulate or prohibit the import, trade, possession or proliferation of invasive alien species. Invasive alien species refers to plant or animal species which are not native to India and whose introduction may adversely impact wildlife or its habitat. The Central Government may authorize an officer to seize and dispose the invasive species. Sir, through you, I would like to draw the attention of the Minister that our
State of West Bengal has border areas of dense forest with our neighbouring country Bangladesh. We have witnessed rising case of smuggling of Kangaroo a few days ago in Jalpaiguri forest. The Forest Department has seized it. The
Kangaroos are the exotic species to India and they do not natively belong here. They struggle to adopt to this new eco-system and are mostly unsuccessful. They also carry the risk of disease that the native species might not have
resistance. It is a very serious and alarming concern. The Central Government should take a note of it and such border areas should be freezed. The Act entrusts the Chief Wild Life Warden to control, manage and maintain all the sanctuaries in a State. The Chief Wild Life Warden is appointed by the State Government. The Bill specifies that the actions of the Chief Warden must be in accordance with the management plans for the sanctuary. For
sanctuaries falling under special areas, the management plan must be prepared after due consultation with the Gram Sabha concerned. Sir, West Bengal has six national parks and sixteen wild life sanctuaries. The latest notified sanctuary of West Bengal is the Pakhibitan Wild Life Sanctuary located in Jalpaiguri district which is of 14.09 square kilometres. Sir, in West Bengal, our Government has also successfully done the sustained efforts to build awareness among the people which led to drop in ritualistic hunting by 95 per cent. The Bill provides for any person to voluntarily surrender any captive animals or animal products to the Chief Wild Life Warden. No compensation will
be paid to the person for surrendering such items. The surrendered items become the property of the State Government. Sir, through you, I would like to give some observations and suggestions to the hon. Minister, and I hope, he will answer to my queries on this Bill. The Parliamentary Committee recommended the deletion of this
exemption clause for elephants and argued that a careful balance between traditions and conservation was needed. The Bill empowers the Government to have arbitrary powers to declare species as ‘vermin’. Moreover, the Bill moots a reduction in the role of the State Wild Life Boards. These are the bodies which are crucial in determining the fate of large projects involving forests or protected areas in the States. Finally, the Bill loses the provisions of transporting the elephants which is likely to encourage illegal trade in wild elephants. Sir, the Bill fails to address the human-animal conflict. There is a need to constitute Human-Animal Conflict Advisory Committee, headed by the Chief
Wild Life Warden to suggest mitigation strategies such as changing of cropping patterns and drawing up site-specific plans. Sir, the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972 specially prohibits trade in wild animals including captive and wild elephants. Under Sections 40 and 43 of the law, transfer, acquiring and receiving of a live captive elephant is permissible only with the prior approval of the Chief Wild Life Warden. However, such transfer, acquisition, and receiving of the elephants should not involve any commercial transaction. Sir, the Bill introduces a new sub-section 4 to Section 43 that takes away the protection from trade in them. The House Panel Report has recommended
the deletion of the clause and provided an explanation of provisions for transport of captive elephants. It underlined that the Bill also has the provisions of excessive delegation and unrestricted power of the Central Government. I
repeat, the Bill also has the provisions of excessive delegation and unrestricted power of the Central Government.
सभापति जी, यतद सारेअतधकार सैंरल गवनामेंट केहाथ मेंहोंगेिो राज्य सरकार का क्या मिलब रह जाएगा? So, I would request the hon. Minister to take note of my suggestions as well as the suggestions given by the environmental experts and
the Parliamentary Standing Committee. With these words, I conclude. Thank you.

सर, मैंउत्तर-पूवगभारत केबारेमेंबोििा र्ािता ि ं। कृपया मझ ेदो नमिट का समय नदया जाए। It is about inclusion of Garo and Khasi languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. These languages belong to Meghalaya. Article
29 of the Constitution provides that a section of citizens having a distinct language, script or culture have the right to conserve the same. Under the Meghalaya State Language Act, 2005, Garo and Khasi have been declared as associate official languages of the State. Khasi is an Austro-Asiatic language spoken primarily in Meghalaya and in the hill districts of Assam. Garo is a Tibeto-Burman language of the Bodo-Konyak-Jingpho group, closely related to Bodo. It is primarily spoken in Meghalaya, Assam, Tripura, and Nagaland. According to the Census 2011, there are over 13 lakh, 46.5 per cent, Khasi speakers and over 9 lakh, 31.5 per cent, Garo speakers. The issues in inclusion of these two languages have been the lack of their own original scripts.On 27th September, 2018, the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly adopted a resolution to petition the Central Government to include Khasi and Garo language in
the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. We urge the Union Government to take cognisance of the State’s demand to include Garo and Khasi in the Eighth Schedule.

Hon. Speaker, Sir, thank you for allowing me to ask a question to the hon. Minister. It is a wonderful place. हम
बताना चाहतेहैंकि पकिम बंगाल मेंस्पोट्दस अथॉररटी ऑफ इंकडया है। उसिी हालत बह त खराब है। बंगाल मेंहमनेदेखा हैकि वहांखाना खराब रहता है। वहां मैदान भी खराब हो गया है। वह बह त अच्छा था। अभी वह खराब कस्थकत मेंहै। मैंमाननीय मंत्री सेकवनती िरूं गा कि बंगाल मेंजािर उसिा थोड़ा सवेिर।ेंबेड भी खराबहो गया है। िोईबात नहीं, लेकिन हम मंत्री जी सेकवनती िरते हैं। एसएआई सेबह त बड़े-बड़ेप्लेयसदकनिलेहैं। The performance of the Sports Authority of India is slightly going down. उसिे कलए हम आपसेररक्वेस्ट िरतेह।ैंधन्यवाद।

Sir, I will confine my supplementary question to Q. 226 which is regarding food grain crisis. I asked this yesterday to Nirmala Sitharaman ji also, but it was not responded. Still in India, we have a crisis. We have to import edible oils and pulses. It is a continuous problem that we are facing since many years past. I would like to know whether the Government can inform the House how long we have to import edible oils and pulses which are essential food items. For how many days we have to pass through this way?

Sir, I beg to lay on the Table the Final Action Taken Statements (Hindi and English versions) showing action taken by the Government on the recommendations contained in Chapter I and final replies in respect of Chapter V of the
following Action Taken Reports of the Standing Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (2021-22):- 1. Fourteenth Report on Action Taken by the Government on the observations/recommendations contained in the Ninth Report on Demands for Grants (2021-22) (Department of Food and Public Distribution).
2. Fifteenth Report on Action Taken by the Government on the observations/recommendations contained in the Tenth Report on Demands for Grants (2021-22) (Department of Consumer Affairs). 3. Sixteenth Report on Action Taken by the Government on the observations/recommendations contained in the Eleventh Report on the subject ‘Price Rise of Essential Commodities – Causes & Effects’(Department of Consumer Affairs). 4. Seventeenth Report on Acton Taken by the Government on the observations/recommendations contained in the Twelfth Report on
the subject ‘Strengthening of Public Distribution System – Augmenting use of Technological Means and Implementation of ‘One Nation, One Ration Card’ Scheme’ (Department of Food and public Distribution.)

Hon. Chairman, being a Member of Parliament, you would be following the proceedings of the two Houses of
Parliament very well. We all know that from the 15th Lok Sabha to the 17th Lok Sabha, the issue of price hike was discussed nearly 70 times in Lok Sabha, and about 11 times in Rajya Sabha. However, the Central Government has been incapable of arresting the price hike during these regimes – the 15th, 16th and 17th Lak Sabhas. I was hearing the speech of one hon. Member saying that because of COVID-19, the price hike is there. May I ask a question to this House that before COVID-19 whether price hike was not there in the country? Has inflation not increased in the country? What did you do? Now, another alibihas come. The alibi is that because of Ukraine and Russia battle, the world market has gone down and price hike is there. Okay. Before Ukraine and Russia battle began,
was there not a price hike? आपनेकभी नहीं बोला। वल्डा मेंसभी देशों के साथ अच्छा ररलेशनटशप है, इसटलए हमारा देश अच्छा चलता ह, ै यह आपनेनहीं बोला। आपनेबोला टक हमारे नरन्ेर मोदी जी के द्वारा देश अच्छा चला। आपनेयह सब कभी नहीं बोला और अभी आप बोल रहे हैंटक because of Ukraine and Russia battle, the market, the economy, everything has gone down. वैसा आपनेकभी नहीं बोला। The International Monetary Fund is calling on Governments to focus on giving support packages to those who need it the most to avoid triggering recession. It is a fact that out of 130 crore people, over 97 crore Indians – or about 71 per cent of the country’s population – are unable to afford nutritious food in our country itself. All limits of price rise have been crossed when the Government imposed GST on packaged food items like milk, dahi, lassi, chura, muri, paneer and other nutritional food items which has seriously affected the intake of the consumers. India has become world’s top milk producer with a minimum profit in this sector in the country. But this policy will soon help big players to enter into the sector which will adversely affect small dairy farmers of the country. Milk consumers are price conscious. Milk with muri, chura, sattu and milk products being essential consumables, the Government should rollback their decision. Due to 12 per cent GST on condensed milk, butter, ghee, and cheese, the
wholesale price inflation for milk product rises to 20.33 per cent in June 2022 against 6.96 per cent in June 2021
Rising food prices have become painful to us where 42 per cent of household incomes are spent on food in India. India’s wholesale price inflation also runs at 30-year high; 2021-22 has become the year with the highest
average yearly wholesale price increase in the past decade with an increase of 13 per cent. All the records have been crossed. हमारे70 वषाऔर उसके70 वषाको आप छोड़ दीटजए। अभी देश के आदमी का क्या हो रहा है, उसको आप देटखए। Much of this increase is driven by fuel prices, which accounted for 25 per cent of the jump in wholesale prices. Prices of manufactured products are contributing 60 per cent to the Wholesale Price Index (WPI). Sir, I will give details regarding just a few items or commodities that we all use every day. The inflation rate for primary articles in June 2021 was 8.59 per cent; it has increased to 19.22 per cent in June 2022. The inflation rate for cereals was (-) 2.77 per cent in June 2021; it has increased to 7.99 per cent in June 2022. The inflation rate for wheat in June 2021 was (-)1.77 per cent; it has increased to 10.34 per cent in June 2022. The inflation rate of vegetables was -0.78 per cent in June 2021. It has now risen to 56.75 per cent. Some hon. Member was talking about tomatoes. You should first look at potato and then we will come to tomato. In June 2021, the inflation rate of potato was -31.09 per cent. It has increased to 39.38 per cent in June 2022. In the month of June 2021, the inflation rate of fruits was 6.96 per cent, and it has now increased to 20.33 per cent in June, 2022. I now come to the most important commodity of fuel and power, in which case the inflation rate in June 2021 was 29.32 per cent, and it has now increased to 40.38
per cent. The inflation rate in the case of cement, lime, and plaster has increased from 2.13 per cent in June 2021 to 9.16 per cent in June, 2022. As per NSO, the consumer food price inflation for rural areas was 3.94 per cent in March, 2021. It went up to 8.04 per cent in March, 2022. Similarly,the CPI inflation for rural India has gone up to 7.66 per cent in 2022, from 4.61 per cent in March, 2021. These figures belong to two years of your regime.
Please see, within one year how much it has increased. Poor or rural households, in general, are actually not getting food within their expenditure basket due to high prices, which is a sign of deep distress, particularly among the poor population. Rural inflation was recorded at 7.09 per cent in June, while urban inflation was 6.92 per cent.
The average annual food expenditure per household across India has risen from Rs.24,650 in 2014-15 to Rs.28,870 in 2020-21. वषा2014-15 मेंआप आए, हममेंसेकोई नहीं आया। It is now expected to rise to Rs.33,610. This is not due
to rise in income, but due to price rise of food items during that period. A report says that rapid increase in economic growth surely trickles down to an average Indian household. Indian economy is facing stagnation, which means the
unemployment and inflation at the same time remain continuously high. High inflation has come at the back of higher food and beverage prices. Data analysis shows that food and beverages have contributed 43 per cent to inflation yearon-year and 198 per cent month-on-month. The wholesale price index based on inflation rose to an eight year high of 7.3 per cent in March and is elevated at 7.8 per cent higher on food, and fuel prices. Food prices, which comprise about half of the inflation basket, accelerated to 7.75 per cent in June, while fuel and electricity prices went up to 10.39 per cent. Shrimati Supriya Sule ji was correct when she was talking about the bank
transactions. When Ravi Shankar ji was the Minister, he thought about the Digital India. Modi ji has also thought about the Digital India. I would like to say that for one bank transaction we are paying money. I would suggest you to just lift the veil and then you can see how the money is being squeezed from the pockets of the general public at large. If you wish to take the Cheque Book now, you have to pay GST. I am thankful to Madam Sule for pointing itout before the House. This is happening. Everyone is now talking about online banking system. It is for whose benefit! Is it for the benefit of the consumers or the bank itself? This question has now come up for consideration. Sir, I
will just finish. In case of subsidised LPG, the direct benefit transfer of domestic LPG was Rs. 22,726 crore in 2019-20, which came to Rs. 3,658 crore in 2020-21. I do not want to burden with more statistics. Sir, I am not on statistics now. I have an appeal to each and every one present here. This is an important discussion which is taking place. I have given you the statistics. More statistics will come next month. There will be arguments and some points will be drawn from those arguments. We will also criticise. But ultimately, who are the sufferers in this country? Ultimately, who are suffering? These poor people are suffering. What are you doing for them? टसफा रोनेसेकुछ काम नहींहोताहै। देश आगेबढ़ रहाहै, देश कहाांआगेबढ़ रहा है? Sir, you are an hon. Member of Parliament. You have seen it yourself.
You have gone to the rural places. I have visited extremely rural areas of four Assembly constituencies. You have given gas cylinders. You have given stoves. What are they doing with these? Subsidies are not there. Now, these poor
women are not using gas cylinders and the same have been kept in their almirahs. They are now again using coal and wood for cooking. Thank you, Sir. I am lucky that whenever I speak, you are in the Chair.

सभापतत महोदय, प्रणाम। मैंअतिल भारतीय तणृ मूल काग्राँेस की ओर सेआभार व्यक्त करती ह ाँतक देर आयद, पर दरुुस्त आयद। महगाँाई एक बहुत अहम मद्दुा ह, ै तजसनेआज भारतवषडकी हर जनता और हम सभी को बहुत तचूंततत करके रिा है। आज
महगाँाई तजस जगह पर है, उसके तलए सरकार नेकोई कदम नहीं उठायाा। महगाँाई पर चचाडकरनेके तलए और मझुेइजाजत देनेके तलए मैंअध्यक्ष महोदय की िक्रुगज़ुार ह ।ाँआज के तदन आम जनता पर क्या गज़ुर रही ह, ै यह सरकार को समझना चातहए। मैंसहमत थी, आज वह मूंत्री महोदया यहााँ नहीं है। जब आप सत्ता मेंनहीं थे, तब मूंत्री महोदया नेएलपीजी तसतलूंडर लेकर बहुत िोर-िराबा
तकया, यहााँमैंउनका नाम नहीं लेना चाहती ह ।ाँअभी मैंजानना चाहती ह ाँतक उस मूंत्री महोदया की क्या राय ह? ै अभी भी गावाँों मेंलािों औरतेंचूल्हा फूाँकतेहुए तदिती हैं, क्योंतक उज्जज्जवला योजना मेंउनको जो तसतलूंडर तमला था, अभीईधूं न िरीदनेकेतलए उनकेपास पैसा नहींहै, लािों तसतलूंडर िाली पड़ेहुए हैं। अभी इसकेबारेमेंसोचना चातहए, क्योंतक ईधूं न मेंआग लगी हुई है। कभी-कभी मेरेमन मेंतवचार आताहैतक क्या यह सरकारहमेंकच्चा िानेकी आदत तदलाना चाहती है। कच्चा िानेका आप कोई दूसरा मतलब नहीं समझेंतक इसका कोई दूसरा मतलब है। मैं कहती ह ाँतक आज लोग सब्जी कच्ची िा जातेहैं, क्योंतक उनको ईधूं न नहीं तमलता है। मैंकच्चा िानेकी बात कर रही ह, ाँ क्योंतक एलपीजी तसतलूंडर का चूंद महीनों मेंचार बार दाम बढ़ा है। तीनचार साल पहलेइसका भाव 600 रुपयेथा, लेतकन आज इसका भाव 1100 रुपयेहो गया। आप समतझए तक जो गरीब ह, ैंजो मजबूर हैं, वेकैसे1100 रुपयेदेकर तसतलूंडर िरीदेंगे। इस बारेमें सरकार को सोचना चातहए। आप लोग हमेंकच्चा िानेकी आदत डलवाना चाहतेहैं, इसेआप बूंद कीतजए। आप एलपीजी तसतलूंडर का भाव जरूर कम कीतजए, क्योंतक इससेआम जनता को बहुत तकलीफ हो रही है। इसकेबारेमेंआप लोगों को सोचना चातहए। वह मूंत्री महोदया तकतना िोर-िराबा करके सत्ता मेंआ गई, लेतकन अब आज जनता को भूल गई। वह कहााँह? ै वह तसतलूंडर लेकर जलु सु तनकालती थी, महगाँाई की बात करती थी, लेतकन आज यहााँनहीं है। मैंउनका नाम नहीं लेरही ह ।ाँइसकेबाद आपको सोचना चातहए तक हर चीज के
ऊपर जो जी.एस.टी. लगा ह, ै टैक्स लगा है, इससेपेट्रोल व डीजल का भाव बढ़नेसेसब केऊपर असर आता है। सब चीजों का भाव बढ़ जाता है। We have to agree that increase in the prices of petrol and diesel, which are skyrocketing at the moment, is largely because of the tax that the Central Government is levying on them. West Bengal is amongst the first few States
which took an immediate step for the benefit of the common man, through the hon. Chief Minister, Kumari Mamata Banerjee, and announced reduction of tax by Rs.1 per litre on petrol and diesel. The lion’s share of taxes on fuel comes to the Central Government. The Centre imposes both flat and ad valorem taxes on fuel. The Centre has been levying Excise Duty and also cess on fuel. So, the Centre took tax and cess of Rs 32.90 per litre on petrol and Rs.31.80 per litre on diesel. In 2020, the Excise Duty on petrol was hiked from Rs 19.98 per litre to Rs 32.9 per litre.  So, indirectly, this is increasing the cost of all edible oils, all kinds of consumables, and everything which is required for daily life. In spite of the fact that the international oil prices have plunged to a multiyear low due to the pandemic in 2020 and in spite of the fact that the price of crude oil per barrel was so low, the tax was being increased by the Central Government which is not desirable for the good of the economy. The economy has been totally shattered. The excise revenue from petrol and diesel has increased by over 94 per cent from about Rs. 1720 billion to Rs. 3343 billion from 2014 to 2020. The Government’s collection from levy of excise duty on petroleum products has
risen to 33 per cent in the first six months of this current fiscal year. The central taxes on petrol and diesel rose by over 307 per cent in the last six years, allowing the Union Government to mop up a sum of Rs. 2.94 lakh crore through taxes on fuel between April, 2020 and January, 2021. In the last three years, under the Central Excise Taxes, a whopping Rs. 14 lakh crore has been collected by the Centre and the States combined. However, the Centre has changed the way these taxes are shared with the States and the States are not getting their share. The Central Government is getting a larger part of it and therefore, the States find themselves fiscally cornered. The States are not getting the share of this tax structure. This is against the federal structure. The Finance Commission says
that the States should get as much as 41 per cent of their excise share but due to the cess levied by the Centre, the Centre gets a bigger share of taxes leaving the States with little option. If we look at the Wholesale Price Index, we depend a lot on agriculture. The backbone of agriculture is fertiliser and urea. In the fiscal year 2013-14, the
Wholesale Price Index of urea was 104.7. In the last fiscal year, the Wholesale Price Index of urea was 110.1. You are not looking at it properly to help the farmers. Through the farm laws that had been brought and had been withdrawn
later on, we know that you are not pro-farmers. But unless the farmers are helped and agriculture is helped, the country and the people will suffer. In 2013-14, the Wholesale Price Index of cereals was 126.6 and today, it is 160.7. The Wholesale Price Index of vegetables — like the one that I just ate — was 163.6. But today, it is 204.5. For milk, it was 116 and today, it is 156.9. Milk is consumed by little children and elderly for their well-being. Now, the children and elderly cannot even thrive because milk is increasing so much in its cost. People cannot afford it. Now, I come to the essential medicines. The essential medicines are lifesaving. They are becoming dearer every day. Tax has also been put on the equipment used by specially-abled persons. The Government should be ashamed that it is not giving chance to specially-abled persons to take care of themselves. My hon. Friend, I was not just talking about pencils and rubbers. That is for the better education of young people. You are not taking care of the infants by increasing the price of milk. You are not taking care of the children in their education by increasing the price of pencils and rubbers. You are not even taking care of the economy at all. You should put more attention on the economic condition of the country rather than putting advertisements or अपना ढोल पीटना The retail inflation has remained at seven per
cent which is above the Reserve Bank of India’s tolerance level of six per cent. A lot of people in the country take moori and chudva. मरुमरुा कहतेहैं, चूड़ा कहतेह, ैं दही कहतेह, ैंपैकेज्जड फूड तो भी सही, गरीब लोग उतना नहीं लेतेहैं, लेतकन मुरमरुा तजसेकहतेहैं, चूड़ा तजसेकहतेहैं। मरीज अगरहॉतस्पटल गया तोबडे ्स केऊपर जीएसटी, मैंआपसेपूछना चाहती ह ूं तक मदुाडकेऊपर भी जीएसटी लगाएगूं ेक्या? मदुाडको जलानेके तलए जीएसटी लगाएगूं ेक्या? अभी इस देि काऐसाहाल हुआ हैतक हर चीज पर जीएसटी लगा तदया। Today, the price of cooking oil stands at an average of Rs. 180 per litre whereas in 2014, it was only Rs. 105. आपबोल रहेथे, यूपीए केसमय को मैंयाद करना चाहतीह ूं, मैंबहुत इज्जजत करती थी, अभी हमारेबीच नहीं हैं, सषुमास्वराज जी लीडर थीं। उन्फहोंने2004 मेंकहा था जब हम छोड़ कर गए थे तो पेट्रोल 35 रुपयेलीटर था और चूंद महीनों मेंयूपीए नेआकर उसे67 रुपयेबना तदया, तब उन्फहोंनेिड़ेहोकर यहाूंअपनी बात रिी थी। अभी आप पेट्रोल केबारेमेंसोतचए, 100 रुपयेसेभी ज्जयादा 110 रुपयेकेबराबर हो गया ह, ैगाड़ी नहीं चलती है। … (व्यवधान) महूंगाई इस जगह पर पहुूंच गई हैतक आम जनता का जीना हराम हो गया है। यहाूंबहुत अच्छी चचाडहो रही है, सभी को अपनीबात रिनेका अवसर तमलेगा, सभी ठीक ठाक बात करगेंे, मैंसरकार सेयह दरख्वास्त करूूं गी
तक इतना टैक्स मत लगाइए तक तसफड आप ही को मुनाफा हो और गरीब मरता रहे। गरीब की तरफ थोड़ा देतिए, गरीब केबारेमेंसोतचए और टैक्स कम कीतजए तातक वह भी जी सके। नमस्कार, थैंक्यू।