Tag: Sugata Bose

Sugata Bose speaks on the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill | Full Transcript

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I rise to speak on behalf of my Party on the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill brought by this Government.

What this Bill attempts to do is to remove any ambiguities regarding the territorial jurisdiction of cases that are to be tried under Section 138 of the Act. I would like to ask the Minister of State for Finance — who is present in the House – – to give us a clarification on the scale of the problem that we are facing.

I find that in an answer given by the Finance Minister, Shri Arun Jaitley, on 9 December 2014, it was stated that:

“The total number of cases pertaining to cheque bounce and dishonour pending in various courts up to 31 July 2013 were 21,94,022 cases.”

However, we find that there is a Law Commission Report, which suggested that, in fact, the number of cases chocking the criminal justice system of this nature amounted to 40 lakh cases, and more than 5.5 lakh are pending in Delhi alone. So, when the Minister of State rises to give his reply, we would like to get a very clear sense of the scale of the problem. But if, in fact, the number of cases pending are, as according to the Finance Minister, just short of 22 lakh until July of last year, then that too, I would say, is 20 lakh cases too many.

There are two points, which make we very said when I see these kinds of statistics. First of all, India, in its economic, monetary and financial history, has always been known for the sophisticated nature of its negotiable instruments. Negotiable instruments that finance long-distance trade, instruments that we knew by the name of Hundi or Suftaja enabled merchants from this country to carry out trade all across the sub-continent and also beyond the shores of this sub-continent in different parts of the Indian Ocean world.

When we have so many cheques bouncing, being dishonoured, what we find is that our whole system of negotiable instruments that had been based on trust seems to have completely broken down because when a cheque is issued, it is not going to be dishonoured. It is basically a violation of trust, which was the basis of our negotiable instruments in the past.

The other feature which makes me very said when I see the statistics is the number of pending cases. This particular Amendment Bill only tinkers at the edges of the problem. What we require from this Government is a scheme for comprehensive judicial reforms. Even in the course of ‘Zero Hour’ today, one of my friends from Murshidabad pointed out how many cases are pending in one district, which he represents. So, this will only address a very small part of the problem. I think we need comprehensive judicial reforms to be brought in.

There is another point that I wish to mention. I will not be as harsh as the preceding speaker from the Opposition, who has said that this Bill helps the moneylenders. If this had been an issue between small debtors and extortionate moneylenders, then we would wholeheartedly be on the side of the small debtors, but in this instance, it is a question of cheques that are being issued which are not being honoured because of either lack of integrity or because of insufficiency of funds, and whoever is issuing these cheques ought to know that these cheques will not be honoured. That is why we are prepared to go along with this particular amendment.

However, who are the people who are the so-called stakeholders who came to the Government as soon as the Supreme Court judgment of 1st August 2014 was delivered? We are reading not just in the media, but also in the Objects and Reasons spelled out by this Government that these were financial institutions and industry associations that were most concerned.

I can see that this Government responds very swiftly when the issue is one of ease of doing business. But will this Government also respond with such alacrity when the question is about small consumers and not businesses? We constantly hear in this House about many banking norms are being simplified.

We have heard the fanfare with which the Jan Dhan Yojana has been advertised throughout the country. But when I go to my constituents in my own Jadavpur Constituency, I constantly hear complaints from people who live either in the City of Kolkata or in the villages to the South of Kolkata which I represent that they face huge difficulties even now for fulfilling KYC norms. This is a genuine difficulty and there is a gap between what is said in this House about easing various norms and the actual difficulties that consumers face.

As was pointed out, there are many villages, there are many Gram Panchayats where there are no banks whatsoever so that there is no question of drawing cheques on those banks which may or may not bounce. So, I would urge this Government that just as they have responded to the concerns of industry associations and of financial institutions, they should also respond to the concerns of small consumers, people who are still denied access to the banking sector. So, I will simply say that this is actually a very small piece of legislation.

What the country requires are major legislations that have to be brought to bring about comprehensive judicial reforms and comprehensive banking reforms which will help very ordinary people in our country to gain access to credit so that they can actually be able to write cheques. That is the basic right that is denied to vast numbers of our people, living particularly in the villages of the subcontinent. Finally, I would simply like to urge this Government that let their rhetoric of being people-friendly not be simply limited to rhetoric.

Let them act, let them legislate and let us implement those legislations for the benefit of the citizens of this country.

Sugata Bose speaks on the Land Boundary Agreement Bill in Lok Sabha | Full Transcript

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Mr Deputy Speaker Sir,

I rise to support, on my own behalf and on the behalf of the All India Trinamool Congress, the 119th Constitution Amendment Bill, which after an amendment is passed will become our 100th Constitution Amendment.

At the outset I would like to congratulate our Hon’ble External Affairs Minister for bringing this historical legislation before this House, and also making a statesman like speech in the opening of this discussion and debate.

Our External Affairs Minister referred to the Radcliff Award of 1947. The roots of the problem that we are going to solve in this Parliament later today go back to the tragic partition of 1947. The irony of that partition was captured best by the poet WH Auden in his poem Partition where he wrote about Radcliff. This is what he had written-

Unbiased at least he was when he arrived on his mission having never set his eyes on this land he was called to partition,

Time they had briefed him in London was short,

It’s too late for mutual consideration or rational debate.

The only solution now lies in separation.

He got down to work, on the task of settling the fate of millions,

The maps at his disposal were out of date and the census returns almost certainly incorrect.

But there was no time to check them,

No time to inspect the contested areas.

The weather was frightfully hot and dysentery constantly kept him on the trot,

But in seven weeks it was done,

The frontiers were decided, a continent,

For better or worse was divided.

The next day he sailed for England,

Where he quickly forgot the case as a good lawyer must.

Return he would not afraid as he told the club that he might get shot.

 

Radcliff was not a good surgeon; partition was often referred to as a surgical operation. Not only did it bring misery to the people on either side of the lines that were drawn on 1947, but like a bad surgeon, he left swabs inside the patient. These were the enclaves that are going to be exchanged now, today, the Chitmahals as we call in local parlance in West Bengal.

As I speak today, my mind goes back to 1971, a date to conjure with in South Asian history. I was merely a high school student, not even in college. I used to go with my pediatrician father, Dr Sisir Kumar Bose to the Bongaon border where millions of refuges had come from what was then, the eastern wing of Pakistan. I had seen poverty in Kolkata but I had never seen the kind of human misery I witnessed in 1971 in the refugee camps around the Bongaon town. But there was something else, I also used to visit the Netaji Field Hospital in a village called Bakchara where the brave soldiers of the Bangladesh’s Mukti Bahini used to be brought across the border and public spirited doctors surgeons from Kolkata would operate upon them, that is the only time in my Life that I have seen operations being conducted in the open. There was also not any saline, I have seen ‘daber Jol’ or coconut water being used in place of saline and these Mukti Jodhas sacrificed their all.

Our Indian soldiers made huge sacrifices. What we have witnessed in 1971 was a glorious freedom struggles against one of the most brutal military crackdowns in modern history. After the victory of December 16, 1971, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman came back and I remember that on January 17, 1972, my father met him in Dhaka.

What was the border like? He just drove across in an ambulance carrying medical supplies for newly independent Bangladesh. That was the kind of border we saw in 1971. People wanted to help each other to lead a life of dignity.

Then of course in 1974, as our External Affairs Minister has referred to, the historic agreement was made between Bangabandhu Sk Mujibur Rahaman and our great prime minister Indira Gandhi. And it is a pity that 41 years have passed before this parliament could ratify that agreement.

Today the historic words of Bangabandhu’s 7 March address are ringing in my ears. He said, “Prottek ghore ghore durgo gore tolo, rokto jokhon diyechi, rokto aro debo, ei desher manushere mukto koriya chariyabo inshallah”, and he brought freedom to the people of Bangladesh. He offered to give more sacrifice in blood so that the people of East Bengal could be free.

I had the privilege of meeting Prime Minister Sheik Hasina when they were giving an award to my father posthumously just two years ago. What is really positive, what is really historic about this Bill is the fact that in this Bill carefully balanced, and we are protecting and promoting, the national interest, the states’ interest and the human interest.

The national interest because this Bill, once it is passed later today by this House, will bring about a revolutionary transformation in the relations between India and Bangladesh and I agree with the External Affairs Minister that we will be able to rekindle the spirit of 1971 and after that when you go on to ask the people of Bangladesh and the Government of Bangladesh for trade and transit facilities, they will respond to you in a positive manner. So, national interest is supreme.

I know that earlier this week there was a little temptation to falling prey to narrow party, partisan interests. But what is important today is that the people of Assam also rose to the occasion and the temptation was resisted. National interest was put above party, political interest.

Secondly, the states’ interest was protected. It was a real privilege for me to work in the Standing Committee of external affairs. In the unanimous report that we tabled in this House on the December 1, 2014, we protected the states’ interest. This is what we said about the earlier history, “closer consultations at the highest political level between the Central Government and State Government would have been desirable. The committee while appreciating the efforts to keep the state governments on board, would suggest the Government to effectively coordinate with them in all matters and resolve the lacuna if any related to the actual implementation of the accord on the ground.”

And I am very glad, am truly happy. I have to tell the External Affairs Minister that she has conducted consultations at the highest political level as we had wanted and she has spoken several times to our leader, the Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee. We had also said the committee that the Central Government and the State Government of West Bengal will arrive at a consensus on the issue related to the rehabilitation package.

All the humanitarian issues should be resolved in advance including assistance from the Central Government in this regard. And I trust as External Affairs Minister assured on the floor of this House that the rehabilitation package which has been sent to her by the Government of West Bengal, led by the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the December 6, 2014, will be available to the State so that we can build infrastructure and also give a true life of dignity to those in the enclaves who have been leading a miserable existence for the last 67 years. That is the most important aspect of this Bill. We are protecting the human interest.

What we are going to do today is going to be a solution of intractable problem. A solution that is going to be found in the spirit of insaniat. Under the sign of insaniat human beings are taking precedence over territory, small amounts, small pieces of territory that are only going to be notionally exchanged between the two suffering states of India and Bangladesh.

Mr Deputy Speaker Sir, I would like to say that sometimes I hear certain justifications for this agreement and I can understand that the ruling party, in order to satisfy their recalcitrant constituents in a certain province, may often have to make those kinds of arguments. I often hear that this particular piece of legislation and the final settlement of the land boundary between India and Bangladesh will help us resolve the problem of illegal emigration of smuggling across the borders and so on. Now that may well be a by-product of settlement that we are going to reach with Bangladesh. But let us remember that this historic piece of legislation is actually meant for the benefit of the law abiding citizens of India and Bangladesh.

Once the entire boundary is demarcated, I would like to see that innocent law abiding citizens of India and Bangladesh should be able to cross the border with dignity and I would urge our External Affairs Minister to have consultations with the Home Minister so that a whole series of integrated check posts can be set up along the India-Bangladesh border.

We want ordinary people to be able to cross without difficulty. We want music to flow across the border that separates to Bengals. We want theater groups from the two Bengals to come to each other and to have their performances. I have spent a lot of time as a student in Bangladesh going about all the districts, work in district record rooms and I have seen that how much people of Bangladesh admire Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, Sarat Chandra Bose and Netaji subhash Chandra Bose. I have seen the best performance of DL Roy’s Shah Jahan play on a stage in Dhaka. Not on this side in Calcutta even though we have great theater personalities and theater groups in West Bengal, and some of them are now actually belong to our party the All India Trinamool Congress.

So, I would like to say that let us gift this historic piece of legislation to the people of two Bengals and also to someone whose birth anniversary pochishe-e-boishakh we are going to celebrate all over the country in two days time. He wrote the national anthem of our two countries India and Bangladesh. All the songs that he wrote during the Swadeshi movement of 1905 were inspirational for the muktijoddhas of Bangladesh in 1971.

‘Bangladesher hriday hote kokhon aponi, tumi ki oporup rupe bahir hole janani, ogo maa tomay dekhe dekhe ankhi na phire’.

We have always envisioned our State Bengal and also Bharatbarsha as the mother.

In those days we used to recite Jibanananda Das’s poetry – “Banglar much ami dekhiyachi tai prithibir rup khujite jahi na aar”. That means we have seen Bengal’s face that is why we don’t need go out and find beauty in the rest of the world.

So that is what I am being reminded of here today and finally I would simply like to say that let us remember that during the hay day of the Swadeshi movement Rabindranath Tagore wrote a very beautiful song- “Amra milechi aaj mayer daake” – that means we have actually gathered here at the call of the mother. We are answering the call of the mother in passing this historic legislation in the Lok Sabha today.

It is such a great moment to see that we have risen above all political party differences. We have protected the national interest, the states’ interest and the human interest today.

So let us, as has happened in the Rajya Sabha, rise to the full stature of this House and unanimously pass the Constitution Amendment Bill and let the message go out to the whole of South Asia that we want peace of development for the poor who live all across this great subcontinent.

Thank you Deputy Speaker Sir.

 

Trinamool’s Sugata Bose hails Land Boundary Agreement Bill as historic in LS

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After Rajya Sabha, Trinamool today lent its support to the 119th Constitution Amendment Bill, 2013 in Lok Sabha thus paving the way for land boundary agreement with Bangladesh.

Speaking on behalf of the party, Sugata Bose delivered an emotive speech, thanking everyone for rising above partisan politics for national interest, state interest and human interest.

Reminiscing about his first-hand experience of Muktijuddho in 1971, Sugata Bose rued the fact that it took 41 years to ratify the agreement signed by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibar Rahman and Indira Gandhi.

Quoting Tagore and Jibanananda Das, the eminent historian said, “What we are doing today will be a solution for a intractable problem. Let the message go out to the rest of South Asia we want peace and development for the downtrodden.”

Click here for the full transcript

Centre ‘Meddling’ in Education Institutions: Sugata Bose

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Eminent historian and Trinamool Congress MP Sugata Bose today alleged “meddling and unwarranted interference” by government in the affairs of educational institutions and advocated the need for respect to teachers and students.

He also alleged that “ideologues” instead of scholars were being inducted into the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR). Participating in a discussion on Demands for Grants of the HRD Ministry, he said there should be a “great deal of respect for students and teachers”. He referred to discussion and public debate on how some premier scientific and technological institutions are being adversely affected by “meddling and unwarranted interferences in appointments”.

Citing recent instances, including the resignation of IIT Delhi Director, Dr Bose said the HRD Ministry should be “respectful” to the country’s eminent scientists. “Government should be an enabler and not interfere in the autonomous functioning of these institutions,” he said. Some bureaucrats, who understand the education system well, are fleeing the ministry and “I would like to know the reasons why this is happening,” the Trinamool member said.

Further, Dr Bose said as a historian, he was “dismayed” that at ICHR, “ideologues are packed rather than scholars”. “I would wish that a moment comes that we have genuine historians on the Committee of ICHR, a Council that deserves no funding from the central government, which of course comes out of the taxes paid by the ordinary citizens of this country,” he said.

Urging the government to change course, Bose said the government should do away with the attitude of indifference and “introduce great deal of respect for students and teachers”. “Don’t perpetuate a situation of disenchantment and disillusionment,” he stressed.

Referring to the cut in budgetary allocations, Dr Bose said it seems the “Finance Ministry was punishing HRD Ministry”. This government is friendly to corporates and hostile to farmers, Dr Bose remarked.

To address faculty shortages at higher education institutions, Bose said the government should look at bringing in foreign professors. Taking a dig, Dr Bose said the HRD Ministry could well be renamed “Bricks and Mortar Ministry” as it has not set up proper infrastructure.

Sugata Bose speaks on the demands for grants for the Ministry of Human Resource Development | Full Transcript

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Mr. Deputy-Speaker, Sir, I rise to take part in the discussion on the Demands for Grants of the Human Resource Development Ministry. Once upon a time it used to be called the Education Ministry.

This Government, through the President’s Address at the beginning of this Session, had declared that education was going to be the priority of priorities. But from the allocations that we see in this budget it appears that education is the least of the priorities of this Government.

There have been savage cuts in the allocations for both the Department for School Education and Literacy as well as the Department of Higher Education. The Standing Committee Report of the HRD Ministry, which was tabled in Parliament yesterday, has shown that the plan allocation for School Education and Literacy has been reduced by “a whopping 24.68 per cent.”

The non-plan allocation has also come down. So far as the Department of Higher Education is concerned, the plan allocation has been reduced quite dramatically and there is a marginal increase in the non-plan allocation. The Standing Committee Report shows that overall there has been a decrease of Rs 799.74 crore in the budget of the Department of Higher Education.

Now, I was wondering why this is happening. Why is the Government acting against its declaratory promises? It seems to me that the Finance Minister was punishing the Human Resource Development Ministry. I cannot understand why the children and youth of our country are being punished for the poor functioning of the Human Resource Development Ministry.

I know that this Government will say that some allocations have been cut because following the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, more funds have been devolved to the States. But that does not justify the slashing of the Budget for flagship schemes in the field of education, such as Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Mid-day Meal Scheme etc. If you look at the percentage cuts in these sectors, the budget in Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has been cut by more than 20 per cent and in the Mid-day Meal, the cut is more than 30 per cent.

Sir, I was not showing any disrespect and there is no question of taking back what I have said. I have actually read the reports of the Standing Committee very carefully. Do you know what the Standing Committee has said? It has said that it has found that the Human Resource Development Ministry was helpless. These are not my words. I am not casting any aspersion. They seemed helpless in the face of the cuts imposed by the Finance Ministry. I am going by what this Parliamentary Standing Committee has said about the Demands for Grants of the Human Resource Development Ministry.

Unfortunately, I have to say that the catchphrase ‘cooperative federalism’ is being reduced to a convenient pretext for the complete abdication of the responsibility by the Centre in fulfilling its commitment in the social sector. So far as school education and literacy is concerned, the flagship programmes have been cut. I know that in past few years, we have had success in terms of enrolment; our children are being enrolled but they are not being educated.

We have cause to worry about the quality of education because the outcome in terms of language and arithmetic skills are extremely poor once you reach the upper primary level and the drop-out level is also alarming from the upper primary level onwards.

Also, I should point out, again from the Standing Committee’s report that over 60 lakh children are out of school and this is worrisome because the majority of these out-of-school children belong to the disadvantaged communities like Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Minorities, Migrants and so on. It is incumbent on this Government that instead of being defencive, it should take this into account and addressee these major problems.

The Human Resource Development Ministry could be renamed the bricks and mortar Ministry accepting that it has failed to build proper infrastructure as well. If one looks at the sector of higher education, in the last two years there are 14 new IITs and IIMs that have been announced and yet we find that a foundation stone has been laid for one more IIT. Now, this is a completely wrong-headed policy to go ahead and announce new institutions particularly IITs and IIMs in a formulate manner and as a result tarnishing the brand name image that the IITs and IIMs have.

If you are going to establish new IITs and IIMs, you should have the allocations to support them. We know that these IITs do not have permanent buildings. Even if you look at the IISERs, they do not have permanent campuses. That is hampering the research of the talented scientists who have come to the IITs and IISERs.

Why do I want the Human Resource Development Ministry to focus on human resources rather than buildings? If you look at the vacant faculty positions, in Central institutions, Central universities and also State universities and institutions, it is staggering. In Central universities alone, the number of vacant positions is 6,107 out of 16,339 faculty positions. We have to really re-orient our priorities. How are we going to fill up these faculty positions?

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have to be innovative. We must even be open to inviting qualified foreign nationals to come and take up some of these positions. I am an Indian citizen and Prof. Amartya Sen is an Indian citizen but we have no difficulty in holding professorship positions in a university in the United States of America. Do you know what happens here? We can take Assistant Professors in contractual posts up to a period of five years but the Home Ministry has a minimum threshold in terms of salary so that if a State university or even an IISER appoints an Assistant Professor who is a foreign national at the lowest grate which falls below the minimum threshold, that person cannot be appointed.

I would urge the HRD Minister – and I do respect her greatly – who is present here to take up this matter with the Home Ministry so that we do not suffer this kind of a shortage of faculty due to lack of co-ordination between Ministries. I would also like to point out that we have to re-think how we deal with the balance between Central and State universities. Approximately 80 per cent of our students who go to universities attend State universities; about 20 per cent attend Central universities. If you look at the funding, particularly from the Central Government source, 80 per cent goes to the Central universities and 20 per cent goes to the State universities.

If I give an example, from my own State, there is of course, there is only one Central university, Viswa Bharati. It is facing all kinds of problems in recent times. I would hope that without interfering the Government would play an enabling role and a facilitating role towards solving some of the problems so that the university established by none other than Rabindranath Tagore is able to achieve the eminence that it deserves in our country and worldwide.

State universities are under the regulatory bodies of the Centre including the UGC. We have three universities in West Bengal with great potential: the Presidency University which has been rejuvenated in the last three years; the Calcutta University; and the Jadavpur University. But we have a difficulty, Deputy-Speaker, Sir, because our State has such a big debt burden. Our dearness allowance at the State level is not as high as the Central dearness allowance. So, the total remuneration of the faculty who are probably better than those who are serving in Central universities is much lower and the Centre should devise a formula so that we can provide some incentives to outstanding researchers and faculties who happen to be in State universities.

The Centre has a regulatory role to play and I think we have to think in new ways. I am also rather sad to note that there is a lot of discussion and public debate about how some of our premier scientific institutions and technological institutes are being adversely affected from meddling and unwarranted interference in appointments.

I think the Ministry should be respectful to our eminent scientists. We know that the Director of the IIT Delhi resigned. We know that the Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIT Mumbai also refused to take part in the appointment process of three new IIT Directors. Interviewing 36 candidates in six hours is no way to actually create fine new leadership for the new IITs that are coming up.

If we go on that route we will never be able to get any of our higher educational institutions to break into the top 100 or even the top 200 of the world’s universities and higher educational institutions. That should be our ambition. That should be our goal. And, I would want the Government to be an enabler and not interfere in the autonomous working of these institutions.

Also, we are very concerned to hear reports that the most competent bureaucrats who know something about education have been fleeing from the HRD Ministry. I would like to know the reasons why this is happening. As a historian I am dismayed to find that the Indian Council of Historical Research has been packed by ideologues rather than scholars. I would wish that a moment comes that we have genuine historians on the Committee of ICHR, a Council that deserves no funding from the Central Government, which of course comes out of the taxes paid by the ordinary citizens of this country.

So, I think we have a lot of work to do, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in the field of education, in the field of human resource development in proper sense of that phrase to make sure that what we talk about as our demographic dividend, our huge youthful population, does not turn into a demographic disaster. If one looks at the attitude of the current Government, we know that the current Government is very friendly towards the corporates. We know that this Government is hostile to the farmers.

Let me come to what I feel is the attitude towards our children and youth and towards our students and teacher. I think it is one of plain indifference and that attitude has to change. We have to give top priority to our young population and we have to introduce a great deal of respect for students and teachers.

Finally, I will have to say that our Prime Minister, borrowing from two words used by the US President, had talked a great deal during his campaign about change and hope. We are still waiting to see real qualitative change, particularly in the field of education and human resource development. So far as hope is concerned, I hope that this Government will not dash the hopes and aspirations of our young generation in the way that they have dashed the hopes and aspirations of poor people who live in the rural areas of our country.

So, I would urge this Government to change course. I would urge this Government not to perpetuate an atmosphere of disenchantment and disillusionment. Let us actually remember the true meaning of the word aspiration.

We have to allow our young generation to have high aspirations, not to be satisfied with mediocrity. And, therefore, I would urge the HRD Ministry to battle with the Finance Ministry, if necessary, to restore some of the cuts that have taken place.

Certainly the Mid Day Meal and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan ought to be funded at the same level at least that it was last year. We need to rethink our higher education policy and it is only by doing so, by bringing about genuine change, genuine innovation that we will be able to serve the young generation of the Indians in the way that they deserve.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy-Speaker, Sir.

Sugata Bose speaks in Lok Sabha during Question Hour on Fiscal Deficit | Full Transcript

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I was very glad to hear when the Finance Minister said in his Budget speech that he is going to give himself three, instead of two, years to reach the fiscal deficit target. He might as well have taken four years; we would not have minded.

The subsidy bill is not the only expenditure that impacts his ability to reach the fiscal deficit target. Even though we all agree that subsidies, specially fertilizer subsidies, must be better targeted. Austerity measures alone will not help either.

We have to understand the finance minister’s predicament. What he is facing is this. Unfortunately, the government’s corporate friends are not a very public-spirited lot. Therefore, they will not adequately invest in infrastructure. So, the government will have to invest in infrastructure.

The finance minister has an excellent Chief Economic Advisor. I hope this is the advice he is getting.

So, I would like to ask the finance minister whether he will give an assurance to this House that he will continue the upward trend in government investment in infrastructure for the next four years, until the end of the term of this government, so that we achieve the need for a solid foundation for the economic development of this country.

Release all Netaji files more than 50 years old: Sugata Bose to Centre

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Eminent historian, grand nephew of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Jadavpur MP Sugata Bose today urged the government of India to release all files related to Netaji. He also demanded that the government make it clear why and under whose orders were freedom fighters and members of Netaji’s family under surveillance post independence.

“The government must immediately clarify the reasons and under whose orders the surveillance was carried out, the date on which the surveillance began and the date on which it ended and the reasons for the gross invasion of privacy of the law-abiding citizens and freedom fighters,” he said.

Dr Bose added, “This is not a family matter. It is an important national and historical matter that must not be allowed to degenerate into party-political controversies. A decision should be taken at the highest level to immediately release all files more than 50 years old to put an end to unnecessary speculation.”

He also urged upon the government to follow the primary lesson of Netaji’s life and work. “To honour Netaji’s memory, let us ensure minorities in India feel safe and secure & that they continue to enjoy equal rights,” Sugata Bose said.

Click here to read the full transcript of his speech

Sugata Bose speaks on the issue of surveillance on Netaji’s family | Full Transcript

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Madam, I speak on a matter of historical importance. The whole country has been shocked by revelation of several files. The government of India, through its intelligence agencies, conducted intrusive surveillance for two decades after independence on freedom fighters, who made huge sacrifices for the nation during the freedom struggle, under the leadership of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

The surveillance included opening, reading and copying the correspondence between Netaji’s nephew and freedom fighter Sisir Kumar Bose in Kolkata and Netaji’s wife Emily in Vienna. There is also evidence that veterans of the Azad Hind Movement, including SA Aiyer, Netaji’s Minister for Publicity, were put under surveillance in Mumbai.

The Home Minister is present here. The government must immediately clarify the reasons and under whose orders the surveillance was carried out, the date on which the surveillance began and the date on which it ended and the reasons for the gross invasion of privacy of the law-abiding citizens and freedom fighters.

This is not a family matter. It is an important national and historical matter that must not be allowed to degenerate into party-political controversies. A decision should be taken at the highest level to immediately release all files more than 50 years old to put an end to unnecessary speculation.

Madam Speaker, you may remember the historic midnight session on 15 August, 1997 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of India’s independence. Voices of three iconic leaders of India’s freedom struggle – Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose – had been played at the Central Hall of the Parliament. Let us be respectful towards all of these leaders while we address this issue.

Let us not forget the primary lesson from Netaji’s life and work. United, all of the religions of India – Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians – and all the linguistic groups of India fought under the leadership of Netaji. To honour Netaji’s memory, let us ensure minorities in India feel safe and secure & that they continue to enjoy equal rights.

Government must look at the interest of kisans and mazdoors: Trinamool in LS

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Sugata Bose, Arpita Ghosh, Pratima Mandal and Mamtaz Sanghamita spoke  in the Lok Sabha on the agrarian situation in the country.

Sugata Bose raised the concern regarding the agricultural sector. The agricultural output has grown by only 1% in the last year. Agricultural sector constitutes about 55% of the employment in the nation, but contributed less than 15% of the GDP.

He urged the Government to immediately focus on irrigation so that it provides rural employment in the short run and increase productivity in the long run.

“The West Bengal Government’s ‘Jol Dharo Jol Bharo‘ programme has been more farsighted and successful. The Central Government’s ‘Krishi Sichai Yojana‘ should take lessons from West Bengal’s scheme”, he said.

He highlighted the importance of increase in the cold storage capacity and took the example of Bhangar, where with the support of West Bengal’s State Horticulture Department, a vegetable producer’s company has been established. As a result, per hectare output has increased dramatically from 7500 kg to 9500 kg and average peasant’s income has risen from Rs 22000 in 140 days to Rs 88000 in 120 days

Sugata Bose concluded by urging the House to rise to its full stature and make sure that the peasants, agricultural labourers and the range of service providers in rural areas be made partners and not victims in India’s development story.

Click here for the full speech of Sugata Bose. 

Arpita Ghosh criticised the Government for focusing only on corporatisation, but not on the agricultural sector. She highlighted the West Bengal Government’s initiatives in the agricultural sector like setting up ‘Kisan Mandis’ in every block and ‘Jal Dharo Jal Bharo’ Scheme.

“According to many surveys, in the last 7-8 years, almost 3 Crore farmers have left farming, many are contemplating to leave farming and many have committed suicide,” said Arpita Ghosh.

She urged the Government to set up a dedicated research institute in arid areas of West Bengal like Purulia and Bankura and to focus on agro-based industries in the State.

Click here for the full speech of Arpita Ghosh. 

Pratima Mandal asked the Government to have more policies to regulate the market  to ensure that the farmers get the fair price for their productions.

She said, “Soil test is a major issue in this regard, so that the farmers can know which crop is suitable for which field. Digging of canals and installation of deep shallow are required to maintain the water flow to the field. I would request to the Minister to allot more fund in this respect.”

She urged the Government for upgradation of Kalyani Krishi Vidyalaya for more effective research in the interest of the farmers of West Bengal.

Click here for the full speech of Pratima Mandal.

Mamtaz Sanghamita pointed out that even though India is an agricultural country, with 70% of rural population of  India are dependent on agriculture, yet policies formulated are not sufficient. Farmers are facing obstacles in cultivation system, natural calamities, no subsidy on fertilisers making them to lead them a borderline life.

She said, “Even when there is surplus yield of the agricultural product, there is no uniform system or rule of distribution or export to different states of India or abroad.”

Click here for the full speech of Mamtaz Sanghamita.

Sugata Bose speaks during discussion on the agrarian situation in the country | Transcript

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Full transcript:

Agriculture is close to my heart and ought to be the focus of informed debate in our country. Since my student days, I had been working on problems facing our agrarian economy in a larger global context.

The labours of peasant smallholders, sharecropper and agricultural labourers form the bedrock of our national economy. And their well being should exercise minds of the people’s representatives and policymakers.

The agrarian situation in India, Mr Deputy Speaker Sir, in one word, is grim. Boasting a rate of high GDP growth, the economic surge acknowledges that the agricultural output has grown at a rate of just 1% last year.  The terms of trade against agriculture are clear since the year 2011.

The Finance Minister acknowledged in his Budget Speech that of the five major challenges facing India today, the first and foremost is the stress on agricultural incomes, yet his Government has shown no real commitment to address that challenge.

In replying to the debate of the Land Acquisition Bill, the Rural Development Minister said in a tone of complaint that the agricultural sector accounted for nearly 55% of employment in our country and contributed less than 15% of our GDP. While it is imperative to create non-farm employment, it was extraordinary to find a farmer’s son and grandson cast against persons of the majority of the working population in our land and wishing that peasants and agricultural labourers would not resist land grabbing by this Government’s corporate friends and allies.

We must not deny small farms. Very often, they are more efficient than large farms even though we need to address the problems of self exploitation of unpaid women’s and children’s labour on farms which are a cause for suicide by farmers.

My friend Sri Karunakarn has given some startling figures in the course of his speech. Cotton cultivators in Maharashtra or in Gujarat and sugar cultivators in Karnantaka seek subsistence via the market. They need favourable prices and credit for their cash crops in order to command access to food. Tens of millions of peasants in our country live on the borderline of life and death. They suffer from chronic malnutrition and hunger.

Now, there have been unseasonal rains that have affected crops in six northern states. But we must always remember that we are facing not a problem of nature but a problem of political economy. It is not just droughts or floods or monsoon failures that adversely affect the odds of life of our peasantry. Our British colonial masters lead by Lord Curzon used to try and pass of manmade catastrophes as acts of God but we know it in Bengal that the great famine of 1770 or 1943 were manmade famines. Great economist like Romesh Dutt always pointed out that the food supply in India as a whole has never failed but the people were so resourceless, so absolutely without any savings that if crops failed in one area they were unable to buy food from neighbouring provinces rich in harvest.

We must learn from our great economic thinkers and not from our colonial masters.

Our agricultural sector is beset with problems of reduced cultivated areas and low yields. Our primary producers are caught within the meshes of iniquitous and interlinked product and credit market. How can we turn things around?

Let me suggest some policy measures that must be taken to tackle the challenges of both agricultural production and distribution. Talk about the second green revolution in our country has been confined to the realm of rhetoric and has not been transformed into practical policy. We need more public investment in agricultural science and research as well as extension services to educate our farmers about best practices. At most about 40% of our cultivated area has no irrigation of any kind. Our focus should be on micro irrigation projects that will provide rural employment in the short run while increasing productivity in the longer term. We need environmentally sound watershed management.

In the 1980s in my own state of West Bengal the indiscriminate digging of tube wells compounded the problem of arsenic poisoning in ground water. The current Government’s Jol Dhoro Jol Bhoro programme has been more farsighted and successful. The Central Government’s Krishi Sichai Yojana should learn some lessons from Mamata Banerjee’s West Bengal.

The problem of peasant debt has two aspects. First, the peasantry needs to be freed from extortion at interest rates charged by mahajans and sahukars. Second, primary producers need access to adequate credit at right moments of the production cycle.

The Finance Minister has set an ambitious target of Rs 8.5 lakh Crore of farm credit during 2015-2016. Unfortunately, Mr Dy Speaker Sir, institutional credit from Banks hardly ever reaches small holding peasants and gets cornered by richer farmers and by agricultural corporations. Better targeting of agricultural credit is an urgent necessity.

The peasants never get a remunerative price for their produce as traders and middlemen in the agricultural market chain siphon off the profits. The solution being offered by this Government is the creation of a national agricultural market. My own considered view is that this problem should be addressed in the first instance at the local and regional levels.

Let me give the example of the rural areas of my own constituency Jadavpur to illustrate the needs and available best practices. Nearly 80% of the holdings in Baruipur, Sonarpur, Bhangar rural areas of my constituency are less than one hector in size, the cropping intensity 165%. In addition to rice approximately 20% of the cultivated area is devoted to the production of fruits and vegetable of very high quality. They are mostly sold in local markets. In Baruipur, there is only one cold storage facility with a capacity of 1200 MT, which is not sufficient to cater the needs of the peasants of the region. Moreover, even this facility is not equipped to store fresh vegetables and fruits. This one large facility needs to be upgraded with the help of central schemes to make it fit for storing fresh fruits and vegetables.

Mini cold storage units ranging from 5 MT – 30 MT needs to be set up all over the country for groups of small and marginal peasants. On a more optimistic note, let me mention one positive development in Bhangar, another rural area of my constituency. With the support of the West Bengal’s State Horticulture Department, a Bhangar Vegetable Producer’s Company Ltd has been established with a membership of 1750 marginal peasants, all owning less than one hectare of land each. This company has now a paid up capital of Rs 7.3 lakh. It is a federation of 100 small peasant interest groups. The company has improved access to inputs and finance and has enhanced productivity by promoting better agricultural practices. It has helped peasants undertake value added activities by grading, packaging at the village level and provided marketing support.

As a result, per hectare output has increased dramatically from 7500 kg to 9500 kg and average peasant’s income has risen from Rs 22000 in 140 days to Rs 88000 in 120 days.  This local example of West Bengal has much wider relevance for small and marginal peasants, all over the country.

Deputy Speaker Sir, the Railways can play an important role in agricultural marketing and I hope that Agriculture Minister and Railway Minister will discuss this matter. I have seen how small peasants come to Baruipur and Sonarpur railway stations to sell their produce. Instead of complaining about squatters on railway land, the Railways can redesign the land owned by them, near stations of B and C level towns, to revolutionise the marketing of agricultural produce of small peasants.

The Railways can address problems of overcrowding, retail, inter modal transport needs, absence of public space through affordable intelligent design and by openness to market oriented small peasants, producers from the agrarian hinterland of these small towns.

In addition to creating cold storage facilities for agricultural produce, this Government should put something else into deep cold storage for all time to come in interests of India’s kisans and Khet mazdoors.  This is the ill conceived Land Acquisition Bill that was railroaded through this Lok Sabha.

I am taking my stand on 1970 style populism that which Arun Jaitley referred to in his Budget debate. I am taking my stand on a need for a balanced and harmonious 21st century economy that guarantees a fair deal to the underprivileged in our quest for rapid growth and development. Land acquisition from our farmers in our great Democracy must be based on consent and not on coercion, on compensation, not expropriation and it must be for public purpose and not private profit.

So it is incumbent on this Government, Deputy Speaker Sir, to provide equity in both sense of the term, equity, in the sense of fairness and justice and as well as equity in the form of ownership and the stake in the land, whenever the land is taken away from our peasants.

The Government by opening bank accounts and taking away Jan Dhan in the form of agricultural land and handing it to over to corporate houses on the false pretext of public purpose genuine fairness and transparency the two words that way in the title of the Bill that was passed in this House demands nothing else.

Mr Deputy Speaker Sir, on behalf of my party let me urge this House, to rise to its full stature and make sure that the peasant and agricultural laborers and the range of service providers in rural areas be made partners and not victims in India’s development story.

Thank you very much.