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Sir, Shunya Kaal me aap State subjects ko allow mat karein. Yeh House ke khilaf hain.
State subjects are not allowed to be raised on the floor of the House if it is a law and order situation. If it starts then every Member under their jurisdiction will raise the same issue and your Zero Hour purpose will be a big zero.
Sir, I will request you to take a strong step in this regard. Thank you.
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India has emerged as a superpower, something that is alerting those involved in the hegemonistic balance of power. But the largest democracy is still tainted with caste-based discrimination. There has been a 37 per cent increase in atrocities against scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in the past decade. This is very alarming; not just for prohibiting crimes, it is an urgent requirement for establishing grounds so that the vulnerable groups can be at par with the groups having privilege.
This amendment Bill is yet another effort to bring equality by reviving the 200-point roster as against the 13-point one, as put forth by the Allahabad High Court. The aim of the Bill is to consider a central educational institution as a unit, in place of department, to ensure proper functioning of the reservation system in direct recruitment of teaching faculty.
I take the opportunity to explain this as the public might be in a dilemma as to how this is beneficial. Rather than direct reservation, department-wise reservation will yield more employment. But this is wrong because the number of vacancies in each department will not be enough to support the reservation. Thus I appreciate this Bill.
But I would like to seek clarification from the Hon’ble Minister, through you, Madam, on the necessity of promulgating the Ordinance dated March 7, 2019. Article 123 of the Indian Constitution, as interpreted by Pandit HN Kunzroo, says that “if you deal with a situation where Emergency in the country necessitated an urgent action”. The process of UGC guideline 2006 was quashed by the High Court of Allahabad on April 7, 2007. Why didn’t the government introduce the Bill in the following session of Parliament? The Supreme Court also gave a similar verdict on January 23, 2019. The Parliament was in Session from January 31 to February 13, during which a historic Bill was passed. Then why didn’t the government make the effort to legislate on this important national issue?
Instead, an Ordinance was promulgated dated March 7, 2019, which was just three days prior to the announcement of elections. This cannot be a mere coincidence; it held a clear intention of attracting vote bank. Promulgating Ordinances time and again goes against the very nature of parliamentary form of governance. This House is composed of eminent and learned representatives of people. By promulgating Ordinances on every matter, the government is exhibiting an absolutely authoritarian streak. It is disregarding the inputs and views of this House and in this case, it has failed to include economically weaker sections in the Ordinance. This House sits to give better laws to India, by going beyond the purview of party politics. Therefore it should be given the importance and respect it deserves.
Now, coming to section 4 of the Bill, to clause (b) of sub-section (i), it is a valid point and is according to the fundamental rights of the minority communities. But sub-clause (a) provides certain institutions will be kept out of the provisions of the Bill. I would request the minister to explain the basis for selection of the institutions. As much as I could interpret, all of them have one thing in common – that all the institutes fall under the category of science and technology. By doing so, is the government again repeating the mistake of doubting the capabilities of the concerned category? When these universities have reservations for the student community, then why not for the teachers as well?
Sir, I would like to put forth a couple of suggestions. Firstly reservations should be allowed to universities that are excluded because if the criteria put by them is maybe by any candidate of the concerned section, then why not the opportunity be given to him or her? After all it is our fundamental duty to promote scientific temper in the society and what better by promoting the people who have been neglected throughout.
Secondly, a regulatory board should be constituted to ensure proper functioning of the provisions of the Bill and in case of any dispute it can discharge quick verdict. This is necessary because even after the Ordinance, four Universities, namely Central University of Punjab, Karnataka University, Tamil Nadu University, and Indira Gandhi National Tribal University did not comply with the provisions.
This would have gone unnoticed had it not been brought up by Shree Javed Ali Khan during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha. Now the resolution of the matter, as asked upon to do so by the Hon’ble Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, will take a lot of time, delaying the whole recruitment process, depriving the eligible. This is why a responsible body, to handle the affairs, is necessary. The body should also be entrusted with the duty of looking into the redressal matter arising after employment. This is because every other day we come across cases involving hatred towards vulnerable sections, concerning the Bill, namely Scheduled Caste, Schedule Tribe, Socially and Educationally Backward Communities and Economically Weaker Sections, doubting and questioning their capabilities.
There is a high change that the teachers will also face similar problems. A Hindi poet has put it in this manner. “Dafter main sab theek thak chal rahe tha phir Dalit hoon main bata diya sab ko”. In other cases like that which involves suicide of Rohith Vemula.
This is a very important step that the government can take steps and action. And it cannot be done until serious steps are taken.
Another young girl Payal Tadvi lost her life; Sukdev Tharav, a professor of JNU and former UGC chairman who headed the committee to investigate the allegation of discriminatory treatment against scheduled caste and scheduled tribe students at AIIMS had found that lower caste students faced disclination in everyday life at the primer Institution.
About the measures that should be taken to check the discrimatory behaviour, he said there has to be an act by the government to make caste discrimination at the university campuses a punishable offence. Apart from this a set of guidelines should be formulated for the upper caste students on how to behave in the presence of students who are from the marginalised sections.
Finally, I would like to conclude by saying that in order to ensure the compliance of Constitutional provision under Article 14, 15 and 16, the government must consider the suggestion and not just discard it.
Last I would conclude by quoting Sheetal Sathe, a young Ambedkarite – Nausea served on the plate:
The nausea is served in the plate , the untouchable nausea
The disgust is growing in the belly, the untouchable disgust
it’s there even in buds of flowers, it’s there even in sweet songs
that man should drink man’s blood ,
which is the land where this happens
which is the land of this hellish nausea.
Thank you, Madam.
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I would like to thank you Sir, for letting me speak in the Zero Hour. I would like to draw the attention of the government to the crisis of banking service facilities in my constituency Uluberia in West Bengal. In my parliamentary constituency, the number of nationalised banks and their service is very poor.
I had asked the Central Government last year to set up a nationalised bank in Bagnan 1 and 2, Uluberia and Amta 2 blocks. But, I regret to inform the House that till date the government has not taken any steps for this in my parliamentary constituency. Facilities of ATM services is also very poor.
Rural constituents are suffering due to the lack of banking facilities. There is a need to install more ATMs in the entire constituency, namely Amta to Shyampur in the district of Howrah in West Bengal.
Sir, I urge the Government to take my appeal as a serious grievance for the larger interest of the people.
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Thank you Sir, for allowing me to speak in Zero Hour in this August House.
আমি আমার মাননীয়া নেত্রী তথা মুখ্যমন্ত্রী মমতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়কে ধন্যবাদ জানাই এবং আরামবাগের সমস্ত মানুষকে ধন্যবাদ জানাই যারা আমাকে এখানে নির্বাচিত করে এনেছেন। স্বাধীনতার পর আরামবাগ প্রথম রেল দেখতে পেয়েছিল মাননীয়া মুখ্যমন্ত্রী মমতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়ের হাত ধরে। সেই সময় তারকেশ্বরের মন্দিরের সাথে বিষ্ণুপুরের মন্দির যোগ করার জন্য তারকেশ্বর রেল লাইন থেকে নিয়ে তারকেশ্বর রেল থেকে বিষ্ণুপুর রেল করা হয়েছিল।
মমতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায় রেলমন্ত্রী থাকাকালীন এই কাজ দ্রুততার সঙ্গে এগিয়েছিল। পরবর্তী রেলমন্ত্রীর সময় থেকে সেই কাজ স্থগিত হয়ে রইল। কিছু কিছু রাজনৈতিক দল তাদের রাজনৈতিক সুবিধার জন্য সেখানে গিয়ে মানুষকে বিভ্রান্ত করার চেষ্টা করল। কামারকুন্ডু ফ্লাইওভারের কাজও খুব আস্তে আস্তে চলছে। সেই কাজ দ্রুততার সঙ্গে হোক। রেলমন্ত্রীকে অনুরোধ করব, এই কাজ তাড়াতাড়ি হোক যাতে আরামবাগের মানুষ পরিষেবা পেতে পারে। ধন্যবাদ।
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Sir, we are concerned over the death of children in the SK Medical College and Hospital, Muzaffarpur. The death toll has touched 150 so far. Although I saw that the Health Minister went there, he has not made any statement in this House on the reason of death of so many children.
Now, new facts have come to light about the Central Government run Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital, a super-speciality hospital in Delhi. It is reported that in six years, over 6000 child deaths were reported at Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital, which is a referral hospital for children from all over India. The most common causes of death at the hospital include premature birth, respiratory infections, septicemia and other infections. Fifty per cent of the deaths are reported in the first 48 hours of admission, which indicates a serious condition of the children. The infrastructure in Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital is inadequate to meet the demands of the patients.
In this case, Sir, I think the Government of India can take a lesson from West Bengal where the Government under Mamata Banerjee has set up large number of SNCUs. The government has brought down the number of child deaths drastically and also brought down the MMR, the Maternal Mortality Rate, drastically.
The Government should make efforts to improve the infrastructure of Central Government-run hospitals and take steps throughout the country to reduce the instances of child deaths due to inadequate facilities.
Thank you, Sir.
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Sir, the rate of unemployment doubled in the last two years according to ‘The State of India’s Employment in figures, 2019’. This has particularly affected young graduates. While employment demand is high in both urban and rural India, job hunting is a bigger challenge for the young and the educated.
According to the report, the unemployment rate has gone up from 4% to 7.6% in the last two years. The World Bank said that India needs to create 81 lakh jobs per year to solve this problem of unemployment. However standing in 2019, the young Indians can definitely achieve the honour of the country. The youth of the country want an account of the budget allocated. The people of India deserve an answer.
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Good afternoon, Speaker Sir. This is my first speech in the Parliament. Sir, thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to raise a matter of urgent public importance. There has been a long standing demand to construct and start a Kendriya Vidyalaya within my Basirhat Parliamentary Constituency. There is no doubt that the Kendriya Vidyalayas are playing a pivotal role in imparting quality education in the country with uniform curriculum. And the performance of these schools are really appreciable.
Sir, I would request the Government to kindly expedite the setting up of a Kendriya Vidyalaya in my Basirhat Parliamentary Constituency of West Bengal.
Sir, Basirhat is in the border area where central employees are on vigil all through, 24X7. Moreover there are thousands of ex-servicemen and their families residing in and around Basirhat. Sir, within the 60 km radius there is no Kendriya Vidyalaya. The entire part of my constituency is backward with 86.81% of rural people and 13.19% of urban population. The Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe ratio is 25.34% and 6.56% respectively and people residing here cannot afford to send their children to private schools because of their minimal income.
Sir, I would really request the government to kindly expedite the setting up of a Kendriya Vidyalaya and start the session from the next academic year. It’s of utmost importance.
Thank you, Sir.
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Thank you Hon’ble Speaker Sir for giving me a chance to ask this Supplementary Question. There are different data; I am not disputing the data at all. The point remains somewhere else. The point is, despite the Central Government’s intentions today, that in rural areas there would be netbanking, there would be internet connectivity, access to the internet; today not only in rural areas but in cities as well, 3G is not sufficient for netbanking or anything related to the internet.
My very specific question; intention of the Government is to make ‘Digital India’. This is very good, very appreciated but for making an effective ‘Digital India’ there needs to be an improvement in towers and enhancement upto 4G. Through you, Hon’ble Speaker Sir, I have a very specific question to the Hon’ble Minister. Are we in a position to make an enhancement upto 4G? Are we in a position to improve mobile towers? Everyone in the House will also agree that the MTNL telephone which has been given to us, we don’t get any connectivity.
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Thank you very much, Sir. You are very kind. I want to ask a straight question to the Minister. He has suggested a very complicated way of taking decisions – CBT ka meeting hoga, phir consultation hoga, phir budgetary help aayega. Yeh sab ke baad abhi worker ko keval Rs 1,000 minimum pension milta hain. Yeh pehle Rs 300 tha, sarkar ne bada ke Rs 1,000 kiya, lekin yeh bhi bahut kam hain, Mantri avagat honge. Main seedha ek declaration chahta hoon Mantri se: Yeh pension Rs 1,000 se bada ke kitna karenge aur kab karenge, iss ke bade mein aap kripiya yeh House ko avagat karainge?
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Sir, the concept of GST had been read by the Honourable President in his address as “one country one tax one market,” and that is why GST was announced so hurriedly. For this reason, GST has really thrown up huge difficulties. My question to the minister is that, whether the government is now going to simplify GST further and if so, what steps are they going to take, and what would be the time limit to save the small industries of the country?
