But when I, as an old man, look at the health sector of the country, I feel utter shock and desperation. Why has this feeling crept in my mind? Madam, according to Global Cancer Observatory estimates, there were 19.3 million cancer cases worldwide in 2020, and India ranked third after China and USA. GLOBOCON, 2022 Report also predicted that cancer cases in India would increase to 2.08 million, accounting for a rise of 57.5 per cent in 2040 from 2020. Madam, apart from cancer, the major diseases which cause deaths in India are ischemic heart diseases, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, tuberculosis, diabetes, liver, kidney and asthma diseases, indicated by World Health Organization data published in May, 2024. Even the hon. Prime Minister, on the other day, expressed his serious concern about the steep rise in obesity. Madam, with the mushroom growth of private nursing homes and clinics, the sale of spurious and substandard medicines is skyrocketing. The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation also found more than 50 products as ‘not of standard quality.’ This finding of CDSCO came even after banning of 344 drugs in 2016 and 156 FDC drugs last year by the Government. please consider setting up a Combined Combat Force with personnel from the Central and State Governments to initiate a nationwide crackdown on the units and agents engaged in manufacturing and sale of spurious and banned medicines. They are the real enemies within the country who are destroying people’s health. Government is greasing the oily heads. Madam, the Government has allocated Rs. 95,957 crores to the health sector for Fiscal Year, 2026, that is, 9.46 per cent increase from the 2025 Budget. But it does little to address the long-standing resource gap in public health infrastructure because the healthcare sector accounts for 1.94 per cent of the total Budget reflecting a declining trend compared to previous years. Madam, despite the rising cost of medicines and treatment, there was a legitimate expectation among the people across the nation, particularly, the senior citizens, missing middle class families and the workers from the informal sector that there would be reduction of GST on health insurance premiums from 18 per cent to 5 per cent and the TDS limit under Section 80 of the IT Act will increase from Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 50,000 but in vain. Now, let me talk about my State, West Bengal, for a while. The hon. Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Didi, had introduced Swasthya Sathi in December, 2016, long before the introduction of Ayushman Bharat by the Government of India. The Swasthya Sathi was acclaimed worldwide like many other welfare schemes undertaken under the aegis of didi. Today, 2914 hospitals in Bengal are empanelled in Swasthya Sathi. In 2021-22, the spending on account of Swasthya Sathi was Rs. 2,263 crore, which went up to Rs. 2,694 crore in 2023-24, immensely benefiting over 8.72 crore people till February this year. We are happy that the Government of India and some other States are following the innovative healthcare measures of didi. Let there be healthy competition to ensure welfare of the common people, the marginalised and the backward classes who have been suffering for centuries in the absence of proper nutrition and healthcare. Madam, at the same time, I am putting a question to myself as to why there should be a step-motherly attitude by the Centre towards Bengal. West Bengal is an integral part of India, that is, Bharat, which is a Union of States, as envisaged in the first Article of the Constitution of India. It was never and can never be a unitary state. The history of 190-year British rule is witness to the valiant liberation war launched by the people of Bengal, from the Battle of Plassey in 1757 by Nawab Siraj-ud-daula to the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857 at Barrackpore, led by Mangal Pandey, from the revolutionary upsurge organized by Shri Autobindo, Khudiram, Bagha Jatin, Master Da Surja Sen, Rash Behari Bose and many others, which culminated into ‘war’ declared by the Supreme Commander of Indian National Army, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose against the British on October 21, 1943 and unfurled the National Flag on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as well as in Mairang, now in Meghalaya. More than three million Bengalis died of manmade famine in 1943. To add salt to our injuries, Bengal was partitioned and millions of people became refugees overnight. It continued and it took three generations to settle down and to live with human dignity. Why should we be discriminated against even after 75 years of Independence? Let me quickly refer to the funding under the National Health Mission and PMMYV of the Central Government. No fund under NHM has been released by the Government of India since August, 2023 in spite of fulfilment of all conditions. Similarly, no fund has been released by the Ministry of Women and Child Development since November, 2022 under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, not to speak of Rs. two lakh crore, which is due and payable by the Government of India on account of MNREGA, Awas Yojana and other Centrally-sponsored schemes compelling the Bengal Government to continue with the schemes out of its own fund. I had never witnessed such an inimical attitude by the Centre towards the poor people of Bengal in the 58 years of my political life. This is going too far. DEFG HIF JKLMNO PQEIF RO SN TUVI WH SXYR ZG[ZI\ RG ]^FI_ N`aहNIaEI T\IP [GEOc Before I conclude, I would urge upon the Government to take care of the increasing environmental hazards, rampant use of dangerous chemical components in fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides used in farming. Organic farming continues to be a myth.
May the winds blow sweetly, May the rivers flow sweetly, May the herbs be to us sweet and beneficial, May there be sweetness during the day and night, May the heaven be sweet to us, May the fruit bearing trees be sweet to us, May the sun be sweet and benevolent to us.
