Author: AITC

Amidst mounting protests over the change in the pattern ofUPSC exams, which came into force since 2011, MPs cutting across party lines,including Trinamool, demanded a timeline for resolution of the issue and raisedconcerns over falling success rate of language students in UPSC exam.

The aspirants are protesting against the pattern of CivilServices Aptitude Test (CSAT) in the UPSC exams that they believe gives anunfair advantage to English-speaking students while leaving Hindi and regionallanguage aspirants at a disadvantage. They want the CSAT to be scrapped.

Speaking on the issue in the Rajya Sabha, Chief Whip of theparty, Derek O'Brien said this was not an issue of English versus Hindi butconcerns all regional languages.

Text of his full speech:

Sir, on the Minister`s statement, I have three quick pointsto make. This country is so great that even though English is my mother tongue,I first learnt to speak in Bengali by choice. Now, I have three quick points.

First to the Minister, through you, Sir, please stop thistelevision beatification of Parliament. If statements on serious issues have tobe made, we urge the Minister to make those statements on the floor ofParliament. But the Minister has done this before on some other issueconcerning three numbers — I will not get into that — but those statementsshould be made on the floor of Parliament, not to television studios. He canmake it later.

Secondly, my own leader, Mamata Banerjee, has shown the waywhere when it comes to Railway exams, people were given the opportunity towrite those exams in a language they are comfortable in. Sir, this is not anissue of English versus Hindi, certainly not. This is an issue regarding allthe languages. 

In the campaign of the BJP before the election, we heard a lotabout connecting with the youth of India. If you really want to connect withthe youth of India, reconnect and do it now, maintain status quo because youngpeople around the country are watching you, are watching us. We need to act ontheir behalf; we need to act now.

State Law Minister Mrs ChandrimaBhattacharya has written a letter to the Centre urging them to convene ameeting with the Law Minister and other concerned ministries, before giving itsconsent to the Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Land Resettlement Act 2013.

A few weeks back, the State law ministerMrs Chandrima Bhattacharya had written a letter to the Centre seeking a datefor a meeting as the state government was not satisfied with the compensationpackage that was supposed to be offered to the land losers.

According to the provisions of the Act,each state government has to offer double compensation from the market price forthe land losers in the rural areas, than those in the urban areas, but thestate government was not in favour of providing double compensation to all theland losers of the rural areas.

In fact the state government has decidedthat if the land is available from the land losers staying 120 km away from theurban area, then the state government will provide double compensation,otherwise the compensation amount will be same as the market price.

According to the state government, therural areas should be divided and based on distance; the compensation packageshould be fixed. Although a compensation proposal has been formulated by thestate government, but before Cabinet approval, the consent of the Unionministers is to be taken as it`s a Central Act.

Mrs Bhattacharya said that they areawaiting Centre`s nod for holding a meeting with the state government over thisissue.

The Right to Fair Compensation andTransparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 hasprovisions to provide fair compensation to those whose land is taken away,brings transparency to the process of acquisition of land to set up factoriesor buildings, infrastructural projects and assures rehabilitation of thoseaffected.

Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Mr Sukhendu ShekharRoy called the Union Budget 2014 a “dented and painted version” of UPA`sinterim budget. “The BJP spoke about sabka saath, sabka vikas. But there isno roadmap and it does not give any new vision, mission or dimension for thehungry millions of our country,” Mr Roy said while addressing the debate on the2014 Budget at the Upper House of the parliament.

Mr Roy referred to number of schemes whichgot merely Rs 100 crore from the government in the Budget. He said the Budgetdid not take care of the common man and termed as “laughable” themeagre provision of Rs 100 crore each for “Beti Bachao” and for setting up of new ventures which givesonly Rs 2.77 crore to each state and Union Territory. He pointed out that theproject has been lifted from Kanyashreescheme that has been instituted by West Bengal Chief Minister Ms MamataBanerjee in the State and has an allocation of Rs 1000 crore.

Mr Roy flayed the government for its”inaction” in getting the names of Indians who have stashed moneyabroad in banks. He said economic reforms have benefited the rich people andnot the poor and charged the previous governments with not taking any steps forthe common people.

The Trinamool MP slammed Finance MinisterMr Arun Jaitley for announcing 25 schemes with Rs 100 crore allocations eachand another 40 with Rs 50 crore allocations each. Only a meagre sum of Rs 100crore was allocated for the modernization of madrassahs, he said. He also lamented that the budget did not haveany allocation for small and medium enterprises.

Demanding that steps be taken to ensurethat states do not seek Centre`s help with begging bowls, Mr Roy said”there must be a dispute redressal mechanism.”He also sought theextension of the Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor to Siliguri that connectsto the North-Eastern states as well as the Ganga Action Plan up to Swagardweep,which according to the Budget ends at Patna.

Click here to read the full transcript of his speech.

Trinamool MP Saugata Roy today spoke in theLok Sabha on the Finance Bill, 2014. Speaking on the taxation proposals of theGovernment, he appreciated most of the moves of the Central Government, with arider. He urged the Government to change the focus from growth to socialjustice. He claimed that several exemptions were meted out to corporate but thepoor should not be taxed.

Speaking on the good and services tax (GST)he said the concerns of revenue loss by States must be taken into considerationby the Centre. The reduction in central sales tax at the Centre`s directionresulted in a loss of Rs 4300 crore to West Bengal exchequer as the promisedcompensation was not given, he said.

Speaking on the taxation policy of the NDA,he commented, “The union government`s total expenditure in GDP ratio has seen asharp drop from 15.7% to 13.9%, farther shrinking the fiscal policy spaceavailable to the government. Two, no comprehensive road map has been presentedto step up the country`s tax to GDP which is at a low level of 17%. If I maymention that the tax to GDP ratio in OECD countries is 33.8%. In Brazil it is33.2% and in India it is 16.3%. So there is no effort to raise the tax and theGDP ratio. There are no measures to adverse the lack of progressiveness ofcountry`s tax structure which depends on the indirect taxes to the extent of almosttwo third of the total tax revenues.”

Saugata Roy demanded that the Income Taxexemption limit be extended from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh (Rs 3.5 lakh forsenior citizens). He spoke at length on the necessity of the retrospectivetaxation. On black money he said, this budget does not mention any steps tostrengthen the administrative machinery of various agencies required toaddress black money related issues.

Chief Whip of Trinamool in Rajya Sabha,Derek O`Brien today raised the issue of withdrawal of CRPF companies from NorthBengal during Zero Hour. Speaking on matters of urgent public interest, heurged the Centre to practice operative federalism instead of cooperativefederalism.

Trinamool also raised this issue in Lok Sabha during Zero Hour. Leader of the party in Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandyopadhyay urged the Centre to reconsider the decision. He said such important matters must be decided after due consultation with the State Govt. He said if the decision is not reconsidered, it would lead to chaotic situation.

During his speech, Derek O'Brien said that the CentralGovernment has issued orders to withdraw 13 companies of CRPF from NorthBengal. 5 of these companies will be withdrawn tomorrow while the rest will beremoved on July 31, 2014. The State Government had earlier written to the Centreto reconsider this decision as areas in North Bengal are sensitive to violence.

There have been incidents of violence inthe Hills last year. In December 2013, there was a blast in Jalpaiguri. KLO (Kamtapur Liberation Organisation) andKPP (Kamtapur People's Party) are operational in these areas. North Bengal shares the border with threecountries: Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Security in this area is of supremeimportance.

Text of Derek O'Brien's speech in Rajya Sabha:

Sir, I want to bring to the notice of theHouse through you the issue about the withdrawal of additional CRPF forces fromNorth Bengal. Bengal is one of the few states which share its borders withthree countries. The MoS for Home Affairs is here. His state too shares theborder with three countries, so he will appreciate this and I want to thank theMinister for staying back to listen to this in spite of the earlier disruption.We appreciate that, Sir.

Sir, thirteen CRPF Companies had beenposted in North Bengal. The State Government wrote to the Central Governmentwhen the Ministry of Home Affairs wanted to remove those thirteen Companies onthe 14^th July.

Sir, the area there itself is quite tense.In December there were killings in Jalpaiguri and the KPP and the KLO areoperational in that area, Sir.

Sir, of these thirteen Companies, despitethe State Government writing, sadly Sir, tomorrow morning at 10 AM, around 20hrs from now, five of those Companies are being withdrawn and on the 31st Julyeight more will be withdrawn.

Sir, through you I will appeal, request andurge the Ministry of Home Affairs to please reconsider, in the interest ofpeace in that area. The State Government has made the request in writing. Thenew Government had made many statements on how they want federalism to operatein the true sense of the word, not through cooperative federalism but throughoperative federalism. Sir, the Minister for Home is here. Please stay thisorder. Please help the State Government to maintainpeace in those highly sensitive areas. Time is running out, tomorrow is thedeadline. We would really appreciate if those thirteen CRPF Companies areallowed to stay in North Bengal.

Text of Sudip Bandyopadhyay's speech in Lok Sabha:

Hon. Home Minister, I draw yourattention.  Hon. Speaker Madam, ten days ago,I raised an issue when Advani ji, Venkaiah Naidu ji, Sushma ji were here. InWest Bengal thirteen Companies of CRPF are going to be ithdrawn without givingany prior notice to the State Government, which was absolutely unwanted at thismoment.

Bengal has become peaceful after a longbattle with Maoists.  Jangalmahal isthere, Darjeeling and international border are also there. So hon. HomeMinister assured that in a federal structure, such thing cannot happen withoutconsulting the Chief Minister.

Now a message has been received by me justone hour back that five companies of CRPF are going to be withdrawn tomorrowand other eight are going to be withdrawn on July 31, 2014. I urge upon you…the assurance you gave in the House 10 days ago… that has not beenimplemented at all. 

I have been asked by the Chief Minister tocommunicate to you that you take an immediate decision and assure us that thesecompanies of CRPF can only be withdrawn in consultation with the Chief Ministeror the State Government. Otherwise a very chaotic situation will emerge in theState of West Bengal. I want a positive assurance from you again as you did on theearlier day.

The state government will inaugurate a datacentre today at Writers` Buildings for maintaining records of governmentemployees. 

A senior engineer of the PWD`s IT cell saida state-of-the-art data centre has been set up, which will provide every recordof any employee of the state government. “Service records, including details ofleave taken by an employee, will be available in the data centre. Data bankcould be used for any official purpose by senior officials of that department,”he said.

This system is called the West BengalGovernment Employees Service Monitoring System and a special control room hasbeen opened to run it. However, manual records will not be abolished and workis on to digitise the data. Service records of IAS and WBCS officers will beavailable in the data bank.

The control room will also be used tostrengthen the video conferencing link between districts and the stateadministrative headquarters.

“The control room will provide strongnetwork of video conference between district magistrates and any other ministeror chief minister,” said the officer.

West Bengal Chief Minister Ms MamataBanerjee is scheduled to leave for Singapore on a five-day trip to attractinvestments. This will be the Chief Minister`s first foreign trip. She isexpected to leave on 17 August and return on 22 August. A delegation includingcity based industrialists and businessmen along with some departmentalsecretaries and ministers will accompany her.

State Finance and Industry Minister Dr AmitMitra and State`s chief secretary may accompany the Chief Minister. The list ofbusiness delegates to visit Singapore is being finalized.

A report on the potential areas ofinvestment namely education, infrastructure, health services, tourism,particularly eco-tourism and others is being prepared. The trip was confirmedin the first week of this month after a five-member Singapore delegation headedby Singapore Foreign Affairs Minister Mr K. Shanmugam met Ms Banerjee atNabanna on July 11 along with Changi Airports International chairman Kee TeckKoon.

Apart from assessing the potential areas oftie-ups between Singapore and Bengal, Ms Banerjee is expected to meet the headsof multinational companies. Several global companies have headquarters inSingapore and the government of Singapore is planning to fix meetings betweenthese companies and the Bengal government.

Ms Banerjee had mentioned about the triprecently. She had said that she may be visiting Singapore to attract investmentas the state has potential to attract investment from Asian countries and thatBengal was a gateway to Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.