TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar introduces Bill for Transgender Welfare in LS

TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar introduces Bill for Transgender Welfare in LS

Posted on December 18, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Months after the Rajya Sabha, in a rare move, voted in favour of a private member’s bill guaranteeing rights to transgenders, the Lok Sabha today took up a similar private member’s bill, moved by Trinamool MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar.

The Transgender Persons (Welfare) Bill 2015 calls for a Transgender Persons Welfare Fund administered by a board with representation from state governments that will provide social security to transgender persons. It proposes that every transgender person will be entitled to freely express his/her gender identity and be considered a third gender, and that they will have access to education and vocational training; the rights to personal liberty, dignity, freedom of expression; rights against violence, right to health facilities and also the right to marry.

Talking about her Bill, Ghosh Dastidar said, “It is high time that we recognised the needs of these special kinds of people. Since Parliament is the place where we can legislate for providing for all their requirements and guaranteeing them their rights, I brought this bill. West Bengal is among the first states in the country that, as far as my knowledge goes, recognised their needs and set up a transgender board to ensure those rights.”

Abhishek Banerjee’s speech at United Nations General Assembly

Posted on October 26, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Statement by Mr. Abhishek Banerjee, Hon’ble Member of Parliament, at the Thematic Debate on Other Weapons of Mass Destruction at the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly on October 22, 2015:

Mr. Chairman,

India associates itself with the statement delivered by Indonesia on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement and that delivered by Russia on behalf of BRICS.

India attaches high importance to the two Conventions on Chemical and Biological Weapons as examples of non-discriminatory treaties in the field of disarmament for the total elimination of a specific type of weapons of mass destruction. The success of these Conventions can be a model for the future elimination of the other type of weapons of mass destruction- nuclear weapons.

As disarmament is a primary goal of the Chemical Weapons Convention, the remaining possessor States should fulfil their obligations within the shortest possible time. India completed the destruction of its chemical weapon stockpiles in 2009 within the stipulated time frame under the CWC. The provisions of the Convention should be implemented in a manner that does not hinder legitimate activities, especially in countries like India with a large and growing chemical industry. Universality is also fundamental to the success of the Convention.

The use of chemical weapons anywhere and by anyone must be condemned and the international norm against the use of chemical weapons must not be breached. India contributed to international efforts under the UN and the OPCW for the destruction of Syria’s declared chemical weapon stockpiles. The international community should continue to be vigilant on non-state actors and terrorist groups seeking or using chemical weapons.

Mr. Chairman,

India remains committed to improving the effectiveness of the BWC and strengthening its implementation and its universalization. India shares the widespread interest amongst States Parties to strengthen the effectiveness and improve the implementation of the Convention through the negotiation and conclusion of a Protocol for that purpose. We believe this is necessary in view of the new challenges to international peace and security emanating from proliferation trends, including the threat posed by terrorists or other non-state actors seeking access to biological agents or toxins for terrorist purposes.

We support a robust consultation process among all States Parties leading to the Eighth Review Conference next year, so as to contribute to its success through preparations on substantive and procedural issues. India is making substantive contributions in this regard. We have submitted a Joint Working Paper with France on measures to strengthen Assistance under Article VII of the Convention. We have tabled a Joint Working Paper with the United States on strengthening the implementation of Article III of the Convention. These demonstrate India’s contribution of concrete proposals on key aspects of the Convention and our willingness to work with partners to build broad based understandings and agreement that would benefit all State Parties to the Convention.

Mr. Chairman,

India is committed to maintaining the highest international standards with reference to control of nuclear, chemical, biological and toxin weapons and their means of delivery. In this regard, India has made considerable progress in its engagement with the relevant multilateral export control regimes with a view to seeking full membership. India has strong and law-based national export controls consistent with the highest international standards. India has filed reports to UNSCR 1540 and has provided the latest update this year.

A world without weapons of mass destruction would be a world without fear of instant annihilation. In conclusion I would like to quote Rabindranath Tagore – great son of India and a great poet of Bengal:

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake

Thank you.

Abhishek Banerjee to represent Trinamool at UN

Posted on October 16, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Trinamool Congress’ youngest MP Abhishek Banerjee is likely to be part of a delegation of Indian parliamentarians visiting the United Nations’ New York headquarters from October 19-30.

It is significant because soon after assuming power, the current Prime Minister had scrapped this practice, which has been a norm since Jawaharlal Nehru’s times. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had registered her protest forcing the Centre to rethink its decision.

Abhishek was named by Sudip Bandyopadhyay , Trinamool Congress leader in Lok Sabha.

“We nominated Abhishek because he is the youngest MP in the party . This delegation provides a rare insight into the workings of United Nations general assembly . It will help him,” he said.

Party MPs Derek O’ Brien, Nadimul Haque and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar have been part of similar delegations. Abhishek Banerjee, National President of All India Trinamool Youth Congress, is the second youngest MP in Lok Sabha.

Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar speaks on the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2014 | Full Transcript

Posted on May 6, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Full Transcript

I rise to discuss the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2014 brought by our Hon. Minister Smt Maneka Gandhi. This Bill replaces the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2000. It permits juveniles between the ages of 16 and 18 years to be tried as adults for heinous offences. Also any 16 to 18 year old who commits a less serious offence may be tried as an adult only if he is apprehended after the age of 21 years.

There are different views on whether juveniles should be tried as adults. There are arguments that the current law does not act as a deterrent for juveniles committing heinous crimes. Another view is that a reformative approach will reduce the likelihood of repeating offences.

The provision of trying a juvenile committing a serious or heinous crime as an adult based on date of apprehension could violate the Article 14- Rigt to Equality and Article 21- requiring that laws and procedures are fair and reasonable. The provision also counters the spirit of Article 20, Sec-1 according to a higher penalty for the same offence.

India has ratified the United Nation’s convention on the rights of the child and it requires treating every child under the age of 18 as equal. The provision of trying a child as an adult contravenes this convention also.

Of course, the penalties provided in the Bill are not in proportion to the gravity of the offence. For example, the penalty for selling a child is lower than that for offering intoxicating or psychotropic substances to a child.

However, the census data at the moment shows that juveniles between the ages of 7 to 18 years constitute about 25% of the total population and the National Crime Records Bureau shows that the percentage of juvenile crime has gone up in the recent past and it has increased from 1% to 1.2% from 2003 to 2013.

During the same period 16 to 18 year olds accused of crimes as a percentage of all juveniles accused have increased from 54% to 56%. So here comes the necessity for giving this a serious thought. But the mention of the Juvenile Justice Bill and also the boards to look into whether these children as we call them should be taken care of has a financial implication which has to be dealt with in detail. I would like to mention here that the police who are going to investigate or the boards that are going to look into these matters should have women.

As my learned friend there was speaking about psychiatrists, I would also think that we should have children’s psychiatrists in these boards that should look into the mental capacity of children. I would like to bring to the notice of this august House a film which was called Taare Zameen Par. Just because children’s requirements are not understood or appreciated, sometimes children get misled.

In this country we have so many families who live below the poverty line that a child lifting something –a food article or a toy article- out of dire shortage of funds at home, then I should think that the child is not to be blamed. It is the society or the State which has to be blamed and the corrective measure has to be taken by the family, by the neighbourhood, by the State. This child-friendly step that has been taken by the minister has been appreciated besides trying to lift the social status of these children through education, through supplying them food as we are doing in the Government Schools. Particularly in our State of West Bengal we are trying means to educate the children, particularly the girl child through the Kanyashree scheme.

The country is trying to provide food grains through the mid-day meal but there should be other facilities given to the child besides education. The children should be exposed to recreational facilities. The children should be educated and vocational training should be given. Their childhood should be our concern and we should see that the child is not carried away due to poverty to commit such a crime which might lead to the child being maimed as a criminal.

This kind of criminal mentality in a child can be combated only if the child is taken care of in a compassionate way right from birth and given if not equal, similar facilities of a middle class family so that the child’s mentality is not crime oriented.

Thank You Sir.

Trinamool MPs criticise the Government on Railway Budget 2015-16

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

Updated at 5.00 pm, 12 March 2015.

Trinamool MPs Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Ratna De Nag, Pratima Mandal ,Arpita Ghosh, Tapas Mandal and Mamtaz Sanghamitra spoke on the Railway Budget 2015-16 at Lok Sabha.

Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar slammed the Government for raising the freight charges, even when international fuel prices have declined.

“With an increase in the freight rates, core industries like, cement, kerosene, urea and food grains, is going to increase. This is going to hit badly, the common man as well as the industry. This will create a burden on the common man, because this will increase the price of the daily used commodities”, she said.

She drew attention to the fact that during the tenure of Mamata Banerjee as the Railway Minister the freight carrying capacity had increased by 35%, but during the last year there has been a fall in the capacity.

Click here for full speech of Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar.

Ratna De Nag also criticized the Government along similar lines pointing out that petty amounts were allocated to pending projects for the State of West Bengal.

“In 2014-15 Railway Budget only Rs 33.92 Crore was allocated whereas in 2015-16 Budget a meager sum of Rs 2.51 Crore is allocated. How can we complete this project with such a meager allocation? In the last budget a sum of Rs 184.70 Crore was sanctioned for coach rehabilitation factory in Anara but till March 2014 only Rs 8.29 Crore has been spent. I strongly urge the Railway Minister to allocate more funds and utilise the sanctioned fund”, she said.

Click here for full speech of Ratna De Nag.

Pratima Mandal urged the Railway Minister to introduce new galloping trains to Sealdah-Namkhana line and to extend the line to Bakkhali, which is a popular tourist spot of West Bengal. “Bakkhali is an attractive tourist stop, so that people from different parts of West Bengal can reach there easily. Kindly sanction funds for these two projects”, she said.

Click here for full speech of Pratima Mandal.

Arpita Ghosh slammed the Government on meager allotment of funds for projects in West Bengal. Several projects of her Parliamentary constituency is pending and allocations have been cut down drastically. “Jab Mamata Di, Rail Mantri thi, unhone mere kshetra me pehli bar rail line layi thi aur kayi projects di thi, jaisa ki Balurghat Hili new rail line, new construction Itahar-Buniyadpur, new construction Buniyadpur, Kushmandi via Kishanganj, new construction Buniadpur wagon factory. Mamata ji Rail Mantrak chhorne ke baad se humare waha kaam bandh pare hai. Koi allotment nahi ho rahi hai. Ajeeb baath to yeh hai, ki kuch project ki zikar bhi nahi hai. Balurghat – Hili Rs 200 Crore ka project mein Mamata ji chhorne ki baad keval Rs 2 Crore mila hai”, she said.

Click here for full speech of Arpita Ghosh.

Tapas Mandal strongly criticised the Minister for ignoring West Bengal in the Railway Budget. He urged the Minister to finish the work of underpass in Ranaghat. “I want to draw you attention to the suburban railway stations. The toilets, the bathrooms of the suburban railway stations are in very bad conditions”, he said.

Click here for full speech of Tapas Mandal.

Mamtaz Sanghamita raised the issue of female security in local trains and the quality of food served in the platforms. “There is no local train between Durgapur to Bardhaman, Durgapur to Howrah, Katwa and Sealdah. There is urgent need of railway overpass in Kalna”, she said.

Click here for full speech of Mamtaz Sanghamita.

This Railway Budget appears to be anti-people, aimless & visionless: Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar | Transcript

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

Full transcript:

Namashkar Deputy Speaker Sir, Thank you for allowing me to speak on this very important discussion here today.

Humara Prabhu ji here, Prabhu ji se mang kiya aur disha dikhane ki prarthana ki lekin mujhe lagta hai ki Prabhu ji unki kuch bhi nahi sun rahe. Prabhu ji ne desh ki bhi nehi suni, Prabhu ji ne hamara bhi nehi suni, yeh Prabhu ji, na garib ki suni na Prabhuji udyogpati ki suni, na Prabhu ji gharwali ki suni, na Prabhu ji ne kisan ki suni, na Prabhu ji mazdoor ka suni.

Yeh jo unhone pesh kiya isse lagta hai ki woh Prabhu ji woh Prabhu ji is Prabhu ji ka kuch bhi nehi suna.Prabhu ji humara kuch bhi nehi suna. Jo unhono pesh kiya hai hume lagta hai ki yeh budget nehi hai. Yeh budget ka ek chhaya hai. Lagta hai yeh shadow budget hai. Lagta hai ki yeh ek document aisa hai ki desh ki janta ko dhoka dene ka koshish hai.

Isme koi bhi disha nahi hai ki yeh kya karna chahte hai kyuki Budget means a yearly quantitative expression of plans towards assets and liabilities, expenses and variables with a clear road map for the future, for growth of industry concerned.

It is really surprising to note that the Union Railway Budget of this year does not have these features. It clearly appears to be anti-people, aimless and visionless.

I would with all humility request the Hon’ble Minister to go through the Vision 2020 document by Hon’ble Mamata Banerjee, the then Railway Minister when she presented her Budget in 2009 and many projects started during that time have been totally neglected. I don’t know whether it is some kind of political vendetta. I don’t know why these works have been stopped. I just want to point out a very small thing that out of 48 sanctioned projects for RUB and ROB in Eastern India, in West Bengal only five have received funds, that too a petty amount. I don’t know if that amount is enough to buy raw materials.

Show little concern to the people of West Bengal and the country. He has said in his budget speech, that the passenger freights have not been increased.

I would like to draw the kind attention of you Sir, and also to this August House. The first thing this Government did, after coming to power, after being elected by the people, is to take an anti people step of raising the passenger fare with a promise to lower rate, every time the fuel prices were lowered. After that, there have been many times when fuel prices have dipped in international market. So far, we have not received any information of lowering of passenger fare in the country. This is cheating people of the country.

This time the freight fares have been raised. In the previous budget, the passenger fares were increased by 14.2%. In this budget the freight fares were increased by 6.5%. We know that there is a competition between rail and the road for the freight. Why can’t the Railway Minister improve the facilities for the railways, so that the market, being shared by both road and the rail, is taken by the rail? Why can’t low bottom wagons be designed so that the trucks can directly drive into the wagons and be carried to its place and drive away, whether they are laden with coal or other elements?

The present Budget that has being presented to the country is going to affect the core industry. An increase in the freight rates, the core industries like cement, kerosene, urea, food grains and everything is going to be increased. This is going to hit badly, the common man as well as the industry. Growth is going to be restricted. There is a promise that they are trying to initiate growth, but if the core industry is hit then how can growth take place? How can infrastructure be built well?

Yesterday a draconian law was passed and anti person law was passed here. That was supposed to be helping infrastructure. If the freight rate increases, the core industries is going to be hit, so how will infrastructure development take place? In my little brain, I cannot understand. So, I request the Hon’ble Minister to take this into account.

In the same breath, I would also like to point out that from 2009 up to 2011, there has been an increase of the freight volume, carried by the railways, increased to nearly 35%, when Hon’ble Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee was the Railway Minister. But the last fiscal year has again showed a dip in the freight carrying capacity. So, they should take more attention to the freight, if nation building is one important point that they are looking at.

This will create a burden on the common man, because this will increase the price of the daily used commodities. It will hit the kitchen directly.

In the Budget, it is said that everything will be done with partnership with private players. Our country does not support so much of private activity. It appears that you are going to sell away everything to the private players without proper discussion in the House or addressing the interest of the people.

Trinamool Congress is always committed to the poorest of the poor, to the last man in the last village. We are thinking about that person and at the moment how this Government is functioning it appears to quote Rabindranath Tagore, ‘baniker mandondo dekha dilo rajdondo rupe’ i.e the rulers are trying to act like commercial people. I do not think it is the right attitude.

I would also like to bring to your notice that this Rail Budget appears to be a document, an expansion proposition of an IT company. We are for advancement. We are getting used to sending sms, doing email, we have Wi-Fi zones, that is true but at the same time, this particular document looks like an IT document of the IT sector. It has nothing that we expect from a rail budget.

It has nothing for the 13,33,966 Railway employees. I want to point out that when Hon’ble Mamata Banerjee was the Railway Minister, she had announced that the families of the Railway workers would get certain benefits which included that the children would get educational facilities. There will be seats reserved for them in the medical and engineering colleges. She would have more hospitals dedicated to them. She also had dedicated number of seats at concessional rates for the media people and cancer patients.

Railway is not only a means of transportation, it is the lifeline of a country, it has social obligations, which is totally misled in this budget.

I would like to bring to the notice of this House, plight of poor people. Imagine a poor farmer woman, she picks up certain vegetables, she carries it on her head and tries to go to the nearest market to sell them. Imagine the plight of a little child going to school with her mother for an examination or imagine a youth carrying his blind father to go to the hospital and the checker comes and ask them for the ticket, they are poor, they do not have the ticket, and they are made to disembark from the train. So what did Mamata Banerjee do? She started the ‘Izzat Ticket’ by which the person could travel at the cost of Rs 25 for the whole month. That is not a ticket that is his izzat. That is the izzat of the poor person. That is the izzat of the poor farmer woman, that is the izzat of the sick old blind man – ‘Izzat Ticket’ has been done away with. I am shocked that this country has to suffer in the hands of such decisions taken by an elected Government.

Certain projects were being undertaken for the poor people of West Bengal. It included the dedicated freight corridor, but it remains to be incomplete. We think, the present Government has no intention to develop not only West Bengal, but also the eight sister states in the eastern part of the country. These eight states, like Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and each of them are suffering poor developmental facilities and poor infrastructure. I do not know how many honourable Members are sitting from Assam, but I would like to draw the attention that there are tea pickers Cheragi in the Barak Valley, who cannot sell their products because the rail track does not go into Cheragi.

There are so many poor farmers in the country, who would have benefited from the Kisan Vision document of Mamata Banerjee, by the cold storage that she was planning to do, by the air conditioned carriage system that she was planning to do. None of them has been mentioned in the documents which we have received now.

Sir, with a very heavy heart, I went page after page in the lecture of the Hon’ble Minister. In the speech, I could not find anything for the State of West Bengal. During the tenure of Ms Mamata Banerjee, she had made the 17th Zone, which was the metro zone. Metro is a fast travelling transit system for the urban people. They go to hospitals, schools and everywhere.

In West Bengal, we had metro projects for – Dum Dum to Airport, Noapara to Barasat sector, Baranagar – Barrackpore – Dakhineshwar sector, Airport to New Garia via Rajarhaat, Joka – BBD. None of it has got requisite sanctions. I would like to draw your kind attention Sir, out of the Rs 2081 Crore required for the Barasat sector; only Rs 140 Crore has been allotted. This appears to be a joke to me.

Not very well to do people from urban and rural sectors, take the suburban trains and the rural trains. Among that, not one single train was announced. It is shocking. Even today, if I need to buy a ticket to go to Kolkata, my waiting list will be around 30,40, 50 and whatever. That means there is a demand for the trains. That means, I will have to wait for 29 other people to cancel their tickets and then I will get confirmation. So, what is the harm in adding another coach in the train? I do not understand. You can use these coaches for advertising to earn money but add on coaches can be used for people who are travelling at a low cost. None of it is here. It appears to be a joke that the Kharagpur Workshop has been given one rupee where Rs 10,000 Crore is still remaining. I do not know why these missed the eyes of the Hon’ble Railway Minister.

In light of the above I would draw his attention to the safety security. The safety security needs premier attention. In this country out of the total number of 30348 level crossings, the number of manned level crossings are 18785 and unmanned level crossings are 11563. Out of the accidents that take place, the consequential train accidents related to death and accidents, the highest sharing is by unmanned level crossings which is 43.22%. The death due to consequential type of accidents that is highest due to unmanned level crossing which is 38.03%. These 11000 unmanned level crossing should be manned immediately or ROBs build.

As per as ROBs go, I was pointing out that in the document it says only 5 have been sanctioned for West Bengal. This again appears to be a joke. The life of people living in West Bengal also very important. I have two level crossings, they are no.26 and no.28 in my constituency in Ashok Nagar and Habra. I have been writing from pillar to post during last two years after Hon’ble Ms Mamata Banerjee had left. She had started the survey there and nobody is even bothered that everyday people are dying in these level crossings.

So out of all these unmanned level crossings or the required ROBs and RUBs some concern must be shown Sir.

We would definitely request these projects, not only for the state of West Bengal, not only for the eastern states, but the whole country as it is looking upto you for their Railway projects and with definite stress on the neglected projects of West Bengal I end on the note of request to please look into this and sanction them.

Thank you.

Center responsible for border security: Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar | Transcript

Posted on February 24, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

During the Question Hour in Lok Sabha today, Trinamool MP Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar asked the Centre why it is not collaborating with the State and passing on information regarding infiltration in the borders.

The Central Government is responsible for the protection of the Nation’s border and gathering of Intelligence to stop infiltration. The responsibility lies with central agencies and forces like BSF, IB, RAW, SSB among others.

The border of Bengal lacks proper patrolling and is not properly protected with wire-fences which lead to infiltration of unwanted persons into the State.

The Union Minister of State for Home Affairs admitted a lapse on part of the Centre in fencing the borders. Earlier, the MoS Finance had said in Lok Sabha that Sarada money was not channeled to terrorist activities.

From the Minister’s statement it is quite clear that the responsibility of the Burdwan incident lies with the Central Government as it failed to perform its duties.

Organisational changes in Trinamool Congress

Posted on February 14, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Trinamool Chairperson Mamata Banerjee presided over a meeting of Presidents of various district committees, heads of frontal organisations and senior leaders at her Kalighat office today.

Keeping in mind the growing national importance of the party several organisational changes were made in the meeting.

Party Secretary General Partha Chatterjee addressed the press after the meeting to make the following announcements:

Trinamool has appointed Subrata Bakshi as All India General Secretary.

Derek O’Brien, Firhad Hakim and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar have been elevated to a new body which will function as the National Secretariat of the party.

Subrata Mukherjee has been given the charge of Tripura. Suvendu Adhikari will oversee organisational activities in Assam. Derek O’Brien will oversee the party’s organisation in North Eastern states and Kerala.

Dinesh Trivedi has been appointed as one of the new Vice Presidents of the party.

Derek O’Brien and Kalyan Banerjee will keep in touch with like-minded parties and oversee functions in Parliament.

Municipal elections were discussed today. We have formed committees for the same.

We started the membership drive on January 1, 2015. Scrutiny committees will operate at district and State level.

There will be no membership fees for family of martyrs. People can become primary members of the party by paying a fee of Re 1.

One can also become a Associate or active member of the party by paying Rs 50000, which will be renewable every 5 years.

All applications for membership will be submitted to District Scrutiny Committees, who in turn will forward them to State Scrutiny Committee for final approval.

District Committees have been asked to prepare list of candidates for upcoming municipal polls, which will be submitted to State Committee. Mamata Banerjee will give final approval for the the candidate list.

Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar speaks on the atrocities on women | Transcript

Posted on August 7, 2014 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Thank you Chairman Sir. As I stand in this citadel of democracy and justice today, I make an appeal to the collective consciousness of our nation to respect womanhood. Women when they are in utero – stop feticide. Women who are less than one year of age – stop infanticide, women when they are in their youth – prevent maternal mortality, prevent rape on them, prevent domestic violence on them, prevent harassment, sexual harassment on them in their workplaces, harassment on them on the road, harassment everywhere. I appeal to the collective consciousness of this nation also Sir, to respect women at every aspect of their lives. Had Agatha Christie been around she would have written a book ‘Mystery of the missing girls’.

It is really shocking sometimes – in dismay and disbelieve I pinch myself – do I breath the same air as men do, and do I tread the glades as men do in this country because I am still alive. Women are not allowed to be born in this country. The United Nations have sounded an alarm, they have declared emergency on India. The Assistant Secretary General of United Nations has said that “the sharply declining the child sex ratio in India has reached an emergency proportion and urgent action has to be taken”. The deteriorating ratio of 977 girls to 1000 boys in 1961 stands today at 918 only in the country and Delhi is no better; it is only in the 800s. In Punjab today it is 846 per 1000 men, and also 834 in Haryana. It is really shocking that a little child, a little girl sleeping peacefully in her mother’s womb, is murdered by doctors. These erring doctors should be sent to the jail and if found to be guilty they should really be hanged, I agree completely with my sister here who was speaking about it.

The sex ratio and the gender-biased sex selection has really reached such an extent, the falling numbers can be attributed to many reasons which include dowry as already discussed and it is tragically ironic that the one who creates life – that is the mother – is not allowed to be born, or not allowed to live, because even after being born, out of the 12 million girl children born every year in the country, one million don’t reach their first birthday. They are killed even before they reach one year of their age.

Our State Government has taken positive steps towards this. Our hon. Chief Minister Smt Mamata Banerjee has respected the reservation for women in the highest body of Lok Sabha by fielding nearly 30% candidates and here we are nearly 32% of our elected Lok Sabha Members are women. I am proud of her, I am proud of my party. She has also started the Kanyashree scheme; she is helping the girl children to study. The Kanyashree II scheme says at the age of 18 if she remains unmarried and studying she is getting Rs 25000. It not only addresses the issue of education, it not only addresses the issue of empowerment because at the age of 18, if she is unmarried, that clause, she remains to become a healthy mother and a healthy child is born and that addresses the issue of millennium development goal fine, where she is not killed during child birth.

The hon. Chief Minister started girls’ hostel in the state, she has recruited women police, and she started courts to treat women’s issues. So I would again request that we have enough laws, today’s motion was the need to have stringent legislation to check increasing atrocities against women and children in the country. But we have laws, we have laws against domestic violence, we have laws against sexual harassment; we have the Vishakha judgment and guidelines. It is not stopping the happenings that are taking place here. I would like to request this august House that we have to sensitize our citizens, men and women equally. Women are equally to blame; they should have enough courage to stand on their feet and fight the world and then live and let live. Though there are stringent laws, implementation has to be stricter, vigilance has to be kept, rape rehabilitation has to be given a very strict thought and the awareness created. I am sorry to say this Government has only Rs 100 crore in the budget for awareness, it is not enough. The citizens have to be made aware, that women should be respected. They are half our total population. Though they are doing 85% of the work in the country, they hold only 15% of the assets in the country.

We are three sisters, Mr Chairman Sir. When someone would ask my father aren’t you sad you have only three daughters, he would say, they are my sun, they are my moon, they are my words, they are my tune, they are my future, they are my assets. I know of another lady member of the house who is a single child whose father feels the same way. We need more fathers this way. Fathers who will be proud of their girl child, bring them up properly, give them education so that they are empowered.

Our scriptures do not have contradictory vision otherwise we would not have seen Draupadi in such an empowered position. Our country has had many women who have led the nation to war. This is the best of time because we have the legislation and this is also the worst of times because we have the Nirbhaya cases. It is also an era of regression because we have the khap panchayats, because we have honour killings; a girl cannot love on her own and she is killed because of the decision taken by elders. This has to be done away with. Hon. Minister is here, I would request the honour killings must stop. This is an age of resilience because we have women here who are speaking against this social evil.

I would request an awareness be created in the homes because we know more than 97% of the cases are inside the house; it is either the father, very sadly, it is the uncle, it is the cousin, it is the brother, it is somebody in the house who is raping the girl and when the girl is really ashamed to talk about it in the public this gentleman gets so much of encouragement that he goes out and does it to other people. So the domestic violence and what is happening inside the house should be looked at. It is not possible to have surveillance cameras inside the homes; we need a change of mindset.

I would request that proper implementation of the legislation be done and also everywhere advertisement should be put; Doordarshan reaches far and wide, the radio reaches far and wide, talks should be given on this issue so that people can hear and start respecting women as they should be.

Thank you.

Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar speaks regarding special packages for closed tea gardens in North Bengal | Transcript

Posted on August 4, 2014 | by AITC | Leave a Comment

Senior Trinamool MP Dr Kakoli GhoshDastidar today questioned the Centre regarding the steps the government plansto take for reopening of the closed Tea Gardens in West Bengal. She askedwhether the Tea Board, a Central Govt organization is aware that sixprivately-owned tea gardens in Bengal are closed at the moment and theplantation workers are in a pitiable condition.

The Trinamool MP informed the House thatthe State Government in Bengal is supplying aids, with both health andfinancial packages, to the plantation workers of the closed tea gardens. Sheraised the question in the House whether the Tea Board or the hon. UnionMinister of Business and Commerce have any intention to extend further supportto these plantation workers or extend any revival packages for the tea gardensin the state.

On a different motion in Lok Sabha, thenewly-elected MP for Trinamool Congress, Ms Pratima Mandal raised the questionof falling standards of services offered by the government-owned telecomcompany BSNL in comparison to private telecom companies doing business in thecountry.