Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar speaks on The Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2019

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The Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2019 is the prelude to another Bill, precessed to another chapter, the NMC. The Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2019 is to repeal the Ordinance promulgated by the Mahamahim Rashtrapati ji on January 12, 2019. This Bill has also been scrutinised by the department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare. This is not the first related Ordinance though – there has been one in 2010, one in 2018, and then another in 2019.

Let me first clarify that my party, All India Trinamool Council is always against the attitude or attempt to bypass the elected House of the People and pass an Ordinance. In the last few years, we have seen a ratio of 10 to 4 with respect to Bills to Ordinances whereas after independence, the first 30 years saw a ratio of only 1 Ordinance for every 10 Bills while the next 30 years saw only 2 Ordinances for every 10 Bills. This is undemocratic and unhealthy for our democracy.

The question is, why was the Bill was allowed to lapse several times since 2016, when the matter is such a serious one? We have seen many deaths, particularly 50 deaths in only one State of our nation. So I consider it my sacrosanct duty as a responsible Opposition member to sound out to the government that passing an Ordinance is a peril to democracy.

The Indian Medical Council was formed in 1933 and the first Indian Medical Council Act was formulated in 1956, but thereafter rampant all-pervasive corruption had crept in and the Medical Council was plagued by it. The functions of the Medical Council mentioned thereof were to make recommendations to the Central Government on the subjects of giving recognition to medical institutions, determining the course of study and examinations after completing the syllabus, inspection of examinations, and maintaining the register for medical practitioners.

As per List II in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, and as determined by Article 246, Health is a State subject, and so the Central Government should not formulate rules to interfere in this provision of empowerment to the States. This Bill deals with the fate of those whose faces we see right when we are born and at the end, when we die, and they are the doctors. A former HRD Minister contradicted Darwin’s theory of evolution, stating, and I quote, “none of our ancestors have seen an ape turn into a man.”

Madam, such statements are not only dangerous but also highly irresponsible, as the very fundamental principles on which medical science is built are shattered. It has been stated, and I quote, that “cancer is the result of past life sins and a form of divine retribution.” It is ridiculous. Some have stated that cow urine or ‘gau mutra’ can cure cancer. That is absolutely against the present scientific standard of research all over the world. The vice-chancellor of a State university has claimed that the technique of creating test tube babies existed in ancient India, and referred to the Kauravas.

According to the Indian Constitution, the development of scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform is the duty of every citizen and is implicitly the responsibility of the state, and the state should take cognisance of this fact. However it is highly unfortunate that irresponsible statements have been made by individuals who maintain high public offices which attack the very basis of medicine.

We agree that India has a very rich cultural heritage, the history of medical sciences being known through ‘Charaka Samhita’, written in 200 BC, and ‘Sushruts Samhita’ (Sushruta was known as the ‘Master of Surgeries’ in India in the 13th century), but we have come a long way from that. Today we have research on using stem cells for improving cardiac health, in-vitro fertilisation, preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), etc. Today’s medical science is very strong. The inspiration doctors get is from practitioners like Leonid Rogozov, a Soviet GP (general physician) on the sixth Soviet Antarctic Expedition. He had the strength to perform appendectomy on himself alone, when he was stationed at the Arctic Novolazarevskaya Station.

Doctors are not puppets. A sixteen or seventeen-year-old forgoes movies with friends, family reunions, shopping sprees with mother to sit and study for 16 hours a day in order to crack the medical entrance examination. Students of our varied country, with multiple linguistic areas and regional sentiments should be allowed to write their exams in their mother tongue, if they are proficient in that.

Deaths have occurred with respect to writing the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET). A particular incident I want to mention happened in Tamil Nadu, when a girl, a topper, committed suicide because she couldn’t crack the NEET. We suggest that to avoid such deaths we should do away with this entrance test. We should depend on the class 12 qualifying examination marks to give entrance into medical institutions because students study very hard for this. They then study 12 hours a day for six years to become attain the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Science (MBBS) degree. Can this rigorous six years of study be diluted by a six-month bridge course of a quack?

For clinical training many junior doctors perform emergency services through day and night. Being only human they too feel tired so they sleep in a mackintosh, which we wear during operative procedures, on the floor of the OT. I don’t know any other professional who sleeps on the floor of the office just for the sake of performance of duty. Doctors are nearly gods and accepted mortality rate is there in the statistics of medical science. But in India today, when a patient expires the family of the patient has the gall to beat up and hurt the healer. This is not unusual in this ‘Lynchistan’. This is highly condemnable.

Socrates once asked, “Tell me, is a doctor in the precise sense a money-maker or someone who treats the sick?” and Plato remarked, “Is the practise of medicine a science, an art, a trait, a craft, a business, a profession or a combination thereof?”

Well, a doctor, after nearly 10 years of back-breaking training, is indeed a godly figure, but to raise his family and himself he requires money too so he should not be blamed for earning a livelihood. Property and personal safety should be looked after by the state, by the government. Security funds should be increased and budgetary allocations for the medical curriculum should be increased. In this country, we have less than 2 per cent of the budgetary allocation for medicine and none other than Arvind Panagariya ji had commented that rural healthcare in India faces a crisis unmatched by any other sector. And instead of trying to enhance the budgetary allocations we are trying to rein in the doctors.

I agree that the MCI has been very corrupt; officers have been arrested. There was all-pervasive rampant corruption by the medical mafia. So, we have to be aware of this. But we should not overrun the State Government’s responsibility because health is a State subject; it should remain with the State.

Appointing medical administrators should not be through nomination. It is a rule that people in a nominated body or board will be medical educationists of proven administrative quality. Though I agree that administrators are required to run the back office, capable administrators may not necessarily know about cutting edge technology, about the science of the medical fraternity. So it should be medical people only; and it should be through the process of election in all the branches of the State.

Doctors should be allowed to elect their chosen members, who will in turn inform the central body. Bureaucrats do not have the qualities required to run the Medical Council because they have no idea of cutting-edge technology. So raising the number of members from 7 to 12 is ridiculous because unqualified people in huge numbers will not be able to take the decisions related to the medical curriculum and the examinations. There has to be inclusion of doctors.

This is a State subject and the doctors of the State should be allowed to elect from among themselves qualified doctors who will represent and run the whole country’s medical system so that the federal structure is not hampered.

 

 

Dr Santanu Sen speaks on the statutory resolution on The Homoeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019

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Thank you very much Sir, for giving me the scope to speak on this Bill. Sir, I would have been very happy if our government would have given sufficient effort before to improve this age old system of medicine.

Sir, in my opinion this is nothing but another backdoor process of grabbing the power of another democratically elected autonomous body, which we have been witnessing since so many years. Sir, our present government has broken the previous record of bringing Ordinances. So far, as my knowledge goes, previously it was a maximum of 1 or 2 Ordinances per 10 Bills. Now, so far my information goes, it has crossed more than 4 per 10 Bills. It is really shocking.

Sir, I would like to put forward certain important points before this House. In the year 2018, the Central Council of Homeopathy was dissolved based on certain allegations of corruption against the then existing Central Council of Homeopathy; a Board of Governors consisting of seven members was formed at that time. Sir, the most unfortunate part of the story is till date one post is lying vacant out of the seven members of the Board of Governors.

Secondly, one year has passed that vacant post is still lying vacant. The charge was that of corruption against the Central Council of Homeopathy, but unfortunately no charge could be proved in last one year. Sir, it was ensured that a democratically-elected Central Council of Homeopathy will be formed within one year. Unfortunately that election could not be held in the last one year. So, I am becoming apprehensive whether in the coming year this government will be really able to hold the election or not.

Sir, in 2019 this Bill was brought in Lok Sabha on June 27 with a proposal of extension of the duration of Board of Governors for another one year. Sir, my certain observations and reservations are like this. First of all, the Central Council of Homeopathy used to be formed by the process of a democratic election. But whenever there is a provision of Board of Governors it was not known to all of us what was the criteria of being a member on that Board. I don’t know on what basis the government selected the Board of Governors. So, I once again believe that it is nothing but the effort of grabbing the powers and giving it to the hands of bureaucrats.

Sir, my question is why the election could not be held in the last one year?

Sir, my question is why the vacant post could not be filled in the last one year?

Sir, my question is – Homeopathy is an age old system of the country, and so far my state of West Bengal is concerned, it is the pioneer of this homeopathy system. But most unfortunately not a single representative from this State was given the opportunity of being a member of this Board of Directors. Sir it is very unfortunate to note.

Sir, in our state of West Bengal, when Madam Mamata Banerjee took charge as the Chief Minister cum Health Minister in 2011, the then health budget was Rs 682 crore. And now in 2019 it has become Rs 9700 crore, I repeat Rs 9700 crore. An increase of nearly 1400 times. Sir, unfortunately on the other side, in our country the health budget is meagrely 1.5% of the total GDP. And moreover we have seen that out of the total budget of Ayush department, homeopathy gets only 13% of the entire departmental budget. It is reflected in the name, as Ayush stands for A for Ayurveda, U for Unani, Y for yoga, S for Siddha and H for homeopathy. H comes last, so budgetary allocation for homeopathy also comes last. It is only 13% of the total Ayush departmental budget, Sir.

Sir, I would like to highlight certain important points of my own state. Status of medical officers of homeopathy in India – the total number of posts is 71 and the vacancy is 39, that is more than 50 per cent. The CGHS wellness clinic vacancy in West Bengal, total created post was 10 and the vacancy is 6; so 60% is vacant there. Specially in the clinics like Airport, 2 vacancies, in clinics like Shyambazar 2 vacancies, in clinics like Dover Lane. These clinics are very very important so far as their geographical distribution is concerned, but the posts are lying vacant, Sir.

Sir as per the need of the hour, few more posts should be created specially for places like Siliguri, Jalpaiguri, Asansol and Durgapur. Sir, I would like to let you know regarding the outreach schemes camps status in West Bengal. It is only 10 where it should be at least 3 per district, that is for 23 districts it should be at least 69, Sir.

Finally, the junior research fellows and senior research fellows should be given due importance, Sir. If you go to our National Institute of Homeopathy, which is situated in Kolkata, you will start crying, I repeat you will start crying, the situation is so horrible. The faculties are not there, patients hardly like to go to that particular institute to get treatment. The same condition exists in the Shillong Institute which was supposed to be the best institute in north eastern India.

Sir, my humble submission is that our government should give due importance to improve this age old homeopathy system, instead of going for the bridge course, as mentioned by the previous speaker. Instead of improving this homeopathy system, they are trying to run a bridge course, by the process of which homeopaths, ayurveds are allowed to practise modern medicine. Then they neither become homeopaths nor allopaths. So, this points must be taken into consideration.

Thank you very much.

 

Sudip Bandyopadhyay speaks on the need to avoid raising State subjects in Parliament

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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.

 

Dr Santanu Sen asks a Question on increased spending from GDP on health services

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Chairman Sir, first of all, as yesterday was Doctors’ Day I would like to wish happy belated Doctors’ Day to our Hon’ble Health Minister, who is also a doctor. 

Sir, it is very unfortunate to remind you all, though India is the sixth largest economy of the world and we have seen the budgetary allocation for health in our country was hardly 1.5 per cent or even less. We have also noticed that our Hon’ble Minister hardly found 1.5 minutes to spend on budgetary allocation speech. 

Sir, my question is… in our State of West Bengal we have seen that our present Chief Minister Madam Mamata Banerjee has increased the budgetary allocation for health from Rs 682 crore to nearly 1400 times in the last seven years. So, can we see our State as a role model for the rest of the country?

 

Manas Bhunia speaks on the lack of amenities in railways quarters in Kharagpur

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Sir, I want to raise one important issue. Through you Sir, I want to attract the attention of the Hon’ble Railway Minister.

Sir, in our state, Kharagpur railway town is called ‘Mini India’ where 30 percent of the Telugu population resides. Tamil, Kannadigas, Malayalis, Odia, Bihari, Chhattisgarhi, UP, Bengal, and also Assam reside here – it is really a ‘Mini India’. It is one of the very important rail towns with the longest railway platform in India – Kharagpur. 

Very unfortunately Sir, recently, water is not properly served to the railway quarters, railway ‘basti’ areas and nearby adjoining areas. Sir, there is a powerful municipality working in Kharagpur town, an elected body. Several times the municipal authorities have approached the divisional authorities of Kharagpur, including South Eastern Railway headquarters at Garden Reach. Kindly allow us to work with railway administration. They wanted to extend their full cooperative hands for construction of roads in the ‘basti’ area, to provide the drinking water facility, for lighting and a sewerage system. 

Sir, recently as per a report, sweepers who are in charge of cleaning the areas do not have personal latrines. Such things should be intervened by the Hon’ble Railway Minister and I want to appeal through you Sir, it is my earnest appeal to the Railway Ministry that they should send a high powered delegation or administrative team to the Kharagpur area and find out the provisions whether the local railway authorities can work along with the Kharagpur Municipality in a positive mode to uphold the demands of the railway staff, workers and the people living in the ‘basti’ area particularly.

It can be a beautiful system if there is an MoU signed between the Kharagpur Railway Authority and the Municipal Authority. Then all the problems can be solved with the help of the Railway Ministry and the State Government. This is my appeal to you, Sir.

Thank you.

 

Pratima Mondal speaks on The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Bill, 2019

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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.

Derek O’Brien speaks on The Jammu & Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2019

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Sir, today is a sad day. This morning, again in bus accident in Jammu & Kashmir in a gauge, 33 people lost their lives. Last week approximately 21 people lost their lives. These accidents keep happening and all of us, we tweet our condolences. The government of the day offers a package and then we get ready for the next accident and then life goes on. All of us need to work towards reducing these kinds of accidents, so that families don’t have to grieve like they are grieving today. 

Sir, two quick pints before I get into the resolution and the Bill; whenever I go to Jammu & Kashmir I am always requested that whenever you speak about Jammu & Kashmir, charcha jab hota hai, Ladakh aur Leh ka naam aap please lijiye Parliament mein.  So that is what we will all do. 

Sir, another quick point before we get to the meat of the debate. Sir, as Opposition members we always feel that when senior ministers come and respond to us, some of the points we raise maybe responded to because then we feel its a two-way debate. So, that is my request to the Home Minister today as well; because we raised, as an Opposition, some important points in the Motion of Thanks. One was on the Women’s Reservation Bill. Sir we didn’t get an answer. On the breakdown of institutions we didn’t get an answer. On electoral reforms, I’m a little more hopeful because the Prime Minister discussed it in his speech and now I am told that the Rajya Sabha is taking it up as a discussion on at least electoral reforms, especially the state funding of elections and the collegiums which must be set up for the EC. And, of course, federalism.

I am very hopeful that the Hon’ble Home Minister will answer some of these questions, because I remember on the May 17, 2019, he did have a historic press conference where he answered some questions on behalf of the Prime Minister. 

Sir, the Prime Minister talks to us about ‘One Nation, One Election’, one of the electoral reforms and many speakers before this have also brought it up. If you are having the parliament election, why didn’t you have the state election? Same booth, same time of the year, everything is the same. In fact, Rajnath Ji assured this House in January, “if the EC wants to have, we will have it”. Hon’ble Home Minister in the Lok Sabha said again, “if the EC wants to have it, we will have it”. On March 10, 2019 the elections were announced. On March 11, 2019 the EC appointed three observers. The House must know this, Sir, for Jammu & Kashmir. On April 15, 2019 these three observers of the EC submitted a report and in that report which was submitted by the EC it was said that it was conducive to polls. 

My party will support this resolution to have elections because we do believe that if this spirit of April 15, their observation, is taken, then in six months along with the other States, we should have polls. Let us not pass the buck to the EC because I don’t want to discuss the EC because there iss Rule 238 and we can discuss that matter. 

Sir, the second one, in the Other House, the Home Minister mentioned that three families have run the state of Jammu & Kashmir for the last 60 years. Yes, may be the HM would like to clarify in his reply that in the next 10 years, or 20 years, given an opportunity that his party will not touch any of the parties which are run by these three families. Let him give us an assurance on the floor of the House. Because his critics then might say, yes that for 60/70 years three families have run one state of Jammu & Kashmir but currently the nation is run by two families. 

My fourth point is regarding the Governor. This is another very important issue which I seek clarification on. Just after Pulwama, the Governor of the State of Jammu & Kashmir said, “Laparwahi huyi hain.” Kisne kiya yeh laparwahi? Who was responsible for this failure?

Sir even though I have to repeat that point again, in the last two years, out of 10 Bills passed, four were Ordinances. That number has to come down. Another Minister came and said last week, that we have to pass these Ordinances because the House was not running. You can not imply that the opposition is disrupting the House. The Government has to run the House with the Opposition. 

Now, Sir, come to the next point, which is Article 1 of the Constitution. “India that is Bharat is a Union of States”. Sir, now, on federalism, because the extension President’s Rule, affects the power of the State. Sir, with your permission I would speak for the next few minutes in Bangla.

এই যাকে আমরা বলি Federalism, যুক্তরাষ্ট্রীয় কাঠামো, এটাই সংবিধানের Spirit. জম্মু ও কাশ্মীর হোক, This is the core of federalism and since we have the Home Minister here, Sir, আম্বেদকরজী বলেছেন, আমি বলিনি, কংগ্রেস বলেনি, বিজেপি বলেনি, আম্বেদকর যেটা বুঝিয়েছেন, যখন যুদ্ধ হচ্ছে না, তখন সংবিধান হচ্ছে unitary. That means, only in times of war, the Constitution is unitary. Otherwise, Sir, it is federal in nature rest of the time. Centre must have hands off the State. কিন্তু, Sir, আজকে আমি স্বরাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রীকে জানাতে চাই, এই Federal spirit কাশ্মীর হোক, বাংলা হোক, উত্তর প্রদেশ হোক, কেরল হোক, বিহার হোক, মধ্যপ্রদেশ হোক, আপনি সাতদিনে বাংলায় দুটো অ্যাডভাইসরি পাঠিয়েছেন, আপনি কিন্তু উত্তর প্রদেশে কোনও অ্যাডভাইসরি পাঠাননি ওখানে ২৫ জন মারা যায়, বিহারে ১৩০ জন মারা যায়, আপনি কোনও অ্যাডভাইসরি পাঠাননি। Sir, the essence of Kashmir is exactly this. To leave the states alone.

Sir, this is a council of States so allow me to use examples of my State to make my point. 

কিছুক্ষণ আগে এখানে বিজেপির থেকে যিনি বললেন যে আমি কোনও রাজনীতি করব না, তারপরে কংগ্রেসকে ঠুকে দিলেন ৫০ বছরের জন্য। কংগ্রেস কংগ্রেস করলেন। আমি এখানে রাজনীতি করছি না, বাস্তব বলছি। দুদিন আগে বিজেপির বড় বড় বাংলার নেতা কি বললেন? “আপনার জন্য অনেক কিছু অপেক্ষা করছে। সংসদ চলছে বলে এখন নখ দাঁতগুলো দেখতে পাচ্ছেন না।”

I urge The Home Minister that he is not only BJP’s Home Minister, he is the Home Minister of all the States in India. Sir, what you say in an election campaign 

স্বরাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রী যেই হোন, তাঁকে শ্রদ্ধা করি, করতেই হবে। প্রধানমন্ত্রীকেও করতেই হবে। এটা আমাদের পরম্পরা। উনি বাংলায় এসে বলেছেন বাংলায় নাকি দুর্গাপুজো করতে দেওয়া হয়না। সরস্বতী পুজো করতে দেওয়া হয় না। বাংলায় ২৭ হাজার দুর্গাপুজো হয়, বড় করে বিসর্জন হয়, বাংলায় অনেক কিছু হয়। গঙ্গাসাগর মেলাও হয়। 

Sir, you are asking me why. I also don’t want to do Hindu and Muslim; they are all Indian citizens. Now, let me tell you about the second Bill you all bringing for the international border. There also we from the Trinamool Congress are supporting the Government, because we believe Indian citizens must be given all the benefits and rights. In UP, support the 125 families who were forced to leave because of harassment; a BJP leader has only complained about this. So I ask this government, through you, to support them. Why do you want to leave them out just because they are Hindus or Muslims? 

Sir, the NRC affects 23 lakh Bengali Hindus. Bengali Hindus are committing suicide in the Assam detention camps; support them also. 

Sir, if people want to look at Kashmir through the prism of Kashmir and not through the prism of Constitution of India and try and heckle me in the middle of my speech, I won’t stop. 

Five Hindu Bengalis were shot in Dibrugarh; a delegation of Trinamool lawmakers went to see them. Sir, why is the government targeting Indian citizens through NRC, be them a large number of Hindus and Bengalis?

Sir, my last two points before I finish. Sir, this is called the Council of States, if we as representatives of different states, are going to be told every 90 seconds ‘why are you discussing your state’ then tell us; we will start discussing the Union of India. Ambedkar Ji said, it’s only in times of war do we look at this Constitution as unitary. Rest of the time, it is federal.

Sir, Amit Shah Ji spent two days in Jammu and Kashmir as the Home Minister of India. I have got the diary, as reported in the Media. On the first day whatever he did and the first two hours of the second day whatever he did. It was all development package; everything which the Home Minister of India needed to do. Eighty thousand crore is a good figure but Rs 80,000 crore or even Rs 180,000 crore, Sir, can’t heal hearts. That’s a different kind of healing which is needed.

Our Hon’ Home Minister on the first one and a half days played the role of a Home Minster but on that second day when those cheques were distributed, those were given to BJP workers who were killed. PDP workers were killed, NC workers were also killed. As I said, he is not the Home Minister, but the BJP President as well. But at times like this, Sir and no talks with any political parties <interruptions>

Sir, let me then end with a true story. When I was in Jammu and Kashmir, as part of the Parliamentary Committee, we went to buy some kurtis. There we met a tailor and his son was there. So, I was asking him and trying to understand. I said what is the problem (this was one year ago) and how can we solve it. He said, “Jab tak Jammu and Kashmir tanav main rehega, uska faida ek political party ko baki 28 rajya main milta rehega. 

Very interesting point he said, Sir.

 

Manish Gupta asks a Supplementary Question on appropriate model for execution of highway projects 

FULL TRANSCRIPT

I must thank the minister for giving detailed reply. It is a difficult situation to operate. Apart from this model that you are following now – Hybrid Annuity Model – are you thinking of funding from multinational agencies like World Bank, JICA etc. because as you know, your government has contacted foreign fund for solar alliance, climate change etc.

 

Sudip Bandyopadhyay asks a Question on the illegal recovery of loans

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Sir, whether in government sectors or, in private sectors, recovery of loans is a huge problem. It has been found that bouncers are deployed for recovery of loans and these bouncers, who are musclemen, normally rush to the small loan defaulters, and not the big guys. Big guys leave the country.

I want to know whether deployment of bouncers is approved by the GOI? Whether the minister approves that the bouncers can be deployed? I want the minister to reply.

Derek O’Brien demands that a statue of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay be installed in Parliament

FULL TRANSCRIPT

সংসদের প্রতিটি অধিবেশন শেষ হয় জাতীয় সংগীত বন্দেমাতরম দিয়ে। গতকাল  ২৭শে জুন এই গানের লেখক শ্রী বঙ্কিম চন্দ্র চট্টোপাধ্যায়ের জন্মবার্ষিকী ছিল অথচ সংসদে তাঁকে শ্রদ্ধা জানাতে আমরা ভুলেই গেলাম।

এই বন্দেমাতরম গানটি ১৮৮২ সালে প্রকাশিত আনন্দমঠ উপন্যাসের অংশ যা স্বাধীনতা আন্দোলনকে তীব্র করতে এবং বৃটিশদের বিরুদ্ধে আন্দোলনকারীদের অনুপ্রাণিত করতে বড় ভূমিকা পালন করেছিল। 

বঙ্কিম চন্দ্রকে বাংলা উপন্যাসের জনক বলা হয়। দুর্গেশনন্দিনী, কপালকুণ্ডলা তার জনপ্রিয় উপন্যাস। কিন্তু খুব কম লোকই জানে যে তার লেখা Rajmohon’s wife প্রথম ভারতীয় ইংরেজি উপন্যাস। ইংরেজদের পক্ষ থেকে বহুবার হুমকি পাওয়ার পরেও উনি দেশের জন্য অনেক কাজ করে গেছেন এবং দেশবাসীকে জাগ্রত করার জন্যও  পরিশ্রম করেছেন।

আমি চাই, সংসদে সাহিত্য সম্রাট বঙ্কিমচন্দ্র চট্টোপাধ্যায়ের একটি মূর্তি (statue) তৈরি করা হোক এবং আজ থেকে আমরা প্রস্তুত হব এটা সুনিশ্চিত করার জন্য যে আগামী বছর আমরা সংসদে এই কবি, লেখক, সাংবাদিক, নবজাগরণের পথপ্রদর্শক ও জাতীয়তাবাদের স্রষ্টাকে তার প্রাপ্য সম্মান ও শ্রদ্ধা জানাতে পারি।

 

Every session of Parliament ends with our National hymn/song Vande Mataram. Yet, we failed to pay tribute to the writer of the song, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, on his birth anniversary, 27th june in Parliament. 

Vande Mataram, which was a part of his novel Anandamath published in 1882, inspired thousands of freedom fighters to rise against the imperialist British Government. It put to paper the love for our motherland which was rising in the hearts of all Indians who wanted to throw off the British yoke and reclaim India as our own. 

When the British tried to divide our nation, this song became the rallying cry sung from a thousand lips. Bankim Chandra is considered as the father of the Bengali novel, with novels like Durgeshnandini and Kapalkundala gaining immense popularity. But few know that his work Rajmohan’s Wife is regarded as the first published novel by an Indian written in English. 

It is no wonder that Rabindranath Tagore said of him, “With one hand he ignited the light of literary enlightenment; and with the other he blew away the smoke and ash of ignorance and ill conceived notions” and Sri Aurobindo said, “Bankim created a language, a literature and a nation”. 

Therefore, I demand that a statue of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay be installed in Parliament and we prepare from today to ensure that we pay tribute to this writer, poet, journalist, pioneer, and nationalist with the respect he deserves next year.