Sudip Bandyopadhyay speaks on the immediate need for reforms in DVC

Posted on July 27, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

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This (Zero Hour Mention) is in connection with the flood situation in Bengal.

Madam, 2.5 lakh cusecs of water have been released by Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) without any intimation to the State Government. It has led to a flood situation in several districts of Bengal, which Saugata Roy has already mentioned.

Madam, dredging is very important. Without dredging, water reservoirs cannot hold water at an appropriate level.

So, I would like to urge that the DVC should take decisions in consultation with the State Government. Adequate steps must also be taken so that dredging can be properly done and a permanent solution can be sought for the flood situation.

Saugata Roy makes a Zero Hour Mention regarding the flood situation in Bengal

Posted on July 27, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

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I want to raise the following matter in Zero Hour.

Our State of Bengal is facing the threat of floods in six districts, namely, Birbhum, Bankura, Murshidabad, Howrah, Hooghly and Purba Midnapur. Already three people have died in three districts. A large number of villages are facing water-logging. This flood situation is man-made. The flood situation has come due to release of water from the dams of Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC).

Since Bengal is on the lower reaches of the river Damodar, our suffering is more. The water level in Tenughat Reservoir of Jharkhand is already high and the dam is likely to release more water. DVC has released 2 lakh cusecs of water in three days from Mythan and Panchet dams, both of which are situated in Bengal. The State Government has been repeatedly requesting for desilting of the reservoirs in above dams for a long time. But, the DVC, which is under the Central Government, has taken no steps. Nor has the Centre given approval to the lower-Damodar Drainage Scheme.

Madam, the flood in Bengal is man-made. The Prime Minister went for an aerial survey of floods in Gujarat and sanctioned Rs 500 crore for flood relief, which is all right. But, he did not come to visit Assam, which is badly flood-affected or Rajasthan, let alone Bengal. We want the Prime Minister to deal with all the flood-affected states on equal footing and take adequate steps for the man-made floods in Bengal.

Thank you.

Sugata Bose demands an update to the Statement by External Affairs Minister regarding the situation in Mosul

Posted on July 27, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

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Within one hour of External Affairs Minister’s statement we saw pictures in the media that mass graves have been found around the Badush Jail. We appreciate the statement of External Affairs Minister. But, she also could have appreciated the work of a woman reporter from India who had sent the investigative report from the ground, telling us that the Badush Jail was in ruins.

So, I would urge the External Affairs Minister to provide an update to her statement and also provide the full circumstantial evidence of what is going on in Mosul and Badush area. We want to hear from the Government. We do not want to rely only on media reports. There should be an authoritative statement from the Government about the full and detailed position in Mosul.

Sugata Bose asks a Question on the expansion and modernisation of major ports in eastern India

Posted on July 27, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

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Madam, the Minister has said in his reply that expansion and modernisation of major ports in the country is an ongoing process to keep the ports abreast with new technologies and also to meet state traffic requirements.

In Bengal, the eastern State corridor being built by the Railways will stop in Dankuni and we have a deep-sea port in Haldia. We need better passenger ferry and water-based goods transport to connect Dankuni with Haldia, the deep-sea port.

We have to think ambitiously. We can consider a Kolkata super-port which will include the neighboring regions of 24 Parganas – North and South – Howrah and Medinipur.

If such a proposal comes from the Bengal Government, will the Shipping Minister respond positively to rejuvenate that region of eastern India?

Thank you.

Manish Gupta makes a Special Mention regarding the underutilisation of funds under PMKSY

Posted on July 26, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

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One of the main reasons for the farmer distress and crop failures in the country is due to the lack of proper irrigation system in place. Since the inception of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) in 2015, the total funds allocated are 20,925 crores whereas the promised allocation was 30,000 crores i.e. only 70%. The revised estimates of the funds so far been allotted depicts the reality of improper utilization at the ground level.

In the year 2016-17, government has drastically reduced the budget allotted for the PMKSY by approximately 2,000 crores to 5,767 crores. Above this, the revised estimates of the scheme are 5,187 crores only i.e. 51% of the promised average allocation.

Under this project with a tag line of “Har Khet Ko Pani (More Crop Per Drop)”, the central government allotted an average of 7,000 crores per year for the whole country. It must be noted that in Bengal, the budget for Irrigation and Waterways is Rs 2,140 crores for 2017-18.

Moreover, the State has also initiated a scheme called ‘Jal Tirtha’ for addressing the problem of irrigation coverage. So far a budget of approximately 500 crores has been spent by the government under ‘Jal Tirtha’ with emphasis on surface water management in the state.

Therefore, it is imperative that the Government completely utilizes the funds allocated under PMKSY to ensure the welfare of farmers across the nation.

Manish Gupta speaks on The National Institutes of Technology, Science, Education and Research (Amendment) Bill, 2017

Posted on July 26, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

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Sir, I rise to support this Bill. I will just make a few points here. As mentioned earlier, the budgetary allocations in respect of these institutes has to be increased to have the proper effect. And the total number of seats allocated in all the seven institutes is inadequate considering the hopes and aspirations of the youth. We need to take a positive view on this because more than 55% of the youth in this country are unable to get seats and employment in educational institutions and in other sectors of the economy. Due importance should be given to the youth.

Unfortunately we have noticed that the HRD Ministry is habitually increasing fees. Recently there was a fee hike of 127% in these institutes and by 79% in NITs. This hike in fees makes it quite impossible for certain sections of our society to gain admission. This is quite a problem in other institutions also. Even for management institutes, the fees that are charged are quite high. In fact, recently people had come and met me. They are saying that they cannot afford higher education or technical education because of the cost of the education.

Sir, the other issue is that a lot of research is being done in these institutes and we have observed over the years that the fruits of research never devolve to the sectors for which this research is done. Research produces doctorates and PhDs but there is a gap between devolution of this research to the different sectors of the economy. The internal administration of these institutions needs to be looked into.

We really need to know the state of higher technical education, of research. So, I would suggest that the Minister should consider putting out an Annual Report or a White Paper on the status of such institutes and of the overall status in the country.

Thank you.

Centre must reform the DVC immediately: Mamata Banerjee

Posted on July 26, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today demanded that the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) be immediately reformed by the Centre. She said every year Bengal suffers when it rains in Jharkhand.

“The work of dredging in Ganga is pending for several years now. Dredging has not been done in Kolkata, nor in Haldia,” the CM said.

There are several barrages under DVC which should have been cleaned and dredged. They are filled with silt. Had that been done, the water storage capacity would have increased by 2 lakh cusecs,” she added.

The Chief Minister also said, “Since 2012, we have raised the issue of water-release by DVC. But no action has been taken. Even today they have released an additional 1 lakh cusec of water. Three districts – Howrah, Hooghly and Paschim Medinipur – face a flood-like situation as a result.”

কেন্দ্রীয় সরকারের ডিভিসির সংস্কার করা উচিত: মুখ্যমন্ত্রী

আজ দামোদর ভ্যালি কর্পোরেশনের সংস্কারের দাবি জানান মুখ্যমন্ত্রী মমতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়। প্রত্যেকবার যখন ঝাড়খণ্ডে বর্ষা হয় তখন বাংলা suffer করে পশ্চিমবঙ্গ যেহেতু নিচু জমি।

তাঁর কথায়, “অনেক বছর ধরে গঙ্গার সংস্কার হয় না। লকাতা, হলদিয়াতেও ড্রেজিং হয় না।”

তিনি বলেন, “ডিভিসির যে ব্যারেজগুলো অনেক পুরনো সেগুলি ক্লিন করার, ড্রেজিং করার কথা ছিল। পলি পরে এগুলো ভর্তি হয়ে গেছে। ফলে যেখানে আরও ২ লক্ষ কিউসেক জল বেশি রাখতে পারত, তা করা সম্ভব হচ্ছে না।”

তিনি আরও বলেন, “২০১২ সাল থেকে জল ছাড়া নিয়ে বলছি। কিন্তু কোন ব্যবস্থা নেওয়া হয়নি। আজ আরও ১ লক্ষ কিউসেক জল ছেড়েছে। ফলে হাওড়া হুগলী, পশ্চিম মেদিনীপুর জেলায় বন্যা পরিস্থিতি তৈরী হয়েছে।

Ratna De Nag speaks on The Indian Institutes of Information Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2017

Posted on July 26, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Thank you, Sir, for giving me the opportunity. I think The Indian Institutes of Information Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2017 is primarily brought before the House to amend the Act of 2014 by way of declaring the Indian Institute of Technology, Manufacturing and Design in Kurnool (Andhra Pradesh) as an Institute of National Importance. I welcome this prima facie.

I will request to the Hon Minister to set up an Indian Institute of Technology, Manufacturing and Design in West Bengal in my Parliamentary Constituency which includes Singur. I know it is a very difficult task but I hope the Hon Minister would give serious thought to my request.

Declaring an existing institute as an institute of national importance is welcome but it should be done with the noble vision of spreading knowledge and information to all parts of the country and to be vested with the best of infrastructure like laboratories, trusts, paraphernalia, faculty with PhD. If possible, bring faculty from foreign and best universities. Only then declaring these existing universities and institutes as institutes of national importance will serve the purpose.

With these words I conclude. I welcome this Bill. Thank you.

Saugata Roy speaks on The Indian Institutes of Information Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2017

Posted on July 26, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

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Sir, I rise to speak on the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2017. I would have been very happy to speak in support of the Bill if the House had been in order. Unfortunately the House is not in order since six members have been suspended. We have appealed for the withdrawal of their suspension; it has fallen on deaf ears. And today we saw another case of injustice: for the same offense that (Bhagwant) Mann was suspended for two sessions, one ruling party member has been let off with a warning. Sir, I have said that there should be justice whether in the case of the Mann or the case of ruling party members.

As far as the Bill is concerned, there is nothing to take exception to. A new Indian Institute of Information Technology is being set up at Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh. Actually it was there already and it was called Indian Institute of Technology, Manufacturing and Design. But now the name is being changed and it is being subsumed as the Indian Institute of Information Technology, in addition to the four Government funded IIITs that are already there. So, the Minister is coming up with a bigger Bill on this issue.

All I want to say is that IT education is in a bad shape in the country. New engineering colleges, claiming to impart IT education, are coming up. They have three or four computers and they say they have a course in IT. Students passing out from there have no idea of hardware. They learn a little bit of software.

So, a national course or curriculum for all information technology courses all over the country should be enunciated so that there is standardisation of information technology education in the country and students are not taken for a ride.

Information technology in our country consists of software. Software is mainly making programmes. But, hardly we are manufacturing any hardware in this country. The chips, the circuits, the large scale integrated circuits are not being manufactured. We must give emphasis to hardware manufacturing and hardware development in this country.

The other issue is about the information technology companies like Wipro, Infosys and TCS; they are normally doing body-shopping. They are taking fresh engineering graduates. They are sometimes paying them for third year. They do not take IT graduates; they are taking students from any engineering course, they are training them in their softwares and asking them to design programmes.

We want these companies to employ the properly educated IT students who have had experience in both softwares and hardwares. With that I say that we have no objection to IIIT at Kurnool; we are happy Andhra will have an IIIT. I hope there is an IIIT at Kalyani.

With that Sir, I again repeat my appeal; please withdraw the suspension of the six MPs and also met out equal justice to Mr Mann and the member of the ruling party who has violated the rules.

Thank you.

Manish Gupta asks Question regarding direction to tackle racial attacks and hate crimes

Posted on July 26, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

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The Government of India had set up Bezbaruah Committee in 2014. The Committee has suggested amendment of Sections 153 and 509 and according to that it is expected that the Government of India will consult the State Governments as it is in the Concurrent List in the 7Th Schedule of the Indian Constitution.

We have observed that the progress in such consultations, the intention to make amendments, is taking a lot of time. What we need is concerted action against those people who disrupt communal harmony and racial tension.

Is there any other plan or any other scheme to buttress this Act of the Central Government so that this kind of activity is reduced to a great extent?