Mumtaz Sanghamita asks a Question on the desilting of Damodar River

Mumtaz Sanghamita asks a Question on the desilting of Damodar River

Posted on August 3, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Thank you, Speaker Madam. In the last meeting of our Standing Committee, the CWC visited the Durgapur barrage in October, 2016. They suggested and recommended that there should be immediate desiltation and as well as cleaning of the Damodar river near the barrage area.

In 2013, Bengal Government held discussions with the central agency of Central Water and Power Research Centre and decided to have a Damodar Action Plan. I would like to ask the Hon Minister, whether she is making a plan for the Damodar Action Plan and the desilting of the river so that the Damodar barrage can work.

Saugata Roy speaks on The Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2017

Posted on August 2, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Sir, I rise to speak on the Banking Regulation Amendment. I have given a notice opposing the introduction of this Bill and I had also given a Statutory Regulation against the Ordinance. Why had I opposed the introduction? I had said that this is not a necessary Bill. Nor was there any hurry in issuing an Ordinance. I shall substantiate my points with what I had said at that time.

Per se, the Bill may not be bad. But I will show that this Bill is unnecessary under existing laws. The Government could have taken steps against NPAs. There is no doubt that the problem of NPA has reached heights from which Government will find it very difficult to extricate itself. The total assets of the State in terms of gross NPAs and restructured standard advances of scheduled commercial banks was Rs 9.64 lakh crore on December 31, 2016. Share Rs 9 lakh crore se zyada hain. And if you really look at the total NPAs during financial year 2016 for public sector banks, which was 9.83 per cent of gross advances, or almost 10 per cent of advances to the public sector banks, measures seem to have been taken.

But, as a Member correctly pointed out, what was the Government doing for three years as the NPA rose? And we will talk about Vijay Mallya. I will give you the names of 12 top NPA people, the total ‘toxic’ 12. The total NPA amount is Rs 7.7 lakh crore. Which are the big companies? Bhushan Steel has NPAs of Rs 44,000 crore, then there are Lanco Infratech, Essar Steel, Bhushan Power and Steel, Alok Industries, Amtek Auto, Monnet Ispat, Electrosteel Steel, Era Infra Engineering, Jaypee Infratech, ABG Shipyard and Jyoti Structures. The total NPAs of just 12 companies amounts to Rs 2,53,729 crore. It is these 12 companies against whom action has been taken under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. But unfortunately this has the possibility of getting stuck in court because there is already one case in Ahmedabad High Court. So whether this will really sort out the problem, I am not too sure. That’s why I am saying that the Government had several instruments in its hand for three years, even before this law was enacted. It had both legal and non-legislative loan recovery options. It could have done loan restructuring, corporate debt restructuring, joint lenders’ forum, five-is-to-twenty-five scheme, strategic debt restructuring or sustainable structuring of State assets. These are the non-legislative ways open to the banks.

The other thing is, there is already DRT – for recovery of debts due to banks and financial institutions. There was a surface act under which asset reconstruction companies could have taken over assets. And then in 2016, we had the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code is a good law.

Now, this Ordinance or the Bill – what new thing do they bring? That the Reserve Bank may issue directions to a bank to go for insolvency proceedings. Now what does the Insolvency Law say? You first appoint an insolvency professional, then he forms a lenders/creditors’ committee, and then the creditors’ committee gets together and takes a decision on the bank. The ultimate arbiter is the National Company Law Tribunal. So this is the procedure; and the advantage of the Insolvency Code is that you have to settle the matter within 180 days. So it is a time-bound resolution of the problem of insolvency. But the Government hurried with this law for these 12 companies whose name the Reserve Bank did not disclose. I have got it from the internet.

However, the main question remains – is the Reserve Bank an appropriate authority? I am totally against the Reserve Bank of recent times, post-Raghuram Rajan, because this is the Reserve Bank which, till date, has not been able to count the notes which were deposited during demonetisation. So why should we have confidence in such a Reserve Bank? Our Standing Committee has repeatedly asked the Reserve Bank Governor – why don’t you say how much money has come in? My information is that they are still counting; they say they have to bring in machines from abroad. This Reserve Bank is totally inefficient and incapable. Nobody knows how much money has been deposited. And abiut the story of demonetisation – the balloon will be punctured when it will become known.

Now, the whole banking system, as our Chairman of the Standing Committee, Veerappa Moily says, is facing a collapse. The Government is trying to clutch at straws, and one straw is this Ordinance.

Now, I want to ask various questions. Currently, under Section 35A, the Reserve Bank may issue directions to banks on grounds of public interest and in the interest of banking policy. This ordinance gives the RBI additional power to direct banks to initiate recovery proceedings. So when already the RBI has the power to issue directions, why do you need the Ordinance?

The second question is, the majority of NPAs, 88 per cent of the NPAs, are in public sector banks. Mind you, the private sector banks like HDFC, ICICI, do not have such large NPAs. So the Government could have itself issued directions instead of asking the useless RBI to issue directions, since the Government owns all these.

My next question. As a banking regulator, the RBI is supposed to look after the macro-economic picture. It, as a regulator, is responsible for maintaining the financial stability while banks have the flexibility to make business decisions. Say, you have to settle a loan, and so, you have to take a haircut. Now the banks will not take the decision. They will say that let the RBI tell you then you have to take a haircut and settle the matter; so the whole thing will be delayed.

The appropriateness of the RBI directing Banks on the issue of default, which is a business decision, needs to be examined. Why not leave the banks to their own things?

Currently, banks face certain challenges as part of the recovery proceedings, such as the lack of incentives among public sector bankers to recognise losses, the fear of investigation in the case of low recoveries, insufficient capital to absorb the losses.

Everybody has mentioned that banks do not have the capital according to banking norms.

I have already said that I have given a statutory resolution, have opposed the introduction of the Bill and have called this an unnecessary Bill. With that I would rather say that I would expect the Bill, but if you accept Supriya Sule’s Amendment. She has said that this decision about going for insolvency and bankruptcy procedures should be left to the banks themselves. Please accept that, and then I will support the Bill.

Kalyan Banerjee speaks on The Integrated Goods and Services Tax (Extension to Jammu and Kashmir) Bill, 2017

Posted on August 2, 2017 | by aitc | Leave a Comment

Honourable Deputy Speaker,

Sir, I am really obliged that you have given me a chance to speak. I will be very brief. Thank you.

We are in agreement with GST. We have said that if the GST Bill comes, we will agree to it in principle. We have also agreed to the GST Council. But a problem has occurred now. A very pertinent question has arisen. The GST Council is fixing the rate of taxes. But it is neither routed through the Parliament and the State Assemblies nor is it liable for judicial review.

Nobody can question that now. The fixation of rates by the GST Council has become arbitrary. I will give you some illustrations too. The tax rates under the GST are set at 0 per cent, 5 per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent and 28 per cent for various goods and services, and almost 40 per cent of goods and services come under the 18 per cent tax rate. So, around 60 per cent of goods and services are in the higher tax brackets. The GST has been introduced with effect from July 1. We have all agreed to that. But how are we passing our post-GST days? In every walk of life the rates have increased by reason of the application of GST. People planning to purchase white goods will have to shell out more money as most appliances and durable goods makers have increased their prices in the new regime under GST.

Services to higher education institutes, utility bills, personal care products, sugar, prepared meals, snacks and sweets, pan, tobacco and 382 intoxicants – where current inflation is already high, the tax incidences too will be higher under GST. These items have around 20 per cent weightage in the CPI basket and could see a one-time transitory inflation hump.

Durable makers would also go for another hike before the festive seasons. Prices of majority of essential drugs have increased by up to 2.29 per cent and in the majority of cases the drugs are not available in the stores. The Government has fixed a GST rate of 12 per cent on most of the essential drugs as against the current tax incidence of around 9 per cent. The prices of essential services have also increased. Overall tax after GST comes to around 18 per cent in comparison to the earlier rate of 12.5 to 15 per cent and even 4 per cent for some retail products. Things which have become more expensive after GST include residential rent, health care and school fees. The total expense ratio of a mutual fund, commonly called the expense ratio of a mutual fund company, has gone up by 3 per cent. Courier services and mobile bills will also cost more. Bank services, credit card services and the renewal of premium for life insurance policies are going to cost higher. The costs of banking and investment management services have also gone up. Basic needs of the common man, like Wi-Fi and DTH services have become costlier. Also, commuting by metro and the online booking of all tickets have become costlier. Footwear costing more than Rs 500 is now being charged GST at 18 per cent while the earlier rate was 14.41 per cent. Garments and clothes have become more expensive.

Movie tickets costing above Rs 100 are attracting a higher tax rate of 28 per cent. The GST on the ticket prices for amusement parks and theme parks has been increased to 28 per cent under GST from the earlier tax of 15 per cent. In media also, there will be an addition of 5 per cent GST while there was no tax earlier. Security, maintenance and legal services’ costs have also gone up. Multiple indirect taxes have also increased the administrative costs for manufacturers and distributors for whom the prices have become higher. It has also increased the costs of langar, the community kitchen and prasad. For consumer sector products like cream, shampoo, television, fridge etc., the net tax has gone up. Earlier, the tax rate was 25 to 27 per cent and now it has gone up to 28 per cent.

So, basically, cheaper items are for the higher society people, and thus, car and other motor making companies have slashed prices of most of its models by up to 3 per cent with immediate effect.

Experts say that CGST and SGST are nothing but new names for Central Excise, Service Tax, VAT and CST. Small and medium enterprises are still not completely aware of the effects of the new tax regime. Changing over to a completely new system of taxation requires an understanding of the new system.

The Honourable Minister for Finance is not here, but the Honourable Law Minister is here. Sir, kindly communicate through the MoS that whether I am in Kolkata or Delhi, all my friends from legal fraternity are asking me one question.

Sudip Bandyopadhyay asks a Question on Railway infrastructure

Posted on August 2, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Madam Speaker, when the name of Japan comes, there is a common feeling that Bullet Train is coming. But the question which I want to ask the hon. Minister is different. The railway project which they are trying to implement is Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Railway Project. But I would like to know from the Minister as to whether the infrastructure for running such

But I would like to know from the Minister as to whether the infrastructure for running such high-speed trains can be made available in a country like India where we are not able to run Rajdhani and Duronto trains on time. These trains also run late and they are not able to match up with their estimated speed. So, I want to know as to how far they are going 02.08.2017 jr-sh Uncorrected / Not for Publication 18 to be technically well equipped and how serious they are to cope up with the infrastructural set up to run such

So, I want to know as to how far they are going 02.08.2017 jr-sh Uncorrected / Not for Publication 18 to be technically well equipped and how serious they are to cope up with the infrastructural set up to run such high-speed trains approximately at 350 km. per hour.

Then, I would also like to know as to how far they are going to take safety and security issues into consideration while running these high-speed trains.

Dinesh Trivedi asks a Question on cyber security

Posted on August 2, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Madam, modern warfare is not going to be fought with bullet or bombs; it is going to be cyber attack. And I am sure that the Minister and the House is aware that the world has no clue about the prevention, Because the attack can come from anywhere and we have seen it. In his answer, the Minister also has mentioned it.

Internal security is looked after by the Ministry of Home Affairs, external security is looked after by Defense Ministry. Cyber attack is both internal and external security threat and it is a very specialised area.

Would the Government consider having a separate Ministry altogether which could be known as Ministry for Cyber Security, because in coming days this is going to be as dangerous as nuclear warfare.

Thank you, Madam.

Kalyan Banerjee asks a Question on skill development in North Eastern region

Posted on August 2, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Madam, my question is that the Centre is opening all the centres in semi urban areas; will they take steps for the rural areas?

Will they try to expand to any other arenas which will help the poor people of the rural areas?

Trinamool’s Derek O’Brien makes a Point of Order regarding discussion on ill-effects of GST and demonetisation

Posted on August 2, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Sir, I want to make a Point of Order under Rule 29 and Rule 33.

We are aware that the Business Advisory Committee can only allot time and nothing more than that, which is fair enough. But it was informally agreed at the Business Advisory Committee that there would a Short Duration Discussion on the ill-effects rollout of GST and demonetisation. It has not still being listed this week.

Can the Minister give us the assurance on the floor of this House that this Short Duration Discussion will be taken up next week? This is an important issue, so we just want to know. There are lot of things happened post GST rollout.

Md Nadimul Haque makes a Special Mention on the impact of demonetisation and of flood on tomato prices

Posted on August 1, 2017 | by aitc | Leave a Comment

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Tomato is a household staple without which no meal is usually complete. Especially, during the month of shravan, many Indian communities throughout the country avoid onion and garlic and rely mostly on tomato. Despite a good monsoon season, tomato prices have escalated to Rs 60-80 per kg in retail markets across the country.

The major concern for this rise is attributed to ‘note bandi’, that is, demonetisation. Demonetisation came on top of a bumper autumn/kharif crop. Earlier in November, when demonetisation was rolled out, tomato prices were as low as Rs 2 or 4 per kg. Since the farmers were unable to recover money by summer, they terminated the crop, the impact of which is being felt now. Farmers, therefore, were inclined to plant less tomato in summer 2017. As a result, the early part of summer saw very low prices, which were followed by an unusual spike.

Consumers are feeling the brunt of demonetisation now, even after a good monsoon. Because of the flood-prone areas of West Bengal (Purulia) and the Jhalawar and Jaipur-Chomu belt in Rajasthan, many other crops have also been destroyed. Demonetisation, along with heavy flooding, has resulted in the rise of tomato prices which needs to be seen to immediately by the Central Government. The inconvenience and the long-run costs to the economy need to be raised as both food output and consumption are affected.

Trinamool’s Derek O’Brien speaks on The Rights of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2017

Posted on August 1, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Sir, we support this Bill. In one sentence, what is this Bill? It is giving a long time for teachers to be trained. 2015 is taken retrospectively; so four years to that takes it up to 2019. I would have been happier standing here today if the Minister had brought this Bill in 2015 and allowed for four years; it would have given a better chance.

Sir, we do not indulge in politics with education when it comes to Bengal. So I’m going to make observations not only on this Bill, but beyond, because we have a chance today to speak on Right to Education.

So the first thing is, I hope we don’t have to come here in 2019 to again bring an amendment to this Bill to ask for another two years. The second option could be to obviously give that option to the State Governments. Sir, the Bill is not the issue or the Right to Education Act is not the issue. I think the ideation and implementation is where we have all failed collectively as parliamentarians, as parents, as teachers, as educationists. We have all failed. We have had a Bill; now let’s focus where we haven’t implemented the Bill well.

Sir, there is a survey which has been done. A class five student is actually the level of a class two student. Three out of five students in the third standard, Sir, cannot do a basic subtraction. Four out of five students, Sir, cannot do division. So these are the collective failures.

Sir, in Bengal, we have been very proactive with this. We have appointed 80,000 teachers in the last six years; 50,000 in the primary and about 28,000 in the secondary. Things are going well there, Sir. But, I wish to flag the first point about the time which you have given, which is two years.

I have three more basic points to make regarding the Right to Education. Sir, history is a great teacher. All my friends here, what were their views? 1976 is an important year, Sir. After the Emergency of 1975. Till 1976, education was a State subject. It was only in 1976, you come to your own conclusions, that it was put into the Concurrent List .

I hope that this Government, when they view education is viewing it as originally State List, now flipped into the Concurrent List. So the State sometimes needs to have the independence to take a call on RTE.

Let me give you one example: detention policy. My state policy is very clear, we have written to the Minister. We do not believe in automatic promotion. No detention is not the answer. We do not mean to deprive anybody. But our honest suggestion is that if the boys or girls are getting detained, we have to have special classes. We have to give them special inputs and then bring them up to the level. So our point on this is very clear.

Sir, I would like to thank the HRD Minister for clarifying one thing again. That caused a lot of concern – sometimes the media also has to be little more responsible. He did clarify later and I know he did. But I want to put it on record here, “NCERT books will be compulsorily in the CBSE curriculum”. Now that is again impeding on the rights of the States. But the Minister did clarify and I have no issues with that, Sir.

Sir, these exam boards, be it the NEET, where the CBSE made a complete mess – or now at least till 2 days ago I was hearing the ICSE board were trying to give examinations for class 5 students and class 8 students. Sir, this again goes against the principles of this Act because Section 30 of this Act clearly states “You cannot have children from classes 5 to 8…” So, this is where the States have a role to play.

Sir, the private schools are the favourite bashing boys or girls of all of us. As Vinay ji said correctly, the minority schools, quite correctly and rightly, have been kept away. Sir, we call them minority schools but actually they are the majority schools. They may be run by a minority community, say the Christian schools, but most of the boys and girls that go there, including so many of us in this House, have received a majority education.

Sir, I want to dwell a little on the private schools. Not to make a point for the private schools but this is what I firmly believe and passionately believe that to make this work we have to make it work together. I have got some suggestions and I don’t have the answers to all of them but maybe the minister can meet the stakeholders and look for these suggestions.

What happens in a school where there are 400 students in Class 1? 100 have to be as per RTE and 300 regular. Now, if 100 students are not taken, what will you do? These seats remain vacant and you cannot ask the schools to fill them up with regular students. I say we need to talk to schools because private schools have to take this up as a responsibility.

Sir, the private schools as per the Act, can take neighborhood students. The private schools have to look at this as a corporate social responsibility; they have to go out and look for students. Just putting up a notice in schools is not enough.
Sir, there are local officers today, and I say this with responsibility who are giving certificates, having children admitted into the schools and then taking flush money from them. Sir, this is not acceptable.

The fourth point, Sir, is regarding school uniforms. I know the Act says they don’t require uniform but once they don’t have uniforms they stand out. I don’t expect them to pay for the uniforms. I appeal to the private schools to please pay for those uniforms, make them look like the rest of you.

Sir, the last point is the most serious point. There are serious social, psychological issues of getting boys and girls from different economic backgrounds to sit together in a school. I do not have the answer but I think we need to discuss this, debate this and not bring any political points because at the end of it all, for the rights to education to be successful we need to do STEPP .

I know the Central Government love using different acronyms so I have one for them today as I end. We need to do STEPP.

S- the schools have a role to play,
T- the teachers have a role to play,
E – the educationist have a role to play,
PP – the parliament and the parents have a role to play.

I would appeal to the minister, if we can get these five stakeholders on board we can change the life of children in India. Thank you.

Sudip Bandyopadhyay speaks on The Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2017-18

Posted on August 1, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Hon Deputy Speaker Sir, the discussion is not on General Budget; it is limited within the supplementary proposals and so the scope of discussion on this Budget is not enough. But there are some key issues which I feel must be discussed and I expect a response from Hon Jaitley ji also.

In the Supplementary Demands for Grants, Government is asking for an additional financial support of Rs 11,166 crore for 2017-18. Along with that they are also asking for Demands for Excess Grants for the year 2014-2015. Both the issues have been taken up together. Out of this Rs 11,166 crore, the Hon Minister has categorically clarified which areas he is going to utilise this amount for expenditure.

Rs 7,000 crore would go to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry, for providing additional Grants in Aid (general) for payment of differential royalty to the State Governments, for GST. Rs 386 crore would be spent for activities related to the Goods and Services Taxes, GST; Around Rs 250 crore would be used for publicity of GST and Rs 99.3 crore for digitisation for payment of advanced user charges of GST Network. Again an amount of Rs 37.09 crore would be spent for accounting of GST. So, it is easily understandable because GST has been newly introduced, the Government is asking GST-oriented supplementary demand.

I want to say a few things about these points. Two major issues had been announced by the Government – demonetisation and GST. In the last Winter Session, Sir, I proactively took part in debates and discussions on demonetisation in the Parliament; everyday we raised this issue. We being a regional political party we had our separate views, we never opposed the idea of demonetisation or even GST.

Demonetisation was an issue we extended our full support to but with some riders. We advocated a go-slow approach. We advised the Government not to ban both Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes together but go about it slowly.

Parliament session was held from November 16, 2016, to December 16, 2016, and after that I could not take part in the General Budget discussion because in the meantime I was arrested in the first week of January and sent away to jail custody. For long time I was in jail and was looking for an opportunity to speak on Arun Jaitley Ji’s Budget. I take this opportunity to speak on the Supplementary Demand for Grants to ask the Government what are the good effects of demonetisation.

After demonetisation was implemented, what good signals has the nation received in the economic arena? What is the effect of the dramatic pronouncement of GST in the Central Hall of Parliament at midnight? It was not responded by all political parties. It was a decision taken by the Government.

What I feel, Sir, is that demonetisation has not risen to the level of expectation which Government intended. Small and medium businesses are not happy with GST; even in the textile industry. In my Parliamentary Constituency of Kolkata Uttar, there is the Chamber of Trade and Textile Industry; they are frantically trying to pursue me to communicate to Hon FM that their matter be taken care of sympathy and the decision to impose 5 per cent GST on textile be withdrawn.

I want to put on record here that this Supplementary Demands for Grants, which the Minister is asking for, will be passed and this will be taken up as per constitutional norms. Then the Appropriation Bill will come; it will also be passed. Then the Government will start its operation.

Here, I want to dwell on the issue of cooperative federalism. Sir, after independence we have seen that the eastern region – Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Assam – were the worst victims of regional imbalances of economy. These States have been neglected in economic development. Maharashtra grew, Gujarat grew, but not the States in the eastern region. We suffer a lot. We have become the victims of regional imbalances and we should be provided with special economic packages and funds.

In our State, in particular, one party ruled for a long time. For 34 years. And the State actually become economically bankrupt. The present Government had to carry a huge debt burden. From the very beginning our State Government made an appeal and it was once decided Bengal, Kerala and Punjab will be given special packages. But nothing has been implemented. We are repeatedly asking for that.

Bengal Government is highlighting a few of its good projects. One of these projects is the Kanyashree scheme.Two days back Maneka Ji was here. She said in the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ scheme that the Government of India had launched, Kolkata was performing the worst. We do not accept this project because it has a budget of only Rs 100 crore the Kanyashree scheme has a budget of Rs 1000 crore; this project has been acknowledged by the United Nations. Mamata Banerjee has received an award for the Kanyashree project just two months back in Netherlands. I would like to request the Government of India to accept proposals from different State Governments for the welfare and benefit of the common people.

Sir, now I would like to speak regarding the excess grants for 2014-2015 – safety funds for the railways. I would like to request Mr Arun Jaitley that our Railway Standing Committee has submitted a very good report on the safety and security of railways; so please go through it and the excess money which was spent in 2014-2015, has already been granted. You can accept it in that way.

Sir, I hope these two issues will be taken care of – demonetisation and GST. I want to hear from the Government about the good effects of demonetisation after its implementation.

GST has been implemented. We do not oppose the idea of GST; Dr Amit Mitra was the Chairman of the Empowered Committee of Finance Ministers for GST. He has very positively put across the ideas and suggestions of Bengal Government for the guidance of the Centre. He also spoke about the agony of the States; we are the worst sufferers.

The federal structure of the country must be respected in its proper spirit. Just like Modi Ji is an elected Prime Minister – and we have accepted that – a Chief Minister of a State is also elected with the support of the people. So why should the Centre and the State always fight each other and be in a warring mood? Why should I be afraid that if I criticise the Government, I may be taken into task? These assurance have to be categorically given from the Government.

Parliament is the temple of democracy; it is the forum where different political parties must coexist with their own idea, own faith, own belief. If objective criticism is done, I think that is to be taken with faith, love and with all humility and pride. I hope that the Finance Minister will certainly look after the problems of the different States, which are suffering a lot in different ways.

There is nothing to oppose in the Supplementary Demands for Grants that the Finance Minister has placed. We extend our support.

Thank you.