Tag: Tapas Mondal

Tapas Mondal speaks on Demands for Grants (Railways)

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Mr. Chairman, Sir, thank you allowing me to speak on this subject. West Bengal is deprived of getting any viable project from this Railway Budget 2016-17. West Bengal got nothing from the Union Railway Budget 2016-17. At the very initial stage itself, when the Budget was presented, our leader, Kumari Mamata Banerjee expressed her anguish over that. West Bengal has got only two dedicated freight corridors and nothing else.

The Minister has allocated very meagre amount for the on-going projects in West Bengal. For some projects the money allocated is as low as Rs. 1,000. So, our Party and our people demand that justice be done for the people of West Bengal. You have done so many things for the other parts of the country. So, please do something, announce some projects for the people of West Bengal.

Earlier, when Kumari Mamata Banerjee, our leader was the Railway Minister, she announced a lot of projects for West Bengal.

Those projects have been neglected by the present Budget. If it is not possible to do it this time, please do it next time, when you will present the Budget for the next year so that the on-going projects, viable projects, expansion projects, railway based industries can get justice from the Union Budget. This is my first appeal to the Union Minister.

The second issue is regarding my constituency. Ranaghat is my Lok Sabha constituency. It is nearer to Kolkata. There is a huge and long-pending demand for construction of motorable subway. But the Railway Ministry took a decision to construct a subway for pedestrians and that subway is almost on the verge of completion.

My request to the Union Minister is this. I wrote many letters to him. I raised this issue many a time in Parliament. However, the Government and the Minister had not paid attention. Conversion of pedestrian subway to motorable subway is very important for the city of Ranaghat, which is divided by the railway stations. One part has no facilities but the other part has all the public amenities like hospitals, banks, schools, colleges, etc. are there So, the eastern part where no such important facilities are there, patients are facing great problem.

Please ensure conversion of subway meant for pedestrians into motorable subway so that ambulances can come on time and critical patients can have treatment in hospitals.

There are local trains that are bound to Sealdah and Howrah Stations. I had requested earlier to increase the frequency of the local trains. During the peak office hours, frequency is less. The daily passengers and office-goers – `daily passengers’ in Bengali are known as `daily patients’ are travelling in inhuman conditions. In a seat meant for three persons, at least five or six passengers sit; huge crowd is there in each and every compartment of local trains. So, in order to give some comfort to the office-goers, please try to increase the number of passenger trains during the peak office hours. This is my request. Please increase the number of compartments from nine to 12.

Almost all the stations are expanded and can accommodate 12 compartments but trains are running with only nine compartments. If you increase the compartments from nine to 12, then, more number of passengers can be accommodated and they can reach their destination safely.

There are a lot of unmanned level crossings in my constituency. I wrote on this many a time to the Minister, raised the issue in the House also but four or five unmanned level crossings can be looked into and can be implemented. Please do the needful so that we can avoid accidents.

The Central Government had announced last year to establish an AIIMS at Kalyani, which is an upcoming and planned city in West Bengal, about 55 kms. from Kolkata Airport. Kalyani city may be connected through metro railway from Barrackpore. Up to Barrackpore, there is a metro railway line proposed for which work is initiated. When one of our leaders, Shri Dinesh Trivedi was the Railway Minister, he allotted some money for evaluating the possibility of developing the metro railway from Barrackpore to Kalyani. Please do the needful so that the patients, doctors and huge sections of people can travel safely in the coming years through metro railway from Barrackpore to Kalyani.

Sir, Nabadwip Dham is the birth place of Mahaprabhu Chaitanya. It is one of the important tourist destinations in this country. It has a very old railway station. I would request the Government to make this station as a model railway station and give justice to the people of Nabadwip and all the tourists who are travelling to visit Nabadwip Dham.

Chakda is another important railway station. It is a new city with a population of more than 50,000 people and at least 30,000 people are travelling to Kolkata by train by Ranaghat-Krishna Nagar Local, Gidhi Local or Shantipur Local. So, I demand that a new Chakda Local Train should be introduced from Chakda to Sealdah during office hours so that the office goers and the common people can get a safe journey towards the Capital of the State.

Regarding other announcements made by the hon. Railway Minister, we welcome all those announcements. We know that he has made many new proposals and even announced bullet trains for the rest of the country except West Bengal. So, we hope that there would be a time when the Union Railway Minister would give justice, give some new projects to the State of West Bengal so that the people of West Bengal would feel happy and bless the Railway Minister.

Thank you.

Dr Tapas Mandal speaks on the Regional Centre for Biotechnology Bill, 2016

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Thank you, Sir, for allowing me to speak on the Regional Centre for Biotechnology Bill, 2016. It is a welcome decision by the Government to introduce this Bill. Though we have enough human resources and world-class laboratories, the point is what its contribution in real terms for the development of biotechnology sector is.

It is not that hon. Shri Narendra Modiji started research on biotechnology. Biotechnology is a continuous process. It is a research of long years of glorious past. If we critically examine the history and achievement of bio-technological research in India, our achievement is almost negligible. It is almost zero because there is no significant patent credited to our institutes. They are not filing a number of patents for their credits. There are a lot of institutes. But those institutes are only for giving degrees. They do not have sufficient teaching facilities; they do not have laboratory facilities. There are many private colleges, many institutes across the country. Every year, a lot of students are coming out of these institutes. But what is their contribution in the field of bio-technology? That is my first question to the hon. Minister.

It is not a solution to give national importance to an institute. It is better to strengthen all the institutes uniformly. Most of the time, the Central Government is giving importance to North India or South India. The Eastern part of India is being neglected by almost all the Governments. Please try to set up institutes related to bio-technology in West Bengal because West Bengal is very sound agriculturally. It has higher productivity in agriculture sector. But there is no bio-technology institute related to agriculture in the Eastern part of India. Therefore, I would urge upon the Union Minister to please look into the matter. It is good to give national importance to one Institute. But it is more important to give importance to other institutes also so that we can exclusively go towards the destination where we can satisfy our people.

We can feed our huge population at large. The Regional Centre for Bio-technology was established in 2006 by the Department of Science and Technology under the auspices of UNESCO. It is not an Institute of national importance right now. It is

also not listed among the top ten bio-technology institutes. However, Faridabad is blessed with this Institute where the Central Government paid their attention. In West Bengal, there is an Institute of Chemical Biology. A good quality research work is going on there. But the

Central Government is not taking care of that Institute. So, wherever we have bio-technology institutes in India, please ensure that laboratory facilities, teaching facilities and its quality are looked into. Otherwise, those who are passing out from these Institutes may not be the wealth of the nation; they may be the burden of the nation. Even it is a quick growing industry. The Minister is expecting 30 per cent annual growth in the coming years. But we do not have qualified human resource for these upcoming industries. I would urge the Government to please ensure that.

This institute particularly in Faridabad has some important jobs. One is the pre-term neonatal deaths. In that field they are doing good work. They have a memorandum of understanding with another important institute of Japan. So, some of the important work they have started but they need to establish sub-centres in different States where it is required. And they should develop laboratories in different parts of the country so that they become really a nationally important institute.

Otherwise, if you equip this Faridabad institute and do not look at the other institutes, it will not work. My submission is that an agriculturally sound State like West Bengal may be given due importance in the field of setting up biotechnology institutes. This way you can serve the nation.

The mandate of this centre is to provide a platform for biotechnology education, training and research at the interface of multiple disciplines. The programmes of the centre will be designed to create opportunities for students to engage in a multidisciplinary research where they learn biotech science while integrating engineering, medicine and science to provide solutions for human and animal health, agricultural and environmental technologies.

We have reservations to new innovative sciences and discoveries. Bt Cotton, Bt Brinjal are a simple example of the biotechnology. This is not accepted by a section of society and some are advocating for that.

A uniform decision is not taken by the Government. We do not know.

It is important as to what regulations, what guidelines are to be incorporated. I think personally that regulation in the field of research is not working. Scientists do their work independently. Research should be fundamental and no Government interference should be there. But guidelines should be imposed on a certain section. But Government should take a decision whether biotechnologically engineered crops or genetically modified crops are advocated or not, are advisable to cater to the needs of society or not. That should be decided by the Government. That is my request to the Government. Please look into the matter. Make regulations, make guidelines, but there should be certain limits. You should not interfere with the fundamental research and you should not give instructions to scientists. They independently do their own work. And it is not that this present Government has started research on biotechnology or other sciences.

Nanotechnology is equally important but that is not given due importance.

As biotechnology, the modern science, has a glorious past and a great future, it should be allowed to develop. Simultaneously, there should be one nationally important nanotechnology research centre in India so that we can at least cater to the needs of the coming years of this country.

Thank you.

Tapas Mondal speaks on General Budget 2016

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Madam Speaker, Bhola Singh ji ne jo kaha hai, ki Pradhan Mantri Ji aur khas kar ke Arth Mantri ji ne batti jalaya aur sab jagao me wo batti jalte rehte hai, lekin ye batti Bihar tak poucha hai aur uske baad ye batti Paschim Bangal me gaya nahi. Mai asha karta hu ki is budget se to kuch huch hua nahi rajya ke sarth me. Magar next year me jab budget ghoshit hoga us time me humara rajya pe kendriya sarkar dhyan dega.
Madam Speak, aapko bahut abhar vyakt karta hu mai.

What was the expectation from this Budget 2016-17? Expectations in the domain of personal taxation, expectations for home buyers, expectations in the domain of GDS limit, structural reforms expected from this Budget, path of fiscal consolidation which was an important aspect, expectations surrounding the National Pension Scheme—all these expectations are not being fulfilled. Partly, a section of the society can gain something but at large major share of the society is deprived of getting the benefits from this current Budget, 2016-17. That is why, our Finance Minister of West Bengal, Shri Amit Mitra told that the Budget was directionless, and this is a Budget without any vision. This Budget is not people-centric, and there is nothing in the Union Budget for West Bengal. I want to highlight some important aspects in relation to agriculture and farmers’ welfare for which the Government has allocated a considerable fund of Rs.35,984 crore. Among these, 28.5 lakh hectares of land will be brought under irrigation; five lakh acres to be brought under organic farming over a three-year period; Rs.60,000 crore for recharging of ground water in India; Dedicated Irrigation Fund in NABARD with Rs.20,000 crore; and nominal premium and highest ever compensation in the case of crop losses under the PM Fasal Bima Yojana. The Finance Minister, Shri Arun Jaitely in his ‘Make in India’ Budget speech laid more emphasis on agriculture and farmers’ welfare with an aim to double the farmers’ income in the next five years. He laid thrust on the rural sector and social sector, including health care, educational skills and job creation to make India a knowledge based productive economy. He announced various allocations to agriculture and farmers’ welfare sector with a total expenditure of Rs.35,984 crore. He also made announcements on infrastructure investment to enhance quality of life and bring financial sector and governance reforms to reduce compliance burden.  He added that nominal premium is also being implemented from this Budget. As key States including West Bengal gear up for assembly elections, it was not surprised that agriculture took the top slot in Finance Minister’s Budget for 2016-17. In his speech, Jaitley said that India was a bright spot in the global economy as he outlined his nine focus areas with social programmes and rural development taking at number 2 entry slots. With agriculture being the main stage of economy in States like West Bengal, Modi’s Government t hrust on rural development is bound to boost BJP in the poll-bound States and that is why they are focussed mainly on agriculture. Rising rural distress after back to back drought and having heavy defeat in Bihar have upset the calculus. The Government estimates that four of 10 Indians rely directly on farming for their livelihood. Jaitley also assured that the Government intended to double the income of the farmers in coming five years. He told a unified agriculture platform will be dedicated to the nation on the Birth Anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. The Government all the time is talking about Ambedkar; they take the name of Ambedkar; but they are not doing much for the people of Ambedkar. I request him to allocate proportionate funds for SC/ ST Sub Plans and place them everywhere in social strata – service sector, education sector, etc. The Government should secure their livelihood and respect them in a true way. By doing these things – not by installing monuments and memorials – they can really respect Dr Ambedkar. If you respect the down-trodden people, the depressed classes, SC/ST communities and improve the budgetary allocation for them, which will be the right way to respect Dr. Ambedkar. The Government all the time gives emphasis on looking towards Eastern India. But what has the Government given to Eastern India, especially to West Bengal, the gateway of Eastern India? We have a long legitimate demand of setting up of a Central Agricultural University in West Bengal. But this has not been taken up by the Government. West Bengal is the right place for setting of such a university because it has good agricultural productivity. Almost all crops can be grown there and even in some of the horticulture crops West Bengal plays a leading role. Therefore, I urge upon the Union Finance Minister that when he is going to announce for the next Budget, he ensures that West Bengal gets a Central Agriculture University for the benefit of the people of the State. Similarly, there is a need for Central Horticulture University. Some States of the Indian Union have Central Horticulture Universities. But in spite of West Bengal’s position and contribution in the production of vegetables, flowers and fruits, there is no such university in my State. If we compare the State of West Bengal with other advanced States of the Indian Union, the number of ICAR institutes is much less in West Bengal. So, we urge upon the Union Government to set up more institutes and sub-centres of CRIDA, IISER, Rice Research Institutes, etc. in West Bengal for boosting up agriculture production. Another important thing, not relating to agriculture, is Nabadwip birthplace of Mahaprabhu Shri Chaitanya and renowned Shri Vaishnao Dham. This should be taken up as a national heritage. But that is also neglected by the Central Government. So, I once again request the Central Government to look into the matter and accord national heritage town status to Nabadwip Dham.