The Lok Sabha has passed the Dentists (Amendment) Bill, 2019 . The Rajya Sabha is having a short-duration discussion on electoral reforms.
The Lower House also saw the introduction of the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (NDIAC) Bill. And the Rajya Sabha has begun discussion on the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Bill .
Dr. Vinay P. Sahasrabuddhe (BJP, Maharashtra) reminds about the tragic death of Indonesian Election Officials who died while counting ballot papers. So, he suggests there is no chance to ban EVM.
Law and Justice Minister Ravi Sankar Prasad replies to the debate. He points out that we should respect the people's verdict and it is democracy which gives a common man the power to elect the leaders of the country. The female voter turnout is the highest in the recently concluded 2019 Elections, which means, our daughters are also contributing to the development of the country. There is no question to stop using EVMs in elections, he adds. When Manmohan Singh was re-elected, when Mamata Banerjee got a second term, no question of EVM arose. But if Narendra Modi wins again, then the question of EVM starts coming up, he says.
The Minister winds up his reply. Trinamool's Derek O’Brien rises to say that the Minister failed to address three important issues. But the Chairman refuses to allow any further discussion. Mr. O’Brien goes on talking. Chairman moves on to special mentions and calls Mr. O’Brien’s comments unparliamentary.
Chairman clarifies that members have made good suggestions, but if some people wants to explain their defeat here, this is not the forum, Chairman Venkaiah Naidu says. Senior TRS leader K. Keshava Rao says the House used to give space for Opposition members to speak after the Minister's reply. Chairman says he did not decide on the practice. It's been in place for years, he adds.
And adjourns the House till 11 am on July 4.
After the Minister's reply the Lok Sabha passes the Dentists (Amendment) Bill, 2019 .
After this, the House winds up business and adjourned till 11 am on July 4.
Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan replies to the debate on the Dentists (Amendment) Bill . He clarifies that the Centre does not discriminate against anyone in the nomination process for the Dental Council of India. “We don't prefer anyone nor against anyone,” he says and adds there's no nepotism in the nomination process.
Majeed Memon (NCP, Maharashtra) says in advanced countries like the U.S., France, England have stopped using Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and so its time for India to ban EVM too.
Tiruchi Siva (DMK, Tamil Nadu) points out that Bangalore itself has three different constituencies for which elections were held in three different days. So, for a city like Bangalore if it takes three different days to conduct a election, how can Election Commission conduct simultaneous elections at the same time. Thus One Nation one Election cannot be taken for consideration.
Bagwant Mann (AAP, Sangrur, Punjab) says if NRIs can come for dental treatment here we can make a lot of improvement for our own people and proposes dental insurance for the poor.
Dr. Bharti Pravin Pawar (BJP, Dindori, Maharashtra) rises for her maiden speech. While there is increased awareness about dental hygiene, rural areas still lack dental care. Cases of oral cancer is going up, she says. Cosmetic dentistry should also be extended to rural areas too, she says. A physician by qualification, Dr. Pawar seeks more dental colleges across the country and especially in her Nashik area.
Thol. Thirumavalan (VCK, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu) speaks in Tamil. Says it's a sad truth that India lacks awareness about oral hygiene. Quotes a Tamil proverb pal ponaal sol pochchu (If you lose your teeth, you lose your word). Govt should give more importance to oral hygiene, he says. While he seeks more dental colleges across the country, he wants dentists at PHCs. Concludes with another saying aalum velum pallukkuruthi (the banyan and the neem strengthen the teeth) and wants reconsideration of the provision to omit the nomination of at least two members registered in Part B.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (Congress, Baharampur, West Bengal) says 50% of people in India don't use the tooth brush to stress his point that the situation is that grave. He says oral hygiene should be introduced in the curriculum. And our food habits should also be made dental-friendly, he says in conclusion.
Prassana Acharya (BJD, Odisha) points out that Election Commission always try to turn maximum voters in the polling booth but its efforts go in vain. In certain areas of Jammu and Kashmir, the turnout has been less than 5% . So, he proposes, if the voter turnout is below a certain figure in an area, government should declare the election void in that respective seat.
Discussion is on on the Dentists (Amendment) Bill .
N.K. Premachandran (RSP, Kollam, Kerala) proposes three amendments to the Bill. He urges the govt to educate the people on the dangers of oral cancer.
Santosh Pandey (BJP, Rajnandgaon, Rajasthan) says the amendment is eminently passable. This will eliminate corruption in the dental education sector.
M. Badruddin Ajmal (AIUDF, Dhubri, Assam) speaks in support of the Bill and expresses hope that the sector would be reformed.
The short duration discussion on electoral reforms continues in the Upper House.
Ram Gopal Yadav (Samajwadi Party, Uttar Pradesh) points out that the travel expenses by an MP should be paid by the respective MP, and shouldn’t be used from government funds. Pointing out to elections in Uttar Pradesh, he suggests that every State government should resign six months before the Assembly elections and President's rule should prevail. This would ensure a fair election and would prevent the officials to take action against any political party.
The Lok Sabha discusses the Dentists (Amendment) Bill, 2019 .
The proposed Bill provides for the following:
(a) to amend clause (f) of section 3 of the Act relating to membership of Council so as to omit the provision for nomination of at least two members registered in Part B;
(b) to omit clause (b) of section 21 of the Act relating to election of four members from Part B to the State Dental Councils; and
(c) to omit clause (b) of section 23 of the Act relating to election of two members from Part B to the Joint State Dental Councils.
Pratima Mandal (Trinamool Congress, Jaynagar, West Bengal) speaks about the loopholes in the Dentists (Amendment) Bill 2019. The last registration of the Dental Council of India took place in 1972 which means the member would be septuagenarian by now. So, there’s no new face in the council. Newcomers should be given chance.
The government should not interfere in the selection of the members, otherwise democratic rights will be misused. Ruling party will be biased towards its candidates. Also, the government has no minimum qualification for its member in the council. Out of 310 dental colleges only 40 are governmental. More government dental institutes should come up specially in the States like Jharkhand and seven sisters where the common people lack dental healthcare facilities.
Chandra Sekhar Sahu (BJD, Berhampur, Odisha) points out what he calls a lacuna. He says the dental degrees are not recognised abroad. They have do their course all over again if they go abroad, he says and demands the govt to look for a provision to deal with the issue. He quotes a WHO report that there are 1.876 dentists per 10,000 population, to stress his point on shortage of dentists. He says most dental colleges are in private sector and govt should take steps to increase colleges in govt sector too, he says.
Geetha Vishwanath Vanga (YSR Congress, Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh) decries the lack of awareness on oral health despite the fact that that oral diseases have been classified as non-communicable diseases. She has a different point on dental colleges. Without elaboration she says permission for new dental colleges be stopped for a while to stop surplus of dentists.
The short duration discussion on electoral reforms begins.
Derek O'Brien says that the I-T Act must be revisited to reform electoral funding.
Lok Sabha is adjourned for an hour after Zero Hour concludes.
Sushil Kumar Gupta of the AAP says that they repeatedly asked the government to get rid of the 13-point roster.
Digvijaya Singh and Tiruchi Siva both bring up the 13-point roster. They both welcome the Bill.
Satyanarayan Jatiya also supports the Bill. Hanumanthaiah of the Congress asks that the exempted institutions be included and that the Bill be passed.
CPI Member Binoy Viswam speaks about how those in the reserved categories have been ignored so far.
Derek O'Brien says that Members were not given enough time to given amendments to the Bill. He wants the short duration discussion to be held now.
Anand Sharma also raises a point of order. He says that Members' rights as per the rulebook prioritises short duration discussion.
Deputy Chairman Harivansh says this has already been decided. Kapil Sibal asks that the short duration discussion to tomorrow at 2 p.m.
Bhpender Yadav suggests that speakers take shorter time and the Bill can be passed soon. Chair also agrees, as does the Opposition, provided the government also abides by this.
The discussion on the Bill begins.
Manoj Kumar Jha of the RJD says that some institutions have been excluded from this Bill, and asks the government why this has been done. He also says there are not anough ad-hoc teachers.
This is the Central Educational Institutions (Reservations in Teachers' Cadre) Bill, 2019. Click here to know more .
The Shiv Sena's Anil Desai speaks in support of the Bill. He says the plight of teaching community is very precarious. But he too asks about the excluded institutions, and if it will not allow discrimination against SC/ST/OBC employees.
M.K. Raghavan wants to highlight the drawback of the 10% quota for EWS for medical admissions in Kerala.
Jothimani rises to make her maiden speech. She wants to draw the attention of the government to the plight of the textile industry in Tamil Nadu.
Geeta Vishwanath speaks about gold apprisers who work with banks.
Gaurav Gogoi says that India Post, BSNL and MTNL have become loss-making, and that salaries have not been paid.
Manish Tewari of the Congress speaks about Defence spending and how it has reduced.
B.Y. Raghavendra of the BJP speaks on lack of mobile network in hilly areas of Karnataka.
Ramya Haridas asks that suburban areas near Thrissur be developed as satellite towns for the city. She also wants a new passenger train from Palakkad to Palani.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury speaks about the Ratnagiri dam breach. Chair says it's a State subject.
N.K. Premachandran thanks for being nominated to the Chairperson’s committee. Chair says this is because he sits in the House for the longest period, is a senior Member, and knows the rules of the House well.
Sri Krishna Devarayalu, the Narsaraopet MP from YSR Congress speaks about the drought-prone Palanadu region. He asks the Jal Shakti Ministry to do a lift irrigation project in the Nagarjunasagar, and asks the Forest Department for permission to do this.
S. Gnanathiraviyam of the DMK speaks in Tamil about cleaning the Tamirabarani river. He also wants rivers in southern India linked. This is his maiden speech.
Hasmukhbhai Patel of the BJP, another maiden speaker, brings up the issue of a railway line in his constituency which is mid-construction.
Gaddam Ranjith Reddy of the TRS speaks about the poultry industry. He says it is a self-grown industry with no support from both the State and the Centre. Earlier, NAFED was supporting the industry, but asks the Minister to look into it.
Kumari Diya of the BJP speaks about rising incidence of rape and the lack of CCTVs in Rajasthan.
Zero Hour still on in Lok Sabha
First time MPs speak:
Mala Rai talks about India's oldest metro service, the Kolkata Metro, and raises the issue of suicide attemps in the metro stations.
26-year-old Godetti Madhavi from AP's Araku constituency talks about the lives of the tribal people in that area. "Livelihoods being lost at a rapid rate," she says in her first speech in the LS. "Request Ministry to evaluate the loss of livelihood of the tribal community before going ahead with clearance for mining industry."
Shardaben Patel from Gujarat's Mehsana constituency, requests that wellness centres be opened in her constituency.
Gomati Sai, a former Zilla Panchayat head, is from Chhattisgarh's Raigarh constituency. She asks for rail connectivity for Raigarh's Jaspur.
Hans Raj Hans asks the House to think about poor people.
On the revival of Air India
Sambhaji Chhatrapati asks that as Air India is incurring losses, why aren't other airlines being given Jet Airways' slots. Minister Hardeep Singh Puri says that Jet Airways is only in debt, and Air India will have to be disinvested.
"Will make a profit, turn Air India around and then privatise it," he says.
On contigency plans for AI:
"We have increased AI profitability by Rs. 7 cr revenue per day. There is a debt of Rs. 59000 crores. It was proposed to retire Rs 29000 cr into a special purpose vehicle. We will take a view on this. I would not worry too much whether AI can pay salaries after Oct. AI is a prize asset and when we go ahead with the disinvestment, we will take care of this."
On AI's future:
"AI's operational assets are prize assets and it's HQ at Nariman Point is a case in point. It is an international carrier. Whether it is to the Maharashtra govt or to the goverment bidder, where AI goes is not a question that can answered in Parliament."
On introduction of new laws on use of drones by private players:
"We have already introduced regulations in 2018. In the coming months, will introduce more regulations as we progress on this front."
The Ujjwala Yojna has 98% homes in UP, says PetroleumMinister Dharmendra Pradhan in response to a question. "More 1.32 cr LPG connections have been made through Ujjwala Yojna. New LPG centres are opening, more bottling plants have come up."
Target is 8 crore for the country. The target for UP has been achieved, says Mr. Pradhan in response to Jaya Bachchan's question.
INC MP P.L. Punia asks about the total crimes committed against persons belonging to SCs, STs, OBCs and others, State-wise in the years 2016, 2017 and 2018 and the conviction rate.
MoS Kishan Reddy answers: Total number of crimes, I have given you the answer in hand. As for convictionr rate: AP - 26%; Arunachal - 25%; Assam - 13; Bihar- 33; Chandigarh - 44; All India - 46%
House breaks for lunch; adjourned till 2 pm
New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (NDIAC) Bill is introduced in the Lok Sabha. Congress Member Shashi Tharoor urges the Minister to make changes in the Bill and bring it back so that it can be truly of international standards.
The Minister says that this can be debated after the Bill is introduced and the Bill is introduced. Opposition Benches begin shouting slogans.
On data regarding employment in Groups A, B, C and D
P. Bhattacharya of the Congress asks if removing the interview process for group D, employees are still selected. Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar says that it usually took one year for recruitment, and with this new system, it can happen faster.
Ravi Prakash Verma of the SP asks what the government is doing to increase employment in the agro-processing sector. Mr. Gangwar responds that the government is working on the unorganised sector.
On the fire at the coaching centre in Gujarat
Rajkumar Dhoot of the Shiv Sena asks if there is a central coordinating agency to know the requirement of fire stations across the country. Home Affairs MoS Nityanand Rai says that there is an advisory looking into this even though this is a State subject.
Mr. Dhoot wants to know what action the government takes against authorities who allow buildings which don’t follow the fire code. Mr. Rai says that there are laws in place to inspect all places.
Zero Hour is on in Lok Sabha.
The BJP’s Manoj Kotak speaks about the Mumbai rains, and the Malad wall collapse.
Satyadev Pachauri of the BJP presents the case of a BIC Mill in Kanpur that is not working since 2013. The workers who used to work there are yet to be paid their salaries. He urges the government to ensure that mill workers get their wages.
Question Hour begins in Rajya Sabha
MoS Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri handles several questions about development of a second airport in important cities.
On rising air fares to Jammu and Kashmir:
"Air fares are set by airlines. We have considered putting a cap, but the danger is airlines will start charging the higher amount."
On the new airport in Vizag:
"Have provided clearance, ready to start operations once work is completed. Tenders have been awarded."
On the airport in Trivandrum that is on the verge of privatisation:
"If the reference is the bidding process held for the six process, we have to take a view on this. Kerala govt, if I am not mistaken, is the second bidder there. Seen a communication from the Kerala CM, will take a view on this."
MoS Suresh Angadi handles questions about revamping of railway stations of aspiration districts and the time-frame set for the completion of these projects in various States and UTs including Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and North-Eastern States.
Rajan Vichare asks about the Railway Ministry's plans to refurbish stations across the country and whether the historical Thane railway station at the central railway route has been selected for this purpose.
"We have already spent Rs. 27 crores to refurbish stations in hill stations. This is an on-going process. Progress is being made on the Thane railway station front," says Mr. Angadi.
Piyush Goyal answers a question on the steps taken/being taken by the Government to increase trade with Central Asian countries during the last three years and the current year along with the success achieved. "There is a good relationship between India and countries of Central Asia," he says. "We undertook a joint feasability study on this issue and we found that there is signficant potential for trade in this area. If trade agreements can be worked out with these countries, will do so."
Shashi Tharoor raises a point about accessibility and connectivity to these countries.
"Can assure the honourable member that the government is working towards this issue," says Mr. Goyal.
Newly elected BJP's Nitesh Ganga requests the Minister to see to an unmanned crossing in his first question in the House.
Dayanidhi Maran asks for a specific timeframe in which unmanned level crossings will be eliminated.
"We are focusing on them as a priority, especially those in the urban areas and in the golden quadrilateral," says Mr. Goyal. "We are working with State governments on this issue. We will work in a graded manner to eliminate unmanned level crossings."
Members of House now lay their papers on the table.
Rajya Sabha discusses Matters Raised With the Permission of the Chair during Zero Hour.
Congress MP Partap Singh Bajwa from Punjab talks about the drug menace in Punjab, asks why foreign expertise cannot be taken in the handling of drug menace.
BJP MP Shwait Malik from Punjab brings up the issue of burning of crop residue, lists out the issues that arise from crop burning. "The orders of the NGT are not being implemented in Punjab," he says, blaming the Punjab government.
CPI (M) MP from Kerala K. Soma Prasad talks about the risks of e-cigarettes. "12 states have already imposed restrictions on e-cigarettes," he says. "They pose a high health risk. I request the government to impost strict restriction on this."
INLD MP from Haryana Ram Kumar Kashyap makes a case for the government to analyse the reasons for forest fires.
INC MP from Uttar Prades, P.L. Punia talks about the protocol behind registering a case under the Prevention of Atrocities Against SC/ST Act. He talks about the recent incident where members of a Dalit family were killed for objecting to an attempt at sexual harassment and molestation, and says procedures were flouted while registering a case. He asks for relief and rehabilitation for the family, and that the perpetrators be arrested.
CPI (M) MP from Kerala K.K. Ragesh brings up the use of Potassium Ferrocyanide in salt, saying companies do not adhere to the permissible levels of the compound.
What is Potassium Ferrocyanide and is it harmful? Click here to read.
Speak Om Birla is in the Chair in the Lok Sabha.
Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal handles several questions regarding rail connectivity, passenger safety, modernising of trains, maintenance of trains, revamp of stations and more.
My. Goyal talks about corporatisation of Railways, to the ire of some members of the House. "Congress tried to privatise Railways, we are trying to corporatise it," he says. Much of what he speaks is drowned out by the disruption caused by some members of the House.
Ajay Mishra Teni asks the IT Minister if Government has received any request from electronics manufacturing industry with regard to the banning of import of televisions from Vietnam after a twenty-five times jump in the import of the same from Vietnam within the last one year. "When we have Make In India, why are we importing TV sets," he asks.
Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad says televisions sets and other electronic items are being manufactured in the country and reads out numbers to show that manufacturing of such items in India has actually increased.
Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha proceedings begin.
Question Hour begins in the LS, while papers are laid on the table in Rajya Sabha.
MoS Parliamentary Affairs, V. Muraleedharan moves several motions in Rajya Sabha -- Motion to constitute Committee of both the Houses to be called the ‘Committee on Welfare of Other Backward Classes (OBCs); Motion for nominate seven Members from Rajya Sabha to associate with the Committee on Public Accounts of the Lok Sabha; Motion for election to the Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
The ayes have it for all the motions, but the sound is not enough for Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu . "Have you all not had breakfast?" he asks the House, to laughter.
Members of the Left parties protest outside the Parliament, demanding that GST be withdrawn from job works.
Members of the Left party protest outside Parliament against GST.
