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A Member, while speaking, shall not reflect on a person in high authority. The Honourable Member is not reflecting on any conduct, he is just stating some names. Why should you object to that? One must understand the word, ‘reflect’; here ‘reflect’ means ‘to pass comment’ or ‘to think’. Just because he mentioned that Justice Muralidhar ka transfer nahin hona chahiye tha … <Chair intervenes> Sir, ‘reflect’ yahan bahut zaroori shabd hain … <Chair intervenes>
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First part
It’s a Point of Order on Rule 29, that is, List of Business. You are now sharing with us your sentiments which is fine, that the time of the Ordinance is running out. It is like saying, I came late for boarding a flight, so I can jump the queue. Listen to this, Sir, please. If this was so important why was this not listed in the List of Business in the morning. Where was it? You want the opposition to cooperate, but you don’t do your homework. Why could not this have been listed in the morning? It was listed at ten minutes past two as Supplementary Business. My question to you Sir, please let the Government answer this question in the House. It’s a good Ordinance but why didn’t they follow the basic rules of parliamentary democracy?
Second part
Sir, let us look for reconciliation. We are not asking for a big compromise. For five days, we have been asking for a discussion on how to heal Delhi but we are not getting it. I’m not getting into egos here.
The Leader of the Opposition has made a genuine statement on behalf of all of us in the opposition. What on earth will fall down if you bring the issue up tomorrow? We are all requesting this.
Sir, there has to be some give and take, otherwise, it’ll be like, make a last-minute telephone call and bring up things. We want this House to run, we want this Ordinance not to lapse and we are cooperating. Why is the Government showing this big arrogance about trying to show us their will? We don’t want the House to run this way.
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Sir, may I join the rest of my colleagues in thanking you for coming back to your chair of high honour. The House was feeling like an orphan without your presence. There was nobody to protect our rights and interests.
Sir, we had a very fruitful meeting in your chamber and fortunately we came to the conclusion that all is well that ends well. We discussed the incidents in the House over the last week and we also came to the conclusion that what had happened was not desirable. It is the duty of all of us to uphold the dignity and majesty of the House, which is made up of the representatives of the people of this country. I am sure that after today the atmosphere will remain good and that we shall all strive to keep harmony in the House, refrain from any action that infringes on the dignity of the House and the unity of the Members.
We, as opposition, would raise our small issues and demands, like we have been demanding a discussion on the Delhi riots, and which will happen today. Our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has instructed us to not go into the well. Even if we are leaving the seats sometimes, it is actually in violation of what she said. So we commit to you that we shall cooperate with you in keeping the dignity of the House.
In this context I refer to my friends from the Congress benches who have been suspended under a motion moved by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister. I do not defend whatever they said or whatever they did, but they are also Members of this House, elected by the people. Their absence from the House would deprive that large section of people from being represented in the House. So at the end of it all, with you back in the Chair, with your magnanimity, your generosity, please call back our young friends back to this House. Let this House be whole again, with you in the Chair.
Thank you, Sir.
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Sir, the last time the Health Minister made a statement on this subject, we all sat here and made suggestions from the opposition and the House ran. Today on this serious subject, the Videsh Mantri made a statement and we sat here as the opposition, heard him, and now we are giving suggestions. So I hope the Foreign Minister is also getting a message as to who his friends are.
There are two suggestions. It would be fair if you could pass these on to your Cabinet Health colleague because he is not here.
The first one is, to not create panic in any communication which we do. The second one is, to look at what some of the State Governments have done in the last seven to eight days, while they have been disrupting Parliament.
I will state two suggestions, based on what a State Government, like mine in Bengal, implemented and which have worked very well. I want to share those suggestions.
One is, set up isolation wards in all Government hospitals. It has been done as a precautionary measure in Bengal and has worked very very well. Now the private hospitals too have also adopted that. The second one is, do a mass campaign on how to properly wash your hands and for how long. The Chief Minister of Bengal herself shot a video, sitting in her office and that has gone viral, so more and more people are getting to know about what to do and what not to do.
Thank you, Sir.
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First Supplementary
Sir, the Minister’s reply is very sketchy. Even after the Supreme Court judgement, the Minister has not given a detailed reply. I would like to know from the Honourable Minister whether he agrees with the view of his party’s MP, that the Army’s argument that there will be inefficiency at command levels, is the highest form of hypocrisy. Also, whether the battle was against the misogynistic mindset of the bureaucracy and it has been tackled well.
I am asking the Honourable Minister whether he is taking any steps regarding the attitude of the military and the misogynistic attitude of the bureaucracy, as alleged by a ruling party MP.
Second Supplementary
Sir, the House is not in order over the suspension of seven members of the Congress. I hope that you will sort out the problem and let me ask a question.
Sir question yeh hain, ki abhi bhi mahilaon ko permanent commission bahut kam hain. Army me kebal 65 hain, Navy mein 9 hain, Air Force mein 382 hain. Toh kitne din mein yeh sankhya badaya jaiga? Tab tak hamare desh gender parity mein doosre deshon se bahut peeche rahega. Toh kab hum gender parity dur karenge, yeh agar Mantri Ji bole, aur yeh suspension utha le to accha rahega.
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Sir, it is good that the House, after a four-day hiatus, has gathered in peace to discuss the serious matter affecting the health of the people. COVID-19 or the coronavirus disease is a new disease. We had earlier seen the Ebola virus problem. This coronavirus originated from Wuhan in China and has mainly spread to Iran, Italy and South Korea.
Sir, viruses are something which are very small and cannot be seen with naked eyes. Viruses cannot be seen even under a microscope, they can only be seen under an electron microscope. There is no proper cure for any viral disease, You can do only symptomatic treatment and can only try to contain the disease. In this case, you may avoid physical contact, not shake hands, keep a 3 feet distance, and cover your eyes, mouth and nostrils. These are the things that have been communicated to the people.
I suggest to the Minister that on every television channel and radio, there should be 15 seconds clips advising the people not to panic. There is a great panic throughout the country. So far only 29 people out of the 130 crore in our country have been diagnosed as positive. So, compared to other countries, the disease is still under control.
The Government of India has taken certain steps especially with regard to airports and the land ports but as someone mentioned, ours is a long and porous border and China, rather Wuhan, is close to us. Coronavirus se fever hota hai, cough hota hai, aur cough se droplets nikalta hai, so we have to advice people not to shake hands, keep a 3 feet distance and not to step on the droplets.
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Sir after China the most severely affected country (by Coronavirus) is Iran; from there this disease has spread all over the middle-east Asia. Whether the government will consider banning the entry of passengers who have recently visited Iran and other countries in the middle-east? This is my first suggestion.
Secondly, as already mentioned by some members, hand sanitisers and masks are being sold at exorbitant prices. So, my suggestion would be that the government should consider and ensure distribution of hand sanitisers and masks through PDS all over the country, at affordable price.
Lastly, in social media, the AYUSH Ministry has reportedly suggested using homeopathic medicine. Whether that is real or not nobody knows. So, the AYUSH department should clarify this point also.
Thank you, Sir.
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Sir, we thank the Minister for his nine-page statement. As far as the Government of West Bengal goes, I can speak on behalf of them, we assure the Centre of all cooperation to protect the mothers and the children of our country, the brothers of our country and the sisters of our country. We must not get into a situation of panic, for example, and even think about using the public distribution system to try and get stuff out.
At this stage Sir, without at all wishing to spoil the mood of this House but, I have to on the table of the House say, since this is the first time I have got the chance to speak in four days – also think about the mothers, the children, the brothers and sisters of our country who died without having the Coronavirus last month. We must keep this in mind.
<Interruptions>
The Trinamool Congress today gave a statement on the BJP trying to avoid any discussion in Parliament on the genocide that happened in Delhi, and the healing touch needed for the people affected. Reproduced below is the statement.
Statement by Trinamool Congress Parliamentary Party at 1 PM
In both the Houses, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, the Mo-Sha duo have given the direction to not let any discussion happen. They have been trying to kill every institution in this country. And now the attack is on the Parliament.
What is happening is unprecedented. Yesterday the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha said the Government is ready for a discussion. All the opposition parties are ready for a discussion. Floor leaders of the three largest Opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha all gave notices today under 267.
However, the subject was not read out. The Government does not want the subject to be read out. And now they have said that they will discuss it next week. The Home Minister was supposed to lay a paper on the table of the House. He ran away from that also. Instead, he got his junior to read and lay it.
Trinamool’s notice today said the message of healing after the Delhi genocide has to go from Parliament. This is a sad state of affairs where Parliament is being treated like another back office of the BJP. But we will keep up the fight.
On behalf of the All India Trinamool Congress, some startling facts.
The 267 notice in the Rajya Sabha is given to take up for urgent discussion any issue affecting the nation. This is the purpose of Rule 267. You stop all other business and start discussion on the issue at 11 o’clock in the morning.
The last 267 notice was taken up about three-and-a-half years ago. This is shameful! On November 16, 2016, discussion happened on the issue of demonetisation.
Before that, in 2015, there was a discussion under 267 on agrarian crisis. Prior to that, there was one in 2014 on attack on the secular fabric of the country and before that, in the same year, on price rise and food inflation.
It is a matter of shame that from November 2016 the megalomaniacal duo have not allowed any discussion under Rule 267 in Parliament.
Excerpts of the interview of Bengal Finance Minister Dr Amit Mitra
The Indian economy was already in the ICU. Now the Budget gas sent the economy from the ICU to the ventilator.
The Budget is anti-people, is thoughtless and has left out those at the bottom of the pyramid in every manner possible.
Before the Budget, GDP was at an 11-year-low, private consumption was at a seven-year-low, investments were at a 17-year-low, manufacturing was at a 15-year-low, agriculture was at a four-year-low. Now of these have been addressed in the Budget.
A radical reduction has taken place in the funds for agriculture, health, education and scheduled castes-scheduled tribes welfare – together constituting a reduction of 8.9 per cent.
This massive reduction in crucial sectors implies the Government of India does not have any vision about social infrastructure.
Contrast this with Bengal: government investment in agriculture has grown by nine times, in social sector by 4.5 times – this is the greatness of Mamata Banerjee’s vision, of taking those at the bottom at the pyramid and placing them in the centre-stream of the economy.
Shockingly, in this Budget, the allocation for MGNREGA, or 100 Days’ Work, has been reduced. Contrast this with Bengal: it is number one in 100 Days’ Work in the country – highest number of days, highest allocation of work.
The allocation for the National Health Mission has also been reduced – by one per cent. This was never seen before.
In this Budget, there was no mention of giving employment to the unemployed; it is as if the unemployed don’t exist. Instead, what was seen was privatisation – of the Railways and the LIC, the LIC into which all of us common people have invested. And LIC has been put into the ICU already – it’s non-performing assets (NPA) amount to Rs 30,000 crore. The Budget has taken an institution that all should be supporting, that was already in the ICU and moved it into the privatisation mode for it to be eaten.
Now comes the question of tax reduction for the middle class. What is shocking is this tax reduction is nothing but a bluff – given with one hand and taken away more with the other. The standard deduction of Rs 50,000 won’t be applicable any more, if one opts for it. The deduction on small savings (PPF, NSC) is no longer there, so is the deduction on life insurance and medical insurance, and on contribution into the new pension scheme of Rs 50,000.
Another doing away with tax deduction with serious implications for ordinary people is the one on loans for affordable housing; at least the interest was tax deductible – not any more. This will have a very serious effect on the housing industry which in turn will have consequences on agricultural income spending because the common workers of the housing industry come from rural areas. They will not come any more.
So what is the entirety of the Budget? On the one hand, there is reduction in spending on social infrastructure, agriculture, health, education, and on the other, you are giving the sop of tax reduction, through which, though, shamelessly taking away much more than giving.
And finally, there is all this talk of PPP (public-private partnership) and privatisation, when many such similar ideas have not worked before.
On the behalf of Trinamool, I want to say this is a Budget that is thoughtless, visionless, as there is no long-term thinking, and in a way, has failed the Indian economy, has let go of the opportunity of pulling the latter out of the gloom and doom. Here was an opportunity lost. The bus has been missed, and the cost will be paid by the common people of India. What a shame! God save India from the hands of those with no vision, no strategy; only words, two-and-a-half hours of speaking on the Budget but ultimately empty words, as an empty vessel that keeps clanging.
