Derek O’Brien speaks on the 125th birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar

Sir, kayee saal pehle, main Pakistan giya tha. Wahan mere Pakistani dost ne poocha, “Pichlay paanch hazaar saalon main, woh kaun si ek kitaab hai jo sabse samaaveshi, adarshvaadi aur samtavaadi hai?”

Sir, my Hindi was so bad I could not answer his question. So he tried the same words in Urdu and my Urdu is almost zero. The exact words he used were “Sabse aala, yak tab kati aur sabse jamah.” I did not have the answer.

Sir, so he asked the same question in English. My Pakistan friend asked which is the most inclusive, most idealistic, most egalitarian book written in the last 5000 years. And, he answered in Urdu – Dastoor-e-Hind. Bharat ka Samvidhaan, the Constitution of India.

Sir, this simple story pays our Constitution a great compliment. Today is not the day to try and be regional. I was very tempted to start by saying that the first four signatures, if you look at the draft of the Constitution, were those of Dr Sarat Chandra Bose, Dr BR Ambedkar, Kiran Shankar Roy and the great lawyer, Frank Anthony. The first four names were all sent to the Constituent Assembly from the State of Bengal, where I come from.

Sir, the Americans have the shortest Constitution of four thousand odd words. We have the longest Constitution in the world – one lakh 11 thousand 369 words. That’s a lot of words, Sir. We were the twenty-fifth country to get a Constitution and we would have inspired one hundred and fifty after us who got their constitutions.

Sir, but more than the words, sometimes films tend to capture the mood even better. Sir, 15 years ago, there was a very nice film made on Dr Ambedkar. It was a biopic and if you look through the credits of that film, the screenwriter of that film was Sooni Taraporevala, from the minority Parsi community. The director of the film was a staunch Hindu from Maharashtra – Jabbar Patel, and the role of Ambedkar was played by the legendary Muslim Malayalee actor, Mammooty. I must say that sometimes films have their own stories to tell.

And, before I move on to make some specific comments on the Constitution, how we fared in the last 65 years, we would also like to recall, on the behalf of the Trinamool Congress, on this happy occasion, the tremendous contribution Dr Ambedkar has had beyond the Constitution. For one, the Ph D thesis he wrote was the basis of the Finance Commission today. A paper he wrote is the basis of the RBI and the book, The Problem of the Rupee is the outline of the guidelines for the RBI Act.

Sir, this is a great occasion to celebrate, this is a great occasion to commemorate, but I think this is a great occasion also for, some reflection.

Sir, there are two points which I wish to leave behind here. Sir, twenty years before the Constitution, the great Mulk Raj Anand wrote a book which we had read in school called Untouchable. Sir, Mulk Raj Anand’s story, written in the 1930s, told us a story about a day in the life of Bakha. Bakha was a young man from an ‘untouchable’ caste. Like generations of his ancestors before him, Bakha had no choice but to follow the caste of his ancestors and the occupation of his ancestors. So what did he have to do? He had to scrape the latrines of human faeces and the way this was done, it had to be first scraped and then put on to a basket on his head and invariably, some of those lumps of faeces would fall on his body.

Sir, could there be a more accursed occupation? Could there be a worst way to be condemned for life? Sir, the injustice which Mulk Raj Anand described was made even worse because the people in the community where Bakha would do his cleaning wouldn’t pay him much money and even shrink from his touch. Sir, the reason I bring this story of Mulk Raj Anand up today is because it has been 68 years since Independence, and 85 years since this book was written, but there are still more than one million Bakhas, one million manual scavengers in this country.

Sir, this is a reason to reflect, a reason to pause. Here, in the Rajya Sabha, as we debate, deliberate, legislate and sometimes, agitate, perhaps this is a reason to contemplate.

Sir, the second reflection is on the work ethics of the Constituent Assembly. Sir, they prepared this monumental document in two years, 11 months and 17 days, that is, under three years. How are we doing with our work ethic?

Sir, it has been 19 years and the Women’s Reservation Bill is still pending here, Sir. There are two ways of looking at it, Sir. You stand up and make a speech and say yes, we want the reservation bill, or you act. And, I think, we in the Trinamool Congress acted. We have 35% women members in the Lok Sabha – 12 out of 34. And we will urge more political parties across the spectrum, don’t wait for the Reservation Bill, but act. It’s the same with the GST. The Constitution took three years to do; the GST is taking us four years.

Sir, let us move on to something that the Leader of the House had spoken about and many esteemed speakers before me have referred to in the debates on the Constituent Assembly, and the great work which was done.

Sir, I want to go one step back. How was the Constituent Assembly formed in the first place in July-August, 1946? If you go back to the British Government of India Act 1935, the State legislatures had their own representations. Now, in 1946-47, when the Constituent Assembly was formed, these were indirectly elected from the States. That is why, all these great men and women, who were a part of this writing the Constitution were indirectly elected members. So, in a way they were precursors of this Rajya Sabha. That is the very basis of this Constitution. So, one gets very disturbed and saddened that a lawyer and an eloquent speaker like the Leader of the House, outside the House, makes statements demeaning this Rajya Sabha.

To quote the Leader of the House – “It is a serious question in a parliamentary democracy wherein bill after bill, the wisdom of a directly elected house is questioned by the indirectly elected house”.

I have to tell, through you Sir, to the Leader of the House, please do not indulge in ‘cowboy constitutionalism’. This is ‘cowboy constitutionalism’, because it does not suit you now. Because your party has fewer numbers than what you want to in the Rajya Sabha, you go back and question the basic foundation of our Constitution. Sir, this is ‘cowboy constitutionalism’ at its worst and this Government is getting a reputation for indulging ‘cowboy constitutionalism’.

Sir the second example of ‘cowboy constitutionalism’, I want to give you is, the number of ordinances which have been passed since Independence. For every 10 Bills passed and made into an Act under Pandit Nehru, one was an ordinance. You come to the 1970s, the Janata Party, for every 10 Bills passed, 1.6 Bills were an ordinance. You come to the UPA-I and II, for every 10 Bills passed, 1.9 Bills were an ordinance. What do the numbers say for NDA? In the last 15 months, for every 10 Bills passed, 3 were ordinances. The message is clear, stop indulging in ‘cowboy constitutionalism’.

Sir, battles over history are not uncommon in healthy democracy. So, when the leader of the Communist Party India, Marxist accuses the far right to worm their way into the Constitution, perhaps someone should first hold a mirror for him. Mr Yechury spoke in detail and looked for a certificate, which he finally got from the President of India in 1992, talking about the role of the Left. We all know, who read our history, what the Left were doing in’47, what the communists were doing after that in 1962. But I don’t want to indulge in rhetoric.

I have a quote here from a book Different Paths, One Goal: Communists and the Quit India Struggle. Four lines from EMS Namboodiripad and I quote from his book – “It is true that we did not participate in the struggle… we did commit the serious mistake of denouncing the leaders and participants in the Quit India struggle as agents of world fascism and Japanese militarism”.

This is one quote from no less a leader than Mr Namboodiripad. So, when I hear these stories about nationalism and the BJP trying to worm their way into the Constitution and the Freedom Movement, everyone is qualified to talk about it, but certainly not the Communist Party of India, Marxist.

Sir, in 1948, after the Constituent Assembly was formed and the drafting began, as we read in the history books, most of the drafting was done from 1948 to 1949, and the famous speech was made by Dr Ambedkar in November 1949. Sir, on the 30th January, 1948, a sad incident, a tragic incident occurred, one about which Pandit Nehru said, “the light has gone out of our lives.”

Sir, a few weeks after that incident, the then Home Minister of India, Vallabhbhai Patel, took a decision. What was his decision, Sir? He banned the RSS. This is very interesting. So even though the Communists had someone in the drafting committing making a few points or what I don’t know, but the RSS was banned in 1948.

Today is a great occasion where we need to find out what is the ideology in place – either we follow A or we follow B. I’ll come to B later. I have a quote here, Sir. This one is from Guru Golwalkar’s We, a Nationhood Defined: (only five lines, Sir, and this is quote from the book):

“The non-Hindu people in Hindustan must either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and revere Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but the glorification of Hindu nation…they must cease to be foreigners or may stay in the country wholly subordinated to the Hindu nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, for less any preferential treatment, not even the citizen’s rights.”

Sir, these are not my words, these are Guru Golwalkar’s words. Now you come to September 2002. Another ideologue, or a modern-day ideologue, doesn’t have the same stature of, maybe, Guru Golwalkar. Sir, this is September 2002. I’m not getting into the details of 2002, not a good occasion, Sir, but this is the quote: “In India, Hindutva has more legitimacy than the Constitution,” S Gurumurthy, September 2002.

Sir, we did not hear these voices for ten-twelve years. These voices have again come up and come up and come up. But there is good news. In September 2014, just about 300 something days agao, Mamata Banerjee made a statement on the Constitution: “The Constitution is the only holy book of this great nation.”

On November 27, the Prime Minster said that the Constitution is the “only holy book” for this government. I wasn’t hearing his campaign speeches but I was hearing his Lok Sabha speech. Sir, the Prime Minister is here this afternoon to speak on this debate. This is a great and momentous occasion for him to either tell us whether he believes in A or B. Because A and B cannot work together, Sir. They cannot go together; they are miles and miles apart.

Sir, if you look through the Constitution, all one lakh eleven thousand words, you can’t find the word ‘federalism.’ It’s never mentioned there, Sir. But the first article clearly talks about India, that is, Bharat shall be a union of states.

Sir, we’ve already had so many debates on federalism, but I want to give one example only, and it is a pity that Mayawati is not here today because I thought of this only after she spoke. Devolution of funds. Twenty six funds, either they have been reduced, or the percentage between the Centre and the States have been flipped around. And for eight schemes, the Centre has stopped funding the States.

I don’t want to go into a technical accounting debate. One example is the BRGF, the Backward Regions Grant Fund. Sir, if you look, that has been stopped completely. Sir, in rural areas, 56% schedules castes/schedules tribes, 40% OBCs are beneficiaries of this scheme. On one hand you are celebrating Dr Ambedkar’s birth anniversary, and on the other hand you are taking away BRGF which is for the SCs, STs and OBCs. Sir, in the urban areas, there are 47% SC/ST, 9% OBC. So there are so many points in federalism – the NITI Aayog, the Planning Commission, the Prime Minister sometimes calling up the Chief Secretary, but let’s not bring the debate down with those details, suffice to say, talk about cooperative federalism but on the ground, stick to operative federalism.

Sir, my next point is secularism. Sir, if you go back to the origin of this word, it comes from Latin or Greek. In Latin or Greek, ‘seculum’ basically means that which is not church, or that which was not religion; anything of the world which was not about the church.

Sir, and we’ve got into a debate; the Home Minister made a statement on the floor of the Lok Sabha, and there have been countless statements which have been made outside. Sir, but what was missed out that day, the same day, the highest law officer of the land, three times when he read the Preamble or referred to the Preamble, in his speech on law day, he did not use the word ‘secularism’ or ‘secular.’ Was that a mistake? Was that the fringe or was that the mainstream? And the danger here is that the line separating the fringe and the mainstream are blurring, Sir. I propose, in the resolution which comes here, Sir, to please include the word ‘pluralism’, because that is very, very important.

Sir, the leader of the House took me back to history class, very interestingly, and I quote: “when constitutional systems are used to subvert the Constitution,” and he gave us the example of the Weimer Republic and Germany; step 1 – burn the Reichstag, Parliament, step 2 – muzzle the media, step 3 – lock up the opponents, step 4 – economic agenda.” Yes, I know he was alluding to the 1970s and some of my friends here may be a little queasy in their seats, but that is history, Sir. What caused us more concern was when he said about step 1, parliament hatao, step 2, muzzle the media; I think this was a perhaps the subconscious mind coming to light and that is why, perhaps, this Weimer Republic part of the Constitution is so stuck in the head. Is this a plan? But thankfully, this plan got scuttled after what happened in Bihar, and that’s why we’re here, Sir.

Sir, in conclusion, as our young men and women go across the world and make ourselves proud, we too, when we were making our Constitution, took so many ideas from across the world. The concepts of liberty, equality and fraternity were taken from the French; the concept of directive principles was taken from the Irish; some of the judicial concepts were taken from Japan, the concept of federalism was taken from Canada and Australia, and the Soviet Union gave us the Planning Commission. So this is beautiful, Sir.

Sir, I want to leave you with the thought; let me leave you with a constructive suggestion (because otherwise the cynicism of having this two- three day debate will always be there). Sir, for our young people between 18 and 30 (so they don’t feel we are only coming here and making speeches, and referring to a one lakh 13 thousand-word book, and not living the book, not breathing the reality), is a positive suggestion: next year, Sir, before we make our speeches, we propose to have, a CAM – Constituent Assembly Module. Set it up in Delhi, let young people between the ages of 18 and 30 come there and actually experience this module, where they can actually take up issues and discuss these issues, see how legislation is done.

Sir, this is an idea we want to leave behind, because as we say, Sir, we have to learn from the past, experience the present and prepare for the future.

Thank you, Sir.

 

 

 

Derek slams BJP for ‘cowboy constitutionalism’

Leader of the Trinamool Congress in Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien today slammed the BJP for its ‘cowboy constitutionalism’. He was speaking during a special discussion on the occasion of 125th birth anniversary year of Dr BR Ambedkar and Constitution Day.

He slammed Arun Jaitley, the Leader of the House, for his disparate remarks about the legality of Rajya Sabha. Citing the example of how the Constituent Assembly was indirectly elected by State Legislatures, Derek said that this was a precursor to the Rajya Sabha.

Spree of Ordinances

Derek O’Brien went on to take on the spree of Ordinances under the current government. “For every ten Bills passed, the number of Ordinances under Pandit Nehru was one, during Janata Party rule it was 1.2. During the UPA 2 regime, 1.9 Ordinances were passed for every ten Bills. In the last 18 months, the number has gone up to three. This is another instance of cowboy constitutionalism of the BJP,” he said.

Actions not words

Highlighting the fact that the Constituent Assembly drafted the Constitution in less than three years, Derek rued the fact that several key bills, like Women’s Reservation Bill, were pending now for decades. “It is time for action. Trinamool Congress believes in action. 35% (12 out of 34) of our MPs in Lok Sabha are women,” he said.

Secularism debate

Speaking about secularism, Derek said that the line separating the fringe and the mainstream was fast blurring. Voices of divisiveness, which had gone silent for the last 10-12 years, were speaking up again. “We have to decide which idea of India we will adopt,” he said while slamming the divisive ideology of Guru Gowalkar. He quoted Mamata Banerjee, who in December, 2014, had said, “The Constitution is the only holy book of this great nation.”

Federalism

Derek O’Brien slammed the Centre on the issue of federalism. “On one hand you celebrate the birth anniversary of Dr Ambedkar and on the other hand you cut funds for BRGF which benefits backward castes,” he said. He raised the issue of devolution of funds and criticised the Centre’s decision to delink funds for 8 schemes and tinkering with funds for 24 other schemes.

Constructive suggestion

While concluding his speech Derek gave a constructive suggestion of setting up of CAM (Constituent Assembly Modules) where young students can participate and share their ideas.

 

Click here for the full transcript

Trinamool slams govt panel’s report on net neutrality | PTI Story

Trinamool Congress tonight slammed a government panel’s report which has proposed regulation of domestic calls made using internet at par with phone calls, saying the recommendations are “by the telecom companies, of the telecom companies and for the telecom companies”.

Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien indicated that the matter would be raised in Parliament which meets next week for the Monsoon session and expected Congress as well as ruling BJP to bat for net neutrality.

“This is by the telecom companies, of the telecom companies and for the telecom companies,” he told PTI while commenting on the report on net neutrality submitted by a panel of the Department of Telecom.

While underlining that he had no problem with the telecom companies, he said, “I believe that in the larger interest of 20 millions of people who use internet in India, the freedom to choose should be maintained.”

Hitting out at telecom companies, the Rajya Sabha MP said the private players, “which reported profits”, are trying to kill technology “when they are not able to compete with it”.

“We will keep this fight for net neutrality going on. Please do whatever it takes to keep the net neutrality. No matter how big the boys are, we must be strong and upright,” he emphasised.

He said TMC is not alone on the issue. “I am confident that Congress too will bat for net neutrality. So should BJP.”

The panel has proposed to regulate domestic calls made using Internet-based calling applications such as Skype, Whatsapp and Viber at par with phone call services offered by telecom operators.

The panel has opposed projects like Facebook’s Internet.Org, which allow access to certain websites without mobile data charges, while suggesting that similar plans such as Airtel Zero be allowed with prior clearance from TRAI.

 

Image courtesy: thinkingaloud.in

Trinamool accounts transparent, nothing to hide: Derek O’Brien

Statement by the Chief National Spokesperson of the party and leader of the All India Trinamool Congress Parliamentary Party in the Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien:

28 May, 2015 | 1:00 PM

“Harassment continues. Lots of pesky questions on Trinamool accounts. Big parties & leaders amass billions, little guys get the questions. Before questioning us, question yourselves and your daylight dacoity to fund your multi-billion dollar election campaign. Trinamool accounts are transparent, nothing to hide.”

Derek O’Brien speaks on the Black Money Bill | Full Transcript

Full Transcript

Sir, during the discussion on the Finance Bill last week, and when we were discussing the Appropriation Bill, the Minister of State for Finance gave us some interesting views of his, where he had said that because of his past experience, he benchmarks everything — everything is to do with benchmarking — and how he had read 21 Budgets and based on benchmarking those 21 Budgets, how he had come to this conclusion. This was said by the Minister of State for Finance. We would come to the Union Minister of Finance in a minute.

So, I want to use this opportunity to do some benchmarking on this Bill as far as the BJP goes. Sir, let us start by benchmarking. I have got four parameters. The first parameter is this: “The names of the foreign account holders must be made public and I demand a time-bound assurance from the Government”. Who said this — It was the current Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Shri Venkaiah Naidu. When did he say this — when he was not in Government. So, this is the first benchmarking – fail.

Now, let us move on to the second benchmarking. “If our Party forms the Government at the Centre, it will bring back all the black money stashed in foreign banks within 150 days. The money brought back will be spent on the welfare schemes.” Who said this – the current HM, that is, the Home Minister. Don’t get mixed up between the HM and the FM because that is the Home Minister. There is also an FM currently who is also the HM. Let me explain. The Finance Minister is also the Information and Broadcasting Minister. He is in-charge of the fiscal management, but he is more interested in ‘headline management’. That is the Finance Minister. Sir, these are all their rules, that is, benchmarking by the Minister of State.

Then, there was one gentleman whose name I would not take, but we all know him. He had said he would start getting one lakh crores of Indian money back within 100 days of the formation of the Modi Government. He is the same man who disappears in disguise in the middle of the night. Let’s not mention his name. So, here again, the benchmarking – failed. Sir, the fourth example of benchmarking is actually the best one, and that is, “I will bring back every rupee that is stored away in foreign banks, any which way, and ensure that it is used for the rehabilitation of the poor in the country.” Who said this – that time, chief election campaigner and now the Prime Minister of India! This is the fourth example of benchmarking – fail. So, in my simple opinion, this actually is the BJP, which I feel, should be called ‘bahut jumla promises’. This is ‘bahut jumla promises’ or BJP, because none of these promises have been kept, and now they have brought this Bill.

Sir, if you look seriously at this Bill, let me point out that 12 such VDI schemes have happened in the past. No one knows how much money came back through these VDI schemes. The Standing Committee has appointed three agencies to ascertain the amount of black money which has come back to India. We still do not have any figure. Now, generation of black money is the issue. Real estate is where the black money is. So, unless we stop this generation from the real estate business, all this will be like election promises. Sir, this is the situation as it is today. Sir, I have the contents of a letter here dated the 10th September, 2014 which says, “India’s ratification of this International Convention Against Corruption was accompanied by a major reservation that it will not apply where there is a bilateral protocol with any country. Moreover, the information supplied…” – this is important – “…is only to be used for tax purposes, neither investigation, arrest nor prosecution”. This is not my note; this is from0 the PMO. So, it cannot be used for investigation, arrest or prosecution. This is a note to the Secretary, Revenue, from the PMO. So, Sir, how will this Bill apply in these situations? Sir, I want to end this little discussion on this mere jumla by giving two suggestions, and I hope the Government will consider both these suggestions.

One, this ‘black money’ is a wrong word. It is racist because, as it is, we have creams in India to try and look white. So, this black money is a wrong concept. In the year 1200 in Europe, when they were actually minting silver coins, that time in those coins, a lot more copper got in. So, those coins became black. That is why those black coins became black money. So, I think we should use the term ‘dirty money’. My last suggestion is very, very serious which, I hope, will go to the Minister for Finance, who has been sitting here for most of the discussion and I can see that Ravi Shankarji is making notes for him. My last suggestion is very serious and please consider this. We, the Trinamool Congress and Mamata Banerjee, are suggesting that you bring back whatever money you can and you find whatever money you can from here — your Bill is not going to do it but in whatever way you can — and then you set up what we call a DEF, that is, Democratic Electoral Fund. Whatever you get, put all the money in the Democratic Electoral Fund and please use this money to start serious electoral reforms. So, that will become the corpus and in that case all political parties will not have to go running around with suitcases only before elections. Please set up this Democratic Electoral Fund. Your track record of delivering election promises is very, very poor. You keep managing the headlines. You are very, very good at that. But, otherwise, I am afraid, nothing else is happening with this Government.

Thank you.

Trinamool demands setting up of Democratic Electoral Fund

Trinamool today demanded that the government should bring back whatever black money they can and use it as a corpus to set up a Democratic Electoral Fund to start the process of electoral reforms. Speaking on behalf of the party, Derek O’Brien, the leader of the party in Rajya Sabha, said that this step could go a long way in stopping the use of black money in elections.

Slamming the BJP as Bahut Jumla Promises, he pointed out the ruling party had gone back on its promise of bringing back black money. He took on the Parliamentary Affairs Minister who had sought a time-bound assurance from the previous UPA government to bring back black money. He also said that the Home Minister had promised to bring back black money within 150 days coming to power during his election campaign.

The Prime Minister, who was the Chief Campaign Officer of BJP in 2014, had said he would bring back black money and use them for social welfare, Derek said. He also took a dig at a person who had said during 2014 election campaign that Modi government would bring back Rs 1 lakh crore worth of black money in 150 days.

While Trinamool supported this Bill, Derek asked MPs not to use the term black money as it was racist; he suggested the term dirty money. He made it clear in his speech that even agencies appointed by Standing Committee on Finance have not been able to ascertain the value of black money stashed abroad.

Derek O’Brien speaks on the Appropriation (Railways) No. 2 Bill, 2015 | Full Transcript

Full Transcript

Sir, this government is talking to us about cooperative federalism. But unfortunately, if you look at the way they are dealing with Railways, they are killing federalism.

Even the MP, who spoke first today, suggested to his Minister to complete the existing projects. Mr Railway Minister, your own MP from the back benches is asking you to complete the existing projects, I am also saying the same thing. Complete the existing projects in Bengal.

You keep telling us that you gave us so many thousand crores. But look at the percentage of the funds also and not just the numbers. You go on and on about SPVs – Special Purpose Vehicles. I am beginning to wonder whether SPVs are Special Purpose Vehicles or are they Suresh Prabhu Vehicles.

Your intention is good but you have a basic problem. You are suggesting setting up of SPVs for each project and after completion they will be dissolved. The problem is you want the States to fund SPVs.

Sir, West Bengal is a debt-stressed state, like Punjab and other states. We have increased our revenues by 105% in the last three years without increasing taxes. But we carry a legacy of debt-burden. The CPM had to go out of power because of that and we are paying the interest for the debt they incurred.

While you are talking about cooperative federalism, you have to keep in mind the debt-stressed states. I also want to refer to my neighbouring state Odisha. Please study what happened with POSCO and associated SPV there. It ran into several problems.

Sir, the message I want to leave you with is very simple. Like your MP said in the beginning, complete the existing projects. You have not announced any new projects. Fair enough. Do not deprive states which are debt-stressed. Try SPVs once or twice, it will fail in six months and you will come back to normal.

You keep saying you are increasing the allocation of money to States from 32% to 42%. In reality, you are not. Please Mr Railway Minister please do consider these points, that is my request to you.

Thank you, Sir.

Trinamool blasts CPM, Cong, BJP over farmers/land

The leader of the party in Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien today blasted the CPI(M), Congress and BJP in the Rajya Sabha during a discussion on farmer suicides and agrarian crisis in India. He accused the CPI(M) of shedding crocodile tears over farmers because between 1990-2005 there was 19331 farmer suicides in Bengal.

Derek O’Brien also said that Mamata Banerjee was the only leader fighting for the rights of farmers in 2006, when she went on a 26-day hunger strike. Trinamool has been consistent on the issue of land acquisition. “UPA-II’s land bill was a bad bill. We think the bill by this government is a draconian bill,” he said. He also reminded the House that in 2013, Trinamool was the only party to vote against the land bill.

Derek also made some constructive suggestions to solve the agrarian crisis in the country. He suggested other States follow the Bengal model of distribution of Kisan Credit Cards. He urged the government to protect the jute farmers and increase the MSP for rice. He also highlighted how the Bengal government handled the potato crisis through a series of measures. He also suggested the government to use science and digital technology to boost productivity.

Urging everyone to rise above politics for the sake of farmers, Derek O’Brien warned the government that the land bill was going nowhere.

Click here for the full transcript of his speech

earthquake

Our prayers are with the people of Nepal: Trinamool in Parliament

Trinamool Congress today expressed grief and sorrow at the immense loss of life and property in Nepal and parts of India due to the earthquake on 25 April, 2015.

During a discussion in both Houses of the Parliament, Derek O’Brien and Saugata Roy extended solidarity with the people of Nepal in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha respectively.

“The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was dissolved. Out of a board of 12 odd members, only three members have been appointed so far. My humble suggestion to the government is not to keep those seats vacant,” Derek O’Brien said.

He added that the formula to handle such situations was PIC – Preparedness, Infrastructure and Communication. While the communication on government’s part was satisfactory, a lot was needed to be done in preparedness, he opined.

Click here to read the full transcript of his speech

 

In Lok Sabha, Saugata Roy said that huge loss of life and properties has happened in Nepal. It is good Indian govt has sent relief material to Nepal. He appreciated the central government’s role in relief operations but said a lot more could be done.

He also wanted to know from the government how much funds have been released from the National Disaster Relief Fund.

Click here to read the full transcript of his speech

 

The image is a representative one (courtesy: qz.com)

Derek O’Brien speaks on the earthquake tragedy in Nepal and India | Full Transcript

Full Transcript

Deputy Speaker Sir,

Desmond Doig, the famous journalist who lived in Kolkata and spent most of his time in Kathmandu in Nepal – he died many years ago – remembered the country for the comforting vision of Nepal with its emerald fields and terracotta huts and purple rain. In the last two days what we saw was anything but comforting.

On behalf of everyone in the country, as well as West Bengal, where we had casualties, we convey our deepest sympathies to the families of those who lost their lives.

Sir, for such a situation like this, our belief is that, the formula has to be PIC – Preparedness, Infrastructure and Communication. Since it is a different country, I should not comment on infrastructure. We should also prepare ourselves for facing disasters like these.

From an Indian point of view, our learning yesterday was, whether it was central government or the state government – governments of UP, Bengal and Bihar – the communication was very, very strong. Whether it was the Chief Minister of Bengal or the Prime Minister’s Office or other offices, communication went out well.

It is my duty to inform this House what happened in Bengal in terms of rescue. The disaster management teams were monitoring the situation. Everyone forgot about the local municipal elections. The administration was very focussed on the rescue efforts.

Disaster management meetings were chaired by the Chief Minister and the teams went out that evening. Everyone was very concerned. 15 mountaineers from Bengal came back safely.

Yesterday the Chief Minister of Bengal was in north Bengal, monitoring the situation. She had the opportunity to meet the families of those who had lost their lives.

The communication efforts, the disaster management efforts, specially up in north Bengal – Siliguri, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling – were very well handled. In these situations, we always look up to the Army, Navy and the Air Force. They must also be congratulated.

I want to end with a suggestion, Sir. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was dissolved. Not that having an NDMA would have solved the earthquake problem, but out of a board of 12 odd members, only three members have been appointed so far. My humble suggestion to the government is not to keep those seats vacant.

Our prayers and thoughts are with the people of Nepal and the people of the States which are affected.