Derek O’Brien – Page 18 – All India Trinamool Congress

Derek O’Brien raises the issue of beef ban in Maharashtra | Transcript

Posted on March 11, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Full transcript:

Sir, let us not look at this issue from a religious point of view. The issue is about banning the poor man’s protein in Maharashtra. That is what it is called, the poor man’s protein, let me give you the four letter word it is BEEF.

Poor man’s protein why? Besides minorities there are a lot of other people like the Dalits. A lot of people from the North East and from across the country, they eat this meat.

Let us look at the economic and other issues about this, the price of other such meats like fish, mutton and chicken will go up, once you have issued a ban on one meat.

My second point is it is going to affect the farmers. Farmers in Maharashtra have 55% shortage of fodder. By doing this, the sick and old animals will not be slaughtered and farmers will be under a lot of pressure.

The third people, who will be affected, will be the people who are in the business, the traders and butchers.

We are a great democracy, if you go to Dubai or Bahrain, where a certain meat is not allowed, you can still go into the room and buy the meat. Here in Maharashtra the fine for sexual harassment case is less than eating a particular meat.

It is in my liberty, I am in the privacy of my home, what I am allowed to do I do. I am married to a Hindu; I do not eat beef at home that is my choice. Please let us not remove this diversity; I respect anyone else who wants to eat vegetable, fish, chicken, mutton, garlic, that is perfectly okay Sir. It is out right, but you do not need to change the Constitution to change the fabrication of this country.

By doing this you are changing the fabrication of the nation. Anybody can do what they want in the privacy of their home, but how can you tell me to eat a particular meat?

I urge this House to not look at this through a religious connotation. This is a bigger issue. Let this great country have its diversity.

Thank You.

Trinamool Govt is always there to provide constructive opposition: Derek O’Brien | Transcript

Posted on March 10, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Full transcript:

Sir, I will just take four minutes to make four points.

Sir, the basic thing which we are saying is that we want to make some constructive suggestions.

The first one is the extension of the area of mining and the second one Sir, is to do with Clause 18 and 20 where the Government has made a lot of statements about Cooperative Federalism. So the point which we want to make is that please take the State Governments into confidence. Please work it out in such a way where the State Government will not be harassed, will not be run over.

If this can be assured by the Government we have no issues and on that point on going along with this Bill. But this needs to be addressed; the State Governments have to be taken into confidence. However, Clause 18 and 20, there is some issue on that.

Then we come to the District Mineral Foundation and the National Mineral Exploration. That overall is a good idea, but you have not told us in detail how this will be organised. What is the organisational structure?

Our constructive suggestion are these, please consider putting this in the rules so we all know how that is going to be constructed. How it is going to be made up.

In fact while on that point there is an issue of the welfare of the tribals and no doubt this has to be addressed in the most serious manner possible in the DMF – should the Adivasis and the tribals have a decisive management in that DMF, so that they feel that they are a part of this. These are constructive suggestions you will get from Trinamool.

It is not that we will sit here and oppose everything; we are opposed to certain sections. We have issues on the way you handle federalism. We have other bigger issues on how you handle communal issues of the country. We are telling you to tread carefully on federalism and please take the states into confidence. You are doing a lot of talk on federalism, once we see that the talk comes into action on the ground, we will be with you. You will have to be very careful to see that you do not run roughshod on the States.

The Adivasis is a big issue. We have given you a concrete, solid, actionable way where you can get around them, because 40% of those mining districts are of the Adivasis.

The last is an ecological point. On the ecological point, you haven’t addressed the issue of closure of mines which the UPA II Bill had done very well in the 2011 Bill. If you can address the ecological issue, because it is a very open ended question on the closure of the mines, and once the mines don’t shut down there are sustainable development issues and ecological issues. I urge the Government to quickly address the issues in the best way possible.

Trinamool is always there to provide constructive opposition and we will continue to do that.

Thank you.

TMC MPs raise concern in Parliament over the situation in J&K

Posted on March 9, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Trinamool Congress MPs raised concern on the recent situation in Jammu & Kashmir in both the Houses of the Parliament.

Derek O’Brien spoke in the Rajya Sabha on the issue of the serious compromises on the security of the country and asked the Prime Minister to come and explain. “It is pretty obvious that the selfish convenience of politics has won over conviction. There was no conviction in that alliance and now the BJP and the Government have to come clear on this”, he said.

Full Transcript of Derek O’Brien’s speech

Kalyan Banerjee also raised the issue in the Lok Sabha and condemned the release of separatist leader Masrat Alam. “The way Masrat Alam has been released, this is deprecated. I don’t understand why the Hon’ble Prime Minister did not make any statement in public, despite that BJP and PDP government is running the Government in Jammu and Kashmir. This Central Government is having a tacit support in releasing leader Masrat Alam”, he said.

Full Transcript of Kalyan Banerjee’s speech

Parliament: Trinamool speaks on important legislations

Posted on March 4, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Trinamool MPs today spoke on important legislations in both Houses of the Parliament.

Derek O’Brien supported the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2015 in the Rajya Sabha. But he moved a Statutory Resolution on the Ordinance and slammed the Government for issuing a flurry of Ordinances in the last nine months. “Ordinance is passed when the Legislature is not in Session and immediate action is required. My contention is, Sir, it was not required to be introduced in such a hurry”, he said.

Full transcript to theDerek O’Brien speech

Derek O’Brien also raised the important issue of rising communal violence in the country during Zero Hour. He slammed the government for lack of progress in SIT probe on church attacks. He asked the government to clarify the number of communal incidents.

Full transcript to the Derek O’Brien speech

Kalyan Banerjee spoke on the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2015 in the Lok Sabha and requested the Hon’ble Minister make a legislative scheme through which priorities could be given to PSUs of our country in the bidding process itself. “The committee felt that entire decision making process for distribution of coal blocks needs investigation and necessary penal steps should be taken”, he said.

Full transcript to the Kalyan Banerjee speech

Saugata Roy objected to the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill 2015 in the Lok Sabha. He spoke against hiking the FDI cap from existing 26% to 49%. “If you compare LIC lapsing with private industry, more than 99% settlements of the claims and more than 99% of death claims this is the performance of LIC. Now, the private sector Future Generali 49%, Prudential 42%, Reliance 38%, Bharati AXA 36%”, he said.

Full transcript to the Saugata Roy speech

Saugata Roy also raised concerns regarding how Centre has stopped funding under JNNURM scheme. He said,” I ask the Hon’ble Minister what is the exact plan for an alternative mission to follow up the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission which had done quite significant work 65 mission cities throughout the country.”

Full transcript to the Saugata Roy speech

TMC slams Govt in RS for overusing ordinances | Transcript

Posted on March 4, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Leader of Trinamool Congress in Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien today slammed the Government for overusing ordinances. He was speaking on the Citizenship Amendment Bill.

Full transcript:

Sir, I have only two lines on this Bill, but a little more to say on the Statutory Resolution of mine.

On the Bill itself we do not have any issue. It is a very good idea to merge PIO and OCI Schemes, and to make it easier for people to avail of this. In my own family, my wife and my brother are in this category. So this is very good, no issues at all on the Citizenship Amendment Bill.

Sir, the issue is the broader one, of using ordinances and there has been a lot of talk in the last three weeks as to who used more ordinances.

I have to make 4-5 points on this, Sir. Please allow me to make these points.

Firstly Sir, let us look at the history of these ordinances, because the Finance Minister when he was here was throwing the numbers of 800 ordinances issued by the Congress. So I think we need to get some clarity on who is the bigger sinner here.

Let me give you some history Sir, and some real numbers.

When Pandit Nehru was the Prime Minister of India, if you take the numbers of bills passed to ordinances, for every 10 bills they passed there was one ordinance. Then we come to Janata Party, during the Janata Party Government, for every 10 bills they passed they had 1.5 ordinances. Then for every 10 bills of the Indira Gandhi government passed, it issued around two ordinances. UPA I and II, for every 10 bills passed, they had 1.9 ordinances. NDA, for 10 bills passed, they had two ordinances.

Now, you come to the real figure of the current Government, in the last nine months for every 10 bills passed, 4 ordinances have been passed. T

his is the first point, I want to register Sir, too many ordinances, but in the first place, why an ordinance?

Ordinance is when the Legislature is not in session and immediate action is required.

Now, what was the immediate action required?

There are three very relevant dates here Sir. First, the Prime Minister made a speech at the Madison Square Garden on September 28, 2014. Fine, I have no problem with that. On December 23, 2014 this Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha. We convened on February 23. What was hurry that Bill introduced on December 23 in the Lok Sabha that you had to bring an ordinance n January 6, 2015?
My contention is Sir, it was not required to be introduced in such a hurry.

Sir, let me give you two quick examples. There has been a good reason why there have been ordinances. Morarji Desai Government of 1978 issued an ordinance because of the demonetisation which took place of Rs 1000/5000/10000 currency notes. It was a matter of importance and urgency. In 2013, UPA II brought a Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance; we all know the reason why it was brought Sir.

Sir, the point here is this is an issue of propriety. Nobody says we do not want ordinances. The same issue now currently is becoming a major bone of contention, through the ordinance route, is the FDI in Insurance. The Bill is now a property of Rajya Sabha. Now we know another bill has been introduced in the Lok Sabha. The two bills are identical. All my colleagues have asked you for Ruling on this Sir. So, again it is creating some confusion.

Sir, I would not like to take up any more time. Just to remind this House that the makers of the Constitution and all the very senior people who have set up precedence here and have given us some examples. We must tread cautiously. We must tread carefully. This is the message I want to leave to the Government today. Please tread cautiously and please do not bulldoze your way and remember what the first Speaker of the Lok Sabha said.

The first Speaker of Lok Sabha said, “If ordinances were not limited by convention only to extreme and urgent cases, the Government may go on issuing ordinances and Parliament will have no option but to be a rubber stamp.”

Sir, let it be known that nobody wants and nobody can make this August House a rubber stamp. As I said, we do not have any issue on the Bill, but I thought within the Rules of this great Parliamentary democracy, I could use this opportunity to bring up my Statutory Resolution to make my points on dangers of misusing ordinances.

I want to also assure the Minister that when the Statutory Resolution is moved in the end, I won’t move it, so he can breathe easily.

Derek O’Brien raises question on communal incidents in the country | Transcript

Posted on March 4, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Sir, the Minister has stated that the number of communal incidents has gone down by 22%. But even he knows that the reality of the number and perception is completely different. There maybe a 222% change.

Sir, my question is what is the definition of a communal incident? Are these incidents due to:

a) Use of loudspeakers

b) Rumour mongering

c) Technology

And my question specifically to the Minister is this. If you are saying the number of communal incidents have come down, will you share the figures?

There is another category called ‘Others’. So how much has ‘Others’ gone up, because in that category, all other incidents – including the communal incidents – can fit in.

So, here’s the question, give us the figures of ‘Others’ so we know how many communal incidents took place. Sir, my colleague asked about the church burning… SIT was constituted in December, 2014. No progress has been made. If church burning is not a communal incident then what else is?

United Opposition leaves the Govt red-faced in RS

Posted on March 3, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

The government on Tuesday faced an embarrassment in the Rajya Sabha when an amendment moved by the Opposition to the President’s address over corruption and black money was passed.

Sukenddu Sekhar Roy had moved amendment no. 357 in the RS to the motion of thanks, saying there was no mention in the address on the failure of government to bring back black money. Another MP from the Opposition moved a similar amendment no. 233.

The united Opposition – Congress, Samajwadi Party, JD(U), TMC, BSP, BJD, DMK, CPI, Kerala Manila Congress and other parties – came together to pass the amendment through division.

There were 118 votes in favour of the amendment while 57 against it.

Reacting to the show of Opposition unity in the Upper House, National Spokesperson and Leader of Trinamool Congress in Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien said, “This wondrous parliamentary democracy of ours has a mechanism to deliver strong messages to the government. Today the united Opposition did just that.”

This is the fourth time in Rajya Sabha’s history that an amendment moved by the opposition to the motion of thanks to the President’s Address has been passed.

Derek O’Brien makes a Special Mention on relief of debt stressed states | Transcript

Posted on March 3, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Full transcript:

There is no denying the fact that my State West Bengal is suffering from huge debt burden since 2004 – 2005, according to the Government records. An office memorandum of the Finance Commission dated October 24, 2005 in which 11 States including Kerala, Punjab and West Bengal were included, in the indicative list of debt-stressed States.

The current West Bengal Government has inherited from the previous Government, which ruled West Bengal for 34 long years, a sum of Rs 2,03,000 crore as the debt burden.

From day one, our Hon’ble Chief Minister has made repeated appeals, to the Central Government to kindly consider the request of a temporary relief, interim relief in the form of moratorium on the principal amount as well as restructuring of the interest amount.

In the report of the 14th Finance Commission, there is no mention of any moratorium. The grant-in-aid announced is like a single drop in an ocean. Sir, through you I want to request the government that the demand of West Bengal about the debt burden, along with other debt-stressed states, should be considered in right earnest and in the right perspective.

Parliament: Trinamool corners Govt during Zero Hour

Posted on March 3, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Trinamool MPs today slammed the Centre in both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha during the Zero Hour and the Question Hour.

In Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien joined other Opposition parties in cornering the Government over the manner in which they were handling legislation. He said the government should have propriety and should not set any bad precedent.

Sukhendu Sekhar Roy raised his concern over use of land earmarked for Air Traffic Control to build a shopping mall at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport.

In Lok Sabha, Professor Saugata Roy and other Opposition parties condemned the statement made by the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir; he demanded a clarification from the Government of India.

Highlights of Derek O’Brien’s intervention:

We have raised the issue of precedent. Last week there was an attempt made by the Government to withdraw some Bills. That attempt was unsuccessful. The point I want to make is that of precedent; equally, and even more, important is proprietary. History should be the judge whether this should be done.

Highlights of Sukhendu Sekhar Roy’s intervention:

Three acres of land within Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport at Kolkata, which was earmarked for construction of new five-storied technical block of the Air Traffic Control and an 80 ft tower, which has now been proposed and transformed into a shopping mall. The way this Government is trying to privatise everything by compromising the safety of the air passengers to and fro from the city.

Highlights of Saugata Roy’s intervention:

I am speaking on the Adjournment Motion on the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister’s statement on Sunday, where he had thanked Pakistan, the militants and the Hurriyat, for the conducive atmosphere created during J&K Assembly polls. Yesterday, the Hon’ble Home Minister was kind enough to clarify that the Government of India did not associate with the views expressed by the Jammu and Kashmir CM.

The Home Minister mentioned that he had spoken to the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister had informed him that the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister had not told him about his views regarding Pakistan. So, obviously, the statement of the Home Minister is at variance with that of the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister. In such a case, we would like the Hon’ble Prime Minister to clear the air about such a sensitive issue coming from a newly elected Chief Minister of a State, which is a border and a sensitive state.

Derek O’Brien’s intervention on the importance of precedence and propriety in RS procedures | Transcript

Posted on March 3, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Full transcript:

We have raised the issue of precedence. Last week there was an attempt made by the Government to withdraw some Bills.

That attempt was unsuccessful. The point I want to make is that of precedence; equally, and even more, important is propriety. History should be the judge whether this should be done.