Md Nadimul Haque speaks during Question Hour on the condition of Urdu schools

Md Nadimul Haque speaks during Question Hour on the condition of Urdu schools

Posted on August 4, 2016 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Sir, before I ask my question I would like to say that all parties have given a notice for Short Duration Discussion on the new Education Policy. That should be taken up on Monday.

Now, Sir, my question is, jab Urdu ki baat hoti hain wahi Mirza Ghalib ka naam aata hain. Humlog sab Ghalib ko pasand karte hain lekin 1969 mein jab Ghalib sakribad manayi ja rahi thi, us waqt Sahir Ludhiyanvi ne kaha tha, “Jis ahd-e-sihasat ne zinda zaba kuchli/ Us ahd-e-sihasat ko mehrumo ka gham kyun hain/ Ghalib jis se kehte the Urdu ka hi shayar tha/ Urdu pe sitam dhakar Ghalib par kalam kyun hain.”

Sir, aj bhi laghbhag yehi halat hain aur yeh sautela suluk jari hain. Mera sawaal hain ke kisi bhi zabaan ko bachane ke liye zaroori hain ki usse rozi roti se jora jaaye. Lekin sarkari aur sarkari tawun se chalne wale Urdu-medium school-o ki poore mulk mein bahut boori halat hain. Ek taraf un school-o mein teacher-o ki jagah khali hain aur doosri taraf un khali asamiyo ko sirf SC/ST umeedwaro se hi poorkh kiya ja sakta hain.

Sir, beshtar SC/ST umeedwar Urdu jante nahin hain aur aur jo log Urdu se wakib hain unki yeh naukriya nahin mil sakti. Aisi soorat hal-po-hal karne ke liye Mantri Ji kya karenge?

Rajya Sabha: Trinamool slams the Centre during Zero Hour over rising prices of kerosene

Posted on August 2, 2016 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Terming the situation in the country as “intolerable” for the people, Trinamool Congress today slammed the Centre over rising prices of kerosene.

Chief Whip of the party in Rajya Sabha, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Nadimul Haque and other MPs of the party protested as the proceedings of the Zero Hour began in the Upper House.

“The prices of kerosene are being raised every now and then. This is an intolerable situation for people of the country,” SS Roy said.

“How can the House be kept in the dark before raising prices of kerosene. Parliament is in session,” he added.

MP Nadimul Haque said, “Mitti ka tel, kimat aasman tak pohuncha.”

Monsoon Session Week Two: A purposive week for Trinamool in Parliament

Posted on July 30, 2016 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Trinamool Congress raised various issues in both the Houses of the Parliament during the week and urged the Government to take appropriate steps.

In the Upper House, the Trinamool Congress utilised the Zero Hour, the Question Hour, the Calling Attention Motions to the fullest and took part in several discussions.

Question Hour

Trinamool Leader of the Parliamentary Party in Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien urged Centre to set up a committee to address concerns of debt-stressed States during Question Hour (http://goo.gl/3fds2m). Later in the week he again the Government what steps it was taking to make medicines affordable prices, and ensure that prices are not affected by FDI (http://goo.gl/q1rvwx)

MP KD Singh also questioned the Government on allowing of taxis in private airports (http://goo.gl/4G8Qsr).

Saugata Roy questioned the Centre on its stand on small tea gardens during Question Hour in LS (http://goo.gl/tTWlJN) and also the shift of Tea Board HQ from Kolkata to Assam (http://goo.gl/ljJOm2).

Ratna De Nag raised a question in LS regarding the mechanism of preventing banned drugs from being sold in the country (http://goo.gl/TPE8tn).

Prasun Banerjee’s question to the Central Government was on popularising football in India by strengthening the federation (http://goo.gl/4sHqmB).

Mumtaz Sanghamita, during Question Hour in Lok Sabha raised the issue of investment in development of airport/airstrips and also questioned the government on the withdrawal of the Air India flight from Durgapur where it is much needed (http://goo.gl/PMCrGU).

Zero Hour

MP Dola Sen, during the Zero Hour spoke regarding the demand for elimination of unmanned level crossings in the country (http://goo.gl/UPOHjq).

Sukhendu Sekhar Roy raised the issue of scholarships for minority students being during Zero Hour (http://goo.gl/cGA8gL) and Ratna De Nag raised the demand of expanding the subway at Bhadreswar station (http://goo.gl/xOmMDM).

Aparupa Poddar demanded allocation of funds for pilgrimage to Tarakeswar during Zero Hour and also introduction of special trains during the annual pilgrimage to Tarakeswar (http://goo.gl/lYvQqf). Whereas Pratima Mandal spoke on the need of a level crossing at Piyali railway station to ensure easier movement of vehicles and students across the Piyali River (http://goo.gl/8JDnDd).

Nadimul Haque in the week, during Zero Hour he raised the demand for release of scholarships to minority students (http://goo.gl/STr8ID) later in the week.

Special mention

Trinamool MP Md Nadimul Haque during a Special Mention urged the Government on the need for a law against spitting in public places (http://goo.gl/92m0FN).

Trinamool MP Ahamed Hassan Imran, during a Special Mention raised the issue of reduced Central funding of schemes (http://goo.gl/Gfbxf4) which is against the spirit of cooperative federalism. He later spoke on drug pricing during a Calling Attention Motion.

In a Special Mention Dola Sen spoke on the need to replicate successful models in combating Left Wing Extremism (http://goo.gl/2UEbM6).

Discussion

During a Short Duration Discussion on the situation arising out of the rise in prices in the country (http://goo.gl/k9nsWa), Derek O’Brien pointed out that Government is very good at communicating on social media sites. But when it comes to basic issues like price rise, they have forgotten the people that gave them this historic mandate in 2014 people that brought them to power.

The Trinamool Leader of the Party in Rajya Sabha also raised the issue of Aadhaar card being made mandatory for receiving Government benefits and pointed out that there are a lot of people who are suffering and not getting pension and several other benefits (http://goo.gl/VqpX6e).

Trinamool Chief Whip at Rajya Sabha, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy took part in a short duration discussion on Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014 (http://goo.gl/cB9KIs) where he demanded that assurances made by the then Prime Minister on the floor of the House must be fulfilled.

In Lok Sabha, the Trinamool Congress Trinamool Chief Whip Kalyan Banerjee took part in several discussions including The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2016 (http://goo.gl/OTGrfx), on The Lokpal and Lokayuktas (Amendment) Bill (http://goo.gl/HZpoba), on The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Bill, 2015 (http://goo.gl/9d7qHI) and protested the issue of Aadhaar card being made mandatory, during a short discussion (http://goo.gl/ThrEhX).

Trinamool MP Dr Sugata Bose took part in several discussion including the Lokpal and Lokayuktas (Amendment) Bill (http://goo.gl/iugFHh).

Sugata Bose, while speaking in LS regarding an enabling regulatory architecture in higher education institutions stated that Jadavpur University from West Bengal is in the 500-600 range of the world rankings of the TIME’s higher education supplement. On the subject of education (http://goo.gl/1nz5Df) Saugata Roy also spoke in Lok Sabha on The Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and stated that IIT Kharagpur was a pioneer in the field and for the first time it started courses in naval architecture. Aeronautical engineering and agricultural engineering which were not taught anywhere else in the country (http://goo.gl/ENKkWp).

Saugata Roy raised the issue of Chinese incursion in Uttarakhand (http://goo.gl/4w9Lau). While speaking on The Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Amendment Bill, 2015 Saugata Roy mentioned that the Bill should not become another cursive instrument in the hands of revenue department to forcibly collect taxes (http://goo.gl/QZj9NP).

During a discussion on price rise in Lok Sabha, Saugata Roy criticized the central government stating their motto seems to be imposing cess on everything under the Sun (http://goo.gl/k9ITy5).

Ratna De Nag spoke on The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2016 during which she stated that even after 69 years of independence; we are unable to stop child labour in our country (http://goo.gl/HDsRVU) whereas Aparupa Poddar mentioned that child labour is a highly social evil and the root cause of child labour is poverty (http://goo.gl/l5xuvV).

Nadimul Haque took part on a discussion on The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill, 2016, and stressed on the Trinamool Congress’ view on the ‘Rights of the Forest’ (http://goo.gl/uuhZGP)

Trinamool raises matters of public importance in Parliament

Posted on July 27, 2016 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Playing the role of a responsible Opposition, Trinamool Congress MPs today spoke on various issues of public importance in both Houses of the Parliament.

Speaking in Rajya Sabha during the Zero Hour, Md Nadimul Haque raised the issue of the plight of four lakh minority students in Bengal who were not receiving their scholarships. He urged the Centre to allow States to electronically transfer the funds through Direct Benefit Transfer.

Dola Sen spoke on the urgent demand for elimination of unmanned level crossings. In her speech she highlighted when Mamata Banerjee was the Railway Minister, due to her untiring and sustained work towards rail safety, the index for train accidents decreased significantly from 0.29 per million train km in 2004-05 to 0.17 in 2009-10.

In the Lok Sabha, Saugata Roy demanded that the powers of Tea Board Head Office in Kolkata not be curtailed in the name of decentralisation and said people of Bengal will protest severely against any attempts to shift the headquarters of Tea Board outside Bengal.

During Question Hour, Derek O’Brien asked the government in Rajya Sabha to enlist their plans to make life-saving drugs affordable for common people. In Lok Sabha, Prasun Banerjee wanted to know from the government what initiatives were being taken by them to popularise football in India.

Leader of the party in Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien today initiated a short duration discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the issue of price rise. “The Government has to be responsible for bringing down the prices of commodities in the markets,” he said. Citing the example of Sufal Bangla scheme and task forces formed the Bengal Government to keep a check on prices, Derek O’Brien advised the Centre to follow successful models from the State to control inflation.

During a discussion on the Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Amendment Bill, 2015 in Lok Sabha, Kalyan Banerjee and Saugata Roy appealed to the government not to amend the current Act and instead bring a fresh Bill altogether to deal with benami property.

Finally, at the end of the day’s proceedings in the Rajya Sabha, Dola Sen made a Special Mention on the successful Bengal model in combating Left-Wing extremism and asked the Centre to follow the footsteps of the State in dealing with issue elsewhere in the country.

Ahmed Hassan Imran raised the issue of reduction of central funding of several key schemes and said this was against the spirit of cooperative federalism. He asked the Government to explain how State Governments are to carry on with these welfare programmes, and ensure development in the States without adequate funds.

Md Nadimul Haque speaks during Zero Hour on the demand for release of scholarships to minority students | Full Transcript

Posted on July 27, 2016 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Sir, cooperative federalism demands extensive interaction between the Centre and the States. Feedback from the States must be given equal importance. It is sad that the present cooperative federalism is only in name. it is time we head towards cooperative federalism.

I would like to draw the attention of the House to a very important issue – that is, the demand for the release of pre-matric/post-matric/merit-cum-means scholarship to minority students. It is a matter of great concern that almost 4 lakh minority students from West Bengal have not received their scholarships for 2015-16. Despite being eligible, they were deprived of the benefits because of technical glitches, like slow server speeds, drop-down menus not working and names of many educational institutions missing from the list, while accessing the national scholarship portal.

Besides the technical problems, in certain remote places of West Bengal like the Sunderbans, Purulia, Bankura, and Darjeeling, people have limited access to computers and to good network connections. Sir, West Bengal had recently faced unprecedented floods in 235 blocks of 13 districts. Even after the State Government’s efforts to publicise and help the students with internet access, the benefits are denied due to technical glitches in the national scholarship portal. Sir, despite the State having sent offline data as sought by the Ministry, almost 4 lakh students are still outside the ambit of the scholarship scheme.

Sir, our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had written to the Ministry of Minority Affairs in August last year regarding this. Even I, on May 5 this year, had raised this issue in the House and was assured by the then Minister of an early solution to the problem. Our Chief Minister has also written to the Hon’ble Prime Minister last week on this matter. However, the problem still persists. I would urge the Centre to allow us, that is, the State of West Bengal, to opt out of the National Scholarship portal and let us disburse the scholarship funds electronically through DBT with appropriate backward linkages to NSP, along the lines of disbursement of scholarships to SC/ST students.

Sir, I would like to end with an Urdu couplet:

Sochta hoon ki anjaam-e-safar kya hoga

Log bhi kach ke hain, rah bhi patrili hain

I would like the Minister to respond.

Trinamool dominates Parliament on Day 2 of Monsoon Session

Posted on July 19, 2016 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Trinamool dominated the Parliamentary proceedings on the second day of Monsoon Session in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Playing a responsible Opposition, Trinamool MPs spoke on matters of national importance and took part in debates on important Bills.

The day started with the leader of the party in Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien raising the issue of the site of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam’s resting place lying in utter neglect and slow progress of the work of building a memorial for the late President of India.

In Lok Sabha, leader of the party Sudip Bandyopadhyay demanded answers from the government on low conviction rate in case of cyber crimes. During Question Hour in Rajya Sabha, Nadimul Haque asked the government about its plans to tackle the menace of spitting.

During a Calling Attention Motion in the Upper House of the Parliament, MP Ahmed Hassan Imran grilled the government on its flood management programmes and demanded that the compensation criteria for States be revisited.

Vivek Gupta participated on behalf of the party in a discussion on the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2012 in Rajya Sabha while Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Dr Ratna De Nag participated in discussions on The Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and The Dentists (Amendment) Bill, 2016 respectively in Lok Sabha.

Md Nadimul Haque makes a Special Mention regarding school timings at primary level

Posted on March 10, 2016 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Sir, attendance constitutes the most important factor in children’s learning at all levels of education. Though the overall attendance of students under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has shown improvement from 68.5% in 2006 to 76.2% in 2013 at the primary level, and, from 75.7% in 2006 to 77.8% in 2013 at the upper primary level, a pattern of low attendance still continues to pose a challenge for children’s learning and development at the primary and upper primary levels. One of the reasons for absence of primary and upper primary students from schools has been attributed to children’s requirement to help parents in their agricultural activities. This is particularly required because harvesting of some crops is a labour-intensive process. The problem is further aggravated by the fact that presently there is no adequate system put in place to track students’ attendance during the harvesting season which, in turn, culminates into poor curriculum planning for the year and finally leads to students not only breaking a continuous study momentum for a particular year but also missing important lessons for their learning.

Hence, education being a concurrent subject, we demand from the Government to put in place adequate mechanisms to track the trend of students’ attendance during the harvesting season and to make necessary changes in school timings during the harvesting season to adjust the same as per the needs of the children.

Nadimul Haque speaks on the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill

Posted on March 10, 2016 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Sir, today I stand before the House to discuss the Real Estate Bill. In my opinion, the real estate sector constitutes as the most important building block of a nation, as it provides infrastructure and housing for a better life to all the people residing in the country. However, in our country, a specific law, stating the duties and rights of buyers and promoters involved in the real estate sector, has been largely left unaddressed. Though the consumer in our country could avail the remedies available under the civil, criminal and consumer laws against these players, yet these remedies are not broad enough to address all the issues and concerns of the buyers and consumers of real estate. This situation has led to gross mismanagement and unprofessionalism in the field of real estate, wherein the project developers indulge in tactics of deliberate delays and other wrongdoing. In order to address these issues, the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in 2013. It was later referred to the Standing Committee and then to the Select Committee. Both these Committees have submitted their reports. The Bill, as it stands today, regulates transactions between buyers and promoters of residential real estate projects. It establishes State-level regulatory authorities, called the Real Estate Regulatory Authorities (RERAs). The promoters need to be registered with the RERAs. They cannot book or offer their projects for sale without registering. The real estate agents, dealing in these projects, also need to register with the RERAs. On registration, the promoter must upload the details of the project on their website.

Sir, the Bill also contains the penalty provisions. In case, the promoter fails to register the property, he may be penalized up to 10 per cent of the estimated cost of the project. Failure to do this, despite orders issued by the RERA, will lead to imprisonment up to three years.

He will have to also pay 5 per cent of the estimated cost of the project if he violates any other provisions of the Act. However, Sir, there are some grey areas in this Bill which I would like to point out clause-wise.

Clause 3(2)(a), which relates to the registration of real estate project, of the original Bill mandated that registration was not necessary where the area of the land proposed to be developed does not exceed 1000 square metres or the number of apartments proposed to be developed does not exceed 12. Sir, the Select Committee reduced this to 500 square metres and 8 apartments, and power was given to the appropriate Government to reduce the threshold from 500 square metres and 8 apartments. Sir, it is pertinent to mention that if this clause is passed, then it may lead to the exclusion of middle class or poor class who are vulnerable to a higher rate from the promoters.

Sir, secondly, as per Clause 4(2)(i)(d), the original Bill puts a positive obligation on the promoter to put 50 per cent funds, as notified, in a separate bank account for construction work. Sir, it does not take into account the fact that there might be different situations in different States wherein the cost of land may be higher than the cost of construction.

Sir, Clause 5(2) in the original Bill stated that if the application of the promoter to register is not accepted or rejected in 15 days, then the project shall be deemed to be registered. The Committee recommended that this period be extended to 30 days. Sir, I have to say that the said clause can be subjected to abuse as there might be a lot of instances that the authorities might not be able to register a promoter project due to overburden of work.

Sir, Clause 7(1)(a) states the revocation of registration. The original Bill included ‘wilful default’ on the part of the promoter to do anything under the Act will lead to revocation of the registration. The panel had recommended that the word ‘wilful’ be deleted from the definition. However, Sir, the recommendation of the panel to delete ‘wilful’ is meritorious. At the same time, the recommendation tilts the balance in favour of the buyer and against the promoter. The promoter is now strictly liable under the Bill for any default.

By deleting the word ‘wilful’ from the definition, the promoter is now liable also in a case where he may have acted in good faith. The aforesaid recommendation would equally establish a balance between the right of the buyer as well as that of an honest promoter.

Lastly, Sir, this Bill does not include anything about the sanctioning authorities. For example, even if a project is completed and there is a delay in seeking a completion certificate from the local authority or there is a delay in obtaining electrical and water connections, the project cannot be offered for possession to the buyers on time. For this purpose, Sir, rules and recommendations to the sanctioning authorities have to be incorporated in the Bill.

With this, Sir, I rest my case supporting the Bill. Thank you.

Nadimul Haque speaks on the delay in appointment of the Chairperson and other Members of the Law Commission during Zero Hour

Posted on March 9, 2016 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Sir, today, I would like to draw the attention of the House towards the delay in appointment of the Chairperson and other Members of the Law Commission. The Ministry of Law and Justice, vide its Notification dated 14^th September, 2015, had notified the constitution of the 21st Law Commission of India for a period of three years from September1, 2015, to August, 2018.

However, almost six months have passed, but the Government has not appointed the Chairman and other Members of the Law Commission till date.

Sir, the active and regular functioning of the Law Commission is of utmost importance, especially focusing on their role of providing suggestions and recommendations on legal reforms required in our country. Therefore, the aforesaid delay will have its adverse impact on the working of the Commission as they will have six months less to complete their assigned tasks.

Sir, I want to ask this Government: Why is there a delay in the appointment of the Members of the Law Commission, especially when they equate high importance to good governance in our country?

Hence, I would request the Government to appoint all the Members of the Law Commission expeditiously, so that the promise of good governance through legal and judicial reforms can become operative in nature.

Thank you.

Nadimul Haque raises the issue of delay in the appointment of Information Commissioners in the CIC

Posted on March 3, 2016 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Today I raise the issue of delay in the appointment of Information Commissioners in the Central Information Commission.

Sir, recently, the panel, under the RTI Act 2005, composed of the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Union Cabinet Minister, sent the names of three Information Commissioners to the President for his assent.

However, Sir, this move has come after almost two years since the seats got vacant and that too, Sir, after the Supreme Court had ordered the appointment of the three Information Commissioners within six weeks, on a PIL filed by an RTI activist. The delay has not only indirectly denied information to the citizens but has also led to a huge pendency of cases before the CIC, which amounts to more than 35,000 cases in appeals and complaints.

Sir, the sitting Information Commissioners of the CIC disposed of approximately 250 appeals and complaints in a month, and if the three CICs had been appointed in a timely manner by the Government then there would have been approximately, Sir, 9000 less cases before the Commission. It is also opposed to the words of the Prime Minister, when he addressed the 10^th annual RTI Convention, wherein he said that the timely and trouble-free disposal of RTI cases was essential to uphold the spirit of the Right to Information Act 2005.

In the light of the above facts I want to ask the Government why is there a delay in the appointment of Information Commissioners despite the Prime Minister’s promise and also why the judiciary had to use its prerogative, which should have been done by the executive. I would request the Government to ensure that in the future Information Commissioners are appointed in a timely manner.