Month: December 2022

Sir, the Government has planned to set up 740 tribal schools called Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS). Conceptualised in 1997-98, similar to the Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas, the EMRS have endeavoured to make high quality education accessible to tribal children while also retaining their cultural traditions. Earlier the scheme provided for the Union Government to sanction a certain number of schools and the States and Union Territories would seek more as required. The only requirement was a land area of 20
acres, and the funds would come from the grants under Article 275(1). We have 384 of these schools across the country presently. The new guidelines require 15 acres, and for the school to be set up in sub-districts where more than 20,000 Scheduled Tribe people reside comprising at least 50 per cent of the population. However, this is likely to significantly disadvantage scattered populations of tribal people who will have to travel far distances to access education.The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment had also recommended that the criteria be reviewed, pointing out that many forest and hill districts
would have trouble finding 15 contiguous acres of land for setting up of the school. I urge the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the National Education Society for Tribal Students to review the guidelines urgently.

Sir, a Right to Information reply from the Reserve Bank of India to a newspaper has unearthed that there has been a huge amount of write-offs, of over Rs. 10 lakh crores in the last five years, to banks by the Government and an increase in nonperforming assets. The sum of write-offs amounts to 61 per cent of India’s gross fiscal deficit. According to data, 2,700 wilful defaulters were recorded in 2021-22. This number was 2,840 in 2020-21. The Non Performing Assets have reduced considerably for banks. State Bank of India saw a Rs. 2.04 lakh crore reduction, Punjab National Bank saw a reduction of Rs. 67,000 crores and Bank of Baroda saw a reduction of Rs. 66,000 crores in the last five years. However, after receiving such write-offs repeatedly, the banks have no incentive to recover the said loans. This is evident in the fact that only 13 per cent of these loans have been recovered so far. Public sector banks account for 73 per cent of the
write-offs reported. There is no policy on recovery of such loans and manner of recovery, leaving the process of collection of loans entirely to the discretion of banks. Hence, there is a need to form a uniform policy for recovery of loans. In this light, I urge the Government to find a solution to the concern of write-offs to the banks and their recovery henceforth.

Sir, as per the National Family Health Survey 2019-20, the proportion of obese women in India has gone up to 24 per cent from 20.6 per cent in 2015-16 and that of obese men has increased to 22.9 per cent from 18.9 per cent in 2015-16. The relationship between obesity in adulthood and consumption of High Fat Sugar and Salt (HFSS) products has been examined and substantiated. A Centre for Science and
Environment survey with over 13,000 children (9-17 years) shows that high screen time and the related exposure to advertisements is linked with frequent consumption of packaged food, beverages and fast food. Among the children who had screen time of over two hours per day, 73 per cent consumed such foods at least once a day; this percentage was 44 per cent for those with less than two hours. Kids consuming content online or on TV along with parents makes it easier for them to influence household consumers choices. The health costs of obesity in the long term, in terms of cardio-vascular diseases, diabetes etc., can be mitigated to a great extent by regulating High Fat Salt and Sugar ads in the short term. There should be a comprehensive legally binding framework for regulation of High Fat Salt
and Sugar ads. The advertising of High Fat Salt and Sugar products needs to be regulated across various media, TV, Radio, online and even outdoors. A timeslot in the evening when children viewership is small should be reserved for High Fat Salt and Sugar advertisements and these advertisementsshould not be permitted to air during children’s programmes like cartoons and games.

Thank you, respected Chair, for giving me this opportunity. Sir, we are here to discuss about “Gond” Community. The Gond Community is to be recognised as ST in four Districts of U.P. The Bill amends the SC Order to exclude Gond Community as ST in four Districts of U.P. and it amends SC Order to recognise Gond Community as ST. Sir, I appreciate this approach. At the same time, I encourage some important issues which I am going to highlight upon. Instead of bringing separate Bills, the Government should have taken some comprehensive measures to include some other communities in different other States. We have seen the Government has clubbed non-money Bills with money Bills several times in order to get it passed properly or smoothly. Sir, combining multiple SC/ST Order Amendment Bills into one Bill would have been less dangerous than this. We have seen the parliamentary mockery in last few years. So far as the scrutiny of Bills is concerned, in 15th Lok Sabha, the percentage of scrutiny was 71 per cent and now, it has come down in 17th
Lok Sabha to 13 per cent only. What can be a more mockery of Parliament than this? Sir, we are talking about Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Let me draw your attention to the Budgetary allocation for employment generation of SC. It was Rs. 170.96 crores last time and it has come down to Rs.22.97 crores. It has been slashed down by 86.5 per cent. So far as the Scheduled Tribes is concerned, the Budget allocation for employment generation was Rs.89.5 crore earlier and it has come down to Rs.11.3 crores. So, it has been slashed down by 87 per cent. According to Dalit Arthik Adhikar Andolan, there are gaps of Rs.40,634 crores for Scheduled Castes and Rs.9,399 crores for Scheduled Tribes in the Budget. The problem is, nowadays NDA does not stand for National Democratic Alliance. Nowadays, it stands for No Data Available. Where is the will to conduct 2021 Census? We have enough fortitude to conduct elections despite Covid, despite everything. But, at the same time, we don’t have any proper intention to go for the Census. No socio-economic caste census
data is available. The Government doesn’t want to release the decade old data from 2011 socio-economic caste census. What are you afraid of discovering of? Let me talk about the SC/STs literacy rate in our country. In India, the Scheduled Castes male literacy rate is 75 per cent whereas in our State of West Bengal, it is 84 per cent. In India, the female Scheduled Castes literacy rate is 68 per cent whereas in our State of West Bengal, it is 74 per cent. As far as Scheduled Tribes is concerned, male literacy rate in India is 56 per cent whereas that in our State of West Bengal is 65 per cent. Why don’t you take the good part of West Bengal? What is the harm in taking the data part of West Bengal? Let me talk about some West Bengal’s schemes which benefit the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in reality. Let me talk about Aikyashree. It was scholarship scheme. Let me talk about Post Matric Scholarship. Let me talk about Oasis Scholarship.
Sir, there is a SC/ST Pension Scheme for vulnerable elderly. Various lending programmes to grow entrepreneurship are there. The actual problem is, what the love and affection of this B.J.P. Government, for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is! * That is the love and concern for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes community. Sir, the problem is West Bengal is the only State where we are having a specific Scheduled Caste Advisory Council. But this Government is so egoistic that they would not talk to the West Bengal Government, because, there, Mamata Didi is ruling the State. I am talking about the Centre’s vision. There was one National Overseas Scholarship for Scheduled Castes. The students who wanted to study Indian culture and history abroad used to be benefited by that. What did this Government do? This Government totally discontinued this scheme! The Central Government has a project called SHREYAS. It is
an umbrella programme comprising four highly important higher education programmes–National Fellowship for Scheduled Castes, National Overseas Scholarship for Scheduled Castes, Top Class Education for Scheduled Castes and Free Coaching for Scheduled Castes & OBCs. Can you ever imagine the budgetary allocation for this important project, Sir? You will be surprised to know that the entire budgetary allocation is a paltry amount of only Rs.364 crore! You can just imagine, by going through this data, how much concerned this Government is so far as the Scheduled Castes &Scheduled Tribes are concerned. Sir, the Government of India announced in 2021 Budget that 750 Ekalavya residential schools will be formed. But, only 367 are functional till date. There is now a new population criterion for sub-district Ekalavya schools. So, again some restrictions have been imposed upon so that the number will be even less in the coming days. Sir, only 36,000 land titles were distributed under the Forest Rights Act between 2019 and 2020. The poorest performers are the BJP-ruled States– earlier it was Bihar, Uttarakhand and Goa. It does not serve any one to offer mere lip service to the cause of Scheduled Tribes while selling their lands and resources to corporates. What does the NCRB report say? The National Crime Records Bureau says that atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have been increased by 6.4 per cent in 2021, and Uttar Pradesh is leading the least with 13,146 cases, the highest against the Scheduled Castes total percentage of 26 per cent. Violence incidents against Dalit and Adivasi women are increasing day by day. Rape numbers so far as the Scheduled Caste women and minors are concerned, it is 7.64
per cent and against the Scheduled Tribe women, it is 15 per cent. Sir, I would conclude with one last shocking statistics. We saw in the
last Session how the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022 was bulldozed through the Lok Sabha. I don’t need to tell this House what a draconian Bill that was. Three in four, that is, 75 per cent of prisoners in India are under-trials, one of the highest proportions in the world. Worse than this, two in three prison inmates or 66 per cent belong to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs. These communities have historically been discriminated against and profiled through legislations like the Habitual Offenders Act, and your new law opens them up to further violation of human rights. Sir, I support this Bill but I oppose the tokenism. The problem is, the
love for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is shown when the BJP leaders from the Centre are going to visit some SC/ST houses. Before going to their places, they are taking the food from a Seven Star hotel; they will enter the SC/ST house; they use only their utensils while eating the Seven Star food which is kept on the utensils of the ST community. They eat like that and come out forgetting them. This is the love and affection towards SCs/STs. I support this Bill, but I oppose this tokenism. This is what this Government does in the name of welfare for the SCs and STs. Let me paraphrase our hon. Prime Minister’s slogan to reflect this Government’s attitude towards disadvantaged communities–sab ka saath, par sirf kuch ka vikaas.So, my humble suggestion would be that instead of shedding crocodile tears for the SCs/STs, really try to think positive for the betterment of these backward communities of the country. Thank you very much, Sir.

Sir, I have a point of order under Rule 29. And my both points of order are under the same rule, which is Rule 29. About seven minutes ago, that is, at about 11.13 a.m., we received this. We received the Supplementary List of Business. It relates to Rule 29 stating that the Defence Minister will make a statement at 2 p.m. Now, you told us that it is 12.30 p.m. Then the Supplementary Business is incorrect. So,
first, we need to correct that. Secondly, a statement may be made but it is very clear that the issue is of grave concern. We are all with the Army and the soldiers but please allow the Opposition to be a part of this discussion after the statement. Statement can come; we will listen. No one wants to disrupt. The statement will come; we will listen to the Defence Minister; and, then we wish to participate. That is all.