The Centre will introduce a Bill to amend the Right to Information Act, 2005 in the Lok Sabha today.
The Bill proposes to give the Centre the power to set the tenure and salaries of state and central Information Commissioners. However, critics warn that such a move could dilute the effectiveness of the RTI Act and threaten the autonomy of the Information Commissions.
Here are the live updates:
Rajendra Agarwal of BJP seeks setting up of a bench of Allahabad High Court and Meerut as has been demanded by the people for the last forty years.
BJP MP Uday Pratap Singh says government should ban plastic and polymer industries in the country after finding their substitute. His colleague Pragya Singh Thakur says there are no doctors and nurses in Bhopal jail and sought deployment of essential medical staff there at the earliest.
House adjourned for the day.
Bhartruhari Mahtab of BJD raises the issue of generic drugs in the House.
The government should institute an inquiry to find out the efficacy of generic drugs, he says.
A recent book has said that domestic drug manufacturers were not producing quality generic drugs. It is mentioned in the book that drug manufacturers are producing quaity drugs for the U.S. and European nations and sub-standard medicines for consumption in domestic markets, he says.
“It is frightening”, the minister says, and asks the government to institute an inquiry into the efficacy of generic drugs and bring out the truth.
Resolution for setting up National Farmers’ Commission gets approval
Rajya Sabha members supports a resolution that seeks to set up a National Farmers’ Commission with constitutional status, to deal with farmers’ issues.
The resolution has been moved by BJP member Vijay Pal Singh Tomar also seeks hike in funds provided to the farmers as Kisan Samman Nidhi from ₹6,000 to ₹10,000 per year and Bharat Ratna for farmers for their contribution to the society.
Initiating the debate on the private member resolution, Tomar says: “India is primarily an agrarian based economy with more than 55% population engaged in farming. Besides there are 15 per cent people who are engaged in allied sectors. Thus there are 70% population dependent on farm sector.”
He says the country will only be prosperous when farmers progress and get remunerative price for crops grown by them.
The House is adjourned for the day.
"36 complaints of irregularities received against anganwadis between 2016-2018"
Ministry has received 36 complaints of irregularities or improper implementation of the anganwadi scheme between 2016 and 2018. The ministry received 21 complaints in 2016, which was the highest in these three years, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani says in a written reply to a question in the Lower House.
She says the complaints, as and when received, have been forwarded to states and Union Territories concerned for suitable action as it is they who implement the Anganwadi Services scheme.
The Rajya Sabha is discussing a private Member's resolution on setting up a National Farmers' Commission.
The House takes up clause-by-clause consideration of the Bill. The Bill is passed.
Zero Hour continues in the House.
Jayadev Galla (TDP) speaks about manual scavenging and its association with caste. Even after the Supreme Court declared privacy as a fundamental right, the government tries to circumvent it, he says.
E.T. Mohammed Basheer (IUML) speaks about mob lynching and the Supreme Court's observation on it.
Dr. Satya Pal Singh says that the government is committed to protecting the human rights. He says that the Modi government has been honest and willing to work towards protecting the rights of the vulnerable. He names various schemes introduced for the interest of farmers and financially backward persons. He says that human rights of the 'right people' should be protected - not the 'terrorists' and 'rapists'.
Kanimozhi says that social justice and human rights movements is the reason for the existence of the society as we know it. She claims that the Bill does not fulfill the criteria of the Paris principles. She questions the decision of appointing of chairpersons from the various ministries.
She says that the NGOs and social activists who have protected the rights of women, children, dalit and other minority communities must be made a part of the NHRC. The re-eligibility will dilute the autonomy of the committee, she adds.
She points out that there are only 20% women in the committee, and asks at least 50% women. She also expresses her concerns over the Chairperson's powers - and their overreach, the atrocities of the armed forces and custodial deaths. The fact that crime and prison statistics have stopped being given out by the government is testament to how it is not serious about the issue of human rights.
Nityanand Rai, MoS, Home Affairs , introduces for consideration and passing of The Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2019 in Lok Sabha. Shashi Tharoor opens with the United Nations sub committee's discontentment towards the Indian National Human Right Commission's attempts. He states that the commission is not fully compliant with the Paris principles and even if the Bill is supposed to amend that, it fails to do so.
He categorically states 6 reasons why the Bill fails.
Mr. Tharoor states 'lack of autonomy' as the first problem. He claims that there no independence or autonomy is given to the NHRC. The government ignores it, it is a 'toothless tiger,' he adds. The authorities do not submit reports to the committee and the govt. has ignored NHRC's plea to give them power to penalise contempt, he says.
He also condemns the reduction of tenure of the chairpersons from 5 to 3 years. The frequency of change will result in inconsistencies and will affect long term investigations, he says.
He states that the clause of re-eligibility will lure the members to give-in to the wishes of the government in order to be re-elected. He claims that the politicians must be from becoming members of the committee. On the issue of vacancies, he expresses his concern for the post of chairperson of NHRC that was left empty for 8 months.
He expresses concern towards the removal of statutory bar that prohibits the commission from taking cognisance of incidents after 1 year. He also points out that there is no clarity of the jurisdiction of human rights courts. Mr. Tharoor calls the legislation 'piecemeal and cosmetics' and says that it wastes a golden opportunity and will eventually lead India to 'international embarrassment'. He brings up NRC, and questions the government's concern of human rights. He claims that their silence over suicides of people in Assam is a point in case. He also talks of Indira Jaising and Anand Grover, saying that these are dark times for human rights in the country.
On the questions of shortage of skilled and trained trainers, Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey , that the trainers are being given vocational training, and the Ministry is committed to improving the quality of training.
Lok Sabha is discussing the RTI (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury says that the bill is not being introduced according to the rules. He claims that the amendments to the legislation can prove to be dangerous to the fundamental rights of the citizens. He quotes a standing commission report that said that it will undermine and pressurise the Information commission.
Shashi Tharoor calls the Bill 'RTI elimination Bill'. Asaduddin Owaisi says that the Bill lacks competence because undermines the powers of the State.
On the topic of food subsidies, Manas Ranjan Bhunia, AITC says that there is a huge inconsistencies in subsidies in the last few years. He asks the reasons for varying subsidies in different States and years. He also asks why States, like West Bengal, where there are problems of Left Wing extremism, are not given extra subsidies to meet the needs of the people. Ram Vilas Paswan, The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution , says that States are categorised into DCP where the government buys the food and non-DCP states, where the FCI procures the food. The food is distributed by through these two channels according to various needs submitted by the State governments.
On the topic of the Juvenile Justice Act, Thirumaa Valavan Thol, VKC says that 21 states are yet to comply with the direction of the act and have failed to implement the legislation. He requests these States to immediately notify rules for law. He asks Smriti Irnai why the central government has not acted against these states. Ms. Irani says that till the time the States have not notified their own rules, the central government rules apply, and the 'media' data on the juvenile justice systems.
Manish Tewari , points out the deplorable conditions of the juvenile reform homes, where the children come back as hardened criminals than become reformed. He asks the government if there will be a committee set up by the Central government to look into this matter. Ms. Irani says that it is an issue that has persisted for a long time, and is being looked into. She says that introducing a committee that supersedes the power of the State government in this matter would not be an ideal solution. Instead, she suggests, that there will be an attempt to build a system where both Central and State governments are working together.
Matters raised with the permission of the chair are being discussed in Rajya Sabha.
Mohd. Ali Khan, INC requests the government to revive Air India flight from Lucknow to Delhi, which was eventually shut down.
Prashanta Nanda, BJD says that the Odisha power infrastructure, after the recent cyclones, is damaged to a point where it is beyond the State government to restore it alone. He seeks the help of government for funds and also cyclone resistant technology.
Question Hour at the Lok Sabha.
Shashi Tharoor mentions the dropout rates of girls in schools due to lack of sanitation. He suggests that it is a 'national crisis'.
He points out that menstrual pad dispensers will boost retention. He also goes back to his previous suggestion in the Lok Sabha to amend the RTI bill in order to hold responsible, the schools and institutions where efforts are being taken to improve the situation.
Despite Dr. Harsh Vardhan 's claims that everything is being done from the part of the Government, Tharoor claims that it is only through Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram that women in rural areas in a few districts are benefitting.
He claims that it does not take into account the plight of working women.
