The Rajya Sabha functioned on Thursday, second day of the Budget session of Parliament, as the Lok Sabha remained closed to mourn the former member E. Ahamed, who passed away on February 1.
In the Rajya Sabha, members discussed issues ranging from demonetisation to the demise of lTamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
Trinamool Congress members stage a walkout, charging the government with "political vendetta" for their opposition to demonetisation by arresting their Lok Sabha leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay.
The government rejects the charge of political vendetta.
Senior TMC leader Derek O'Brien, while raising the issue during Zero Hour, says that since the party was opposing the decision to scrap Rs. 1000 and old Rs. 500 notes, the Centre was sending its investigating agencies after Opposition leaders to "scare" them.
He said TMC chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was the first to flag the problems due to demonetisation, which came into effect on November 8, 2016.
He said the party, on November 24, strongly opposed such acts in pursuance of political vendetta by the government against the Opposition.
"And exactly what we had feared has happened...Lok Sabha leader of the TMC was called [by the CBI] and arrested on January 3," Mr. O'Brien said.
"Why this political vendetta is happening...The more you [government] do political vendetta, the more it will firm our resolve to fight you on demonetisation," he said.
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In an apparent reference to the arrest of Mr. Sudip Bandyopadhyaya and another TMC Lok Sabha member Tapas Pal, Abbas Naqvi, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar, says that on the issue of corruption, the government was following a policy of "zero tolerance". He asserts that the Centre has nothing to do with the arrest.
"Law will take its course against whoever is responsible for corruption...chit fund [scam]. Where is the vendetta," says Mr. Naqvi.
AIADMK member Selvaraj says, "Kerala has done illegal construction of six dams across the Bhawani river. I request the Centre to stop them."
Vijila Satyanant of the AIADMK talks about Jayalalithaa. "We lost 'amma'. She was called 'amma' by crores of people. The iron lady of Tamil Nadu brought all round development. Her intelligence and governance cannot be compared to any leader in the world. Bharat Ratna should be conferred on her. We urge the Centre to instal her lifesize bronze statue in Parliament and recommend her for Nobel Prize.''
Maitreyan says, "Tamil Nadu was devastated by floods. In December, there was lots of damage. Till date, no grant has been released for cyclone relief. The Tamil Nadu government has asked for Rs. 22000 crore for the cyclone damage of December 2016."
Ms. Vijila Satyanath says the Centre should immediately release Rs. 5000 crore for cyclone relief work in Tamil Nadu.
DMK's Kanimozhi talks about the oil spill on the Chennai coast. Says the Chennai port is cleaning it up, but government organisations don't come together when such damage happens. ''The ecosystem is damaged. We don't have trained professionals to manage such situations. Cleaning efforts are getting slowed down.''
Congress member Rajani Patil expresses concern over job reservation in the railways and an incident of lathi charge on job seeking apprentices.
Viplove Thakur (INC) raises the issue of academic pressure on students. "Parents & coaching centres are burdening students, leading to suicides."
Venkaiah Naidu promises to look into the matter.
V. Vijaysai Reddy of the YSRC raises union issues with the VSKP Dock Labour Board. "Contract and casual workers are severely affected," he says.
As Zero Hour concluded with no disruptions, Question Hour saw discussions on empanelling of the print media with DAVP.
Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar speaks about Delhi University (DU), says "It is wrong that the DU has so many vacancies of regular teachers. Too many ad hocs are not good. We have acted on this. The university will have to fill these. These are expected soon. We have told all universities to fill regular vacancies. Fill all reserved vacancies too."
Prem Chand Gupta of the RJD asks, "What is the root cause of the vacancies?"
Javadekar repeats his previous answer.
MoS for Women & Child Development Krishna Raj speaks about beneficiaries under the Indra Gandhi Maternity Support Yojana.
Congress member Mohd. Ali Khan raises the issue of agreements with foreign countries on skill development.
Nadimul Haque of the AITC talks about community mobilisation and sensitisation programmes for women, demands mahila mandals in all panchayats.
INC member Ananda Bhaskar Rapolu speaks about e-commerce portals that hurt religious sentiments and asks for tightening of online platforms.
Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar talks about the sale of items with images of Indian Tricolour. He says appropriate action must be taken against Amazon.
He adds that Amazon has assured that this won't be repeated.
As the Question Hour comes to an end, the House was adjourned till 2 p.m.
