Parliament Session August 5 Highlights

Having passed the Appropriation Bill, the house was adjourned for the day. Proceedings reconvene on Tuesday, August 6th at 11 a.m. 

Mr Singh further enumerated that it was Mr Modi’s vision that Viksit Bharat was not possible without the upliftment of people engaged in dairy farming and animal husbandry. “We would be the 3rd largest economy in the next five years, and by 2047, we would be standing alongside the biggest economies of the world,” he stated, adding that the Opposition too is invited “to join the queue”. 

Mr Singh addressing concerns raised earlier provided the clarification about the paradigm. He had earlier enumerated about the government providing 100% central assistance towards vaccination of cattle animals against foot and mouth disease as well as swine fever. 

He told the house that the nine years of the Prime Minister Modi-led government facilitated 58% growth in the realm. 

Mr Singh reflected when Mr Modi came to power, the production stood at 146.3 million against 230.6 million in 2022-23. “This equates to a compounded annual growth of 6%,” he stated, adding the annual growth rate at the global level was 2%. 

Mr Singh furthered enumerated that 90% of the proportion entail small and medium farmers. The Union Minister told the house that their production value equals ₹11.16 crore. “If we account for other entities involved in the realm, there are more than 12 crore people in the dairy farming and animal husbandry.” 

Mr Singh told the house that installing transponders in boats help established communications with coast guards and other relevant entities. “Thus, they are able to receive alerts about evolving rough seasons, potential turbulences as well as potential fishing zones in real time,” he stated. The JDU(MP) had also stated that fisherman also receive alerts on their transponders each time they unintentionally cross the international maritime boundary. 

Mr Singh told the house that the exports in 2013-14 was ₹30,213 crore against ₹60,523.9 crore in 2023-24. “We have not just doubled production, but also exports. This reflects the achievement of the ten years of Prime Minister Modi’s regime,” he told the house. 

Allaying concerns about the ban of Indian shrimp in the U.S., Mr Singh stated that the ban only concerns fishes captured from seas, and not those acquired from inland and aquaculture production – which are still being sold. 

According to Mr Singh, the former represents 10% of the overall proportion. 

Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying Rajiv Ranjan Singh told the house that under the ‘Blue Revolution’, West Bengal was allocated ₹41.44 crore off which ₹27.2 crore had already been provided by the Centre. 

Furthermore, the Union Minister responding to allegations raised by members from West Bengal, held that the state had refused to avail incentives under the Pradhan Mantra Matsya Sampada Yojana. “The scheme was launched in 2020, West Bengal refused to avail the benefits in 2020-21 and 2021-22, therefore, it (West Bengal’s fisheries sector) did not benefit,” he told. 

Mr Singh allayed concerns about discrimination in allocation to states. 

The Rajya Sabha has been adjourned for the day. Proceedings will resumed at 11 a.m. tomorrow, i.e, August 6, 2024. 

Other than stressing about the state demand from the fisheries community, the Kollam MP highlighted that for the full potential of the fisheries sector to be realised, it was essential to address the gaps in production units, investment towards scaling infrastructure, (enhancing) skilled manpower and mitigating overfishing, alongside pollution, climate change and disease outbreak. 

Mr Premchandran had stated earlier that the fishing community was “vulnerable, downtrodden community” likening them to “scheduled tribes living in tribal areas”. 

SP MP Javed Ali Khan said that India needed to reach 280 gigawatts in solar energy and 500 gigawatt in clean energy by 2030, so in a year we would need to produce 60 watts of solar energy. He asks the Minister of Energy if his ministry is in the position to produce this amount of solar energy. 

Member from Dum Dum (West Bengal) sought a statement on the evolving situation in Bangladesh and ensuing flight of now former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Mr Roy found support from Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari. 

In response, officiating chair Jagdambika Pal informed that the demand had already been raised by TMC’s floor leader. 

BJP MP from Kandhamal (Odisha) Sukanta Kumar Panigrahi suggested dairy farmers be organised together by forming dairy cooperatives. He added that they be federated into milk unions which be further linked to state cooperative federations. Mr Panigrahi sought the government identify further potential areas for programmatic interventions. 

Speaking for the motion, member from Guwahati Bijuli Kalita Medhi reflected about the support accorded by the budget towards the fisheries sector. She shared her home state’s endeavour was to be become a “net fish exporting state” and an “aqua hub of Southeast Asia and India” The Guwahati MP also emphasised about the government’s focus on ensuring cold chain infrastructure, elaborating that it would further facilitate upscaling of fish production and marketing. 

Mr. Brittas speaks on the issue of the choice of examination centres for Kerala students, many of whom have been assigned a location in Andhra Pradesh. He thanks the government of taking note of the same. 

Dr. Thambidurai highlights that India is sandwiched between two largest opium producing regions of the world . He remarks that drug menace is rampant in Tamil Nadu, and cites the recent deaths due to illicit liquor. He urges the government for a pan-India policy.

J&KNC’s Srinagar MP Aga Syed Ruhallah Mehdi condemns the revocation of Article 370, five years ago. “Dignity of J&K was robbed like Draupadi and they laughed like Kauravas. Our rights and autonomy was snatched,” says Mr. Mehdi. Union MoS Nityanand Rai asks Chairman Jagadambika Pal to remove his remarks from record.

Mr. Pal urges him to stick to the budget.

One of the MPs raises a point of information in Lok Sabha regarding the political crisis ongoing in Bangladesh which has transferred temporarily under military rule. Chair Jagadambika Pal does not allow the member’s query saying, “You worry about nation”.

Citing the various recent infrastructural failures, including bridge collapses in Bihar and the Delhi airport roof collapse, Mr. Chadha calls for a national audit of public transport structures to mitigate such incidents. 

BJP MP Janardan Mishra talks about stray cattle issue, putting the onus on the state governments. “Just as milk production of Gir, Sahiwal breeds has improved, their safety should also be improved by providing better shelters. If we hit them (cows) for our use, they will hit us back,” says Mr. Mishra. The Lower House is discussing allocation for animal husbandry, fisheries and dairying.

Mr. Devegowda speaks on the problems faced by farmers and consumers and cites a books by a former CM, titled ‘Karnataka in Darkness’.

He recalls his time as the Chief Minister of Karnataka and how the problem of power plagued farmers in the State back then as well. 

He highlights the importance of renewable energy and urges the governemnt to adhere to the international commitments, while also addressing disparities. 

Mr. Devegowda remarks that the development of renewable energy must go hand in hand with sustainable energy, with ecological care. 

Dr. Sivadasan says that the Union government has failed to achieve the goals it set for itself. He also notes that India’s renewable energy generation is far lower than other countries. 

He urges the government for more financial contribution towards research and development of solar and other renewable sources of energy. 

Congress’ Kanniyakumari MP Vijay Vasanth demands higher allocation for construction of break waters to shore up coastline, sea ambulances, special recovery boats. He also demanded release of Indian fishermen imprisoned in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. LJP (Ram Vilas) MP Rajesh Verma demanded Centre to provide better technology to small farmers for milking, for fishermen for fish breeding.

Talking about issues faced by fishermen during cyclones, Shiv Sena (UBT) Arvind Sawant says, “When they have to tie up their boats in a temporary pond of aluminium sheets during cyclones, the pond gets silted and there is lot of damage to the ponds. I request the Centre to built a tetra pond at Mumbai port, which can be desilted and better protect their ponds”. 

Representing the rival Shiv Sena faction from Aurungabad, Mr. Bhumare Sandipanrao Asaram highlighted that Marathwada produced the highest amount of milk. “Gokul mission benefits only big farmers having 200 cattle. Please reduce the limit to 25 cattle so that even small farmers will get included”. 

Dr. Kanimozhi speaks extensively on the urgency of switching to renewable sources of energy. She urges government to develop policy solutions to attract foreign investments in this area. 

She highlights Tamil Nadu’s contributions towards increasing renewable energy capacity. 

Dr. Kanimozhi also follows the opposition line of pointing out the problems with various centrally-sponsored schemes.

While praising the increased outlay for energy solutions in this year’s budget, Mr. Reddy highlights that private green financing is required for achieving the country’s objectives, including net zero emissions by 2070. 

‘Digital guzzling of Energy’

Mr. Reddy also brings up the issue of green data centres, in light of the high usage of power by digital data centres. He suggests that they need to be given energy consumption goals.

He goes on to point out “trivial” amount of budget dedicated towards Research and Development. 

Making his debut in Lok Sabha, Theni’s DMK MP Thanga Tamilselvan highlights the importance to act on foot-and-mouth disease, lumpy disease. Raising the issue of Indian fishermen fishing in Sri Lanka waters, he says, “They are being imprisoned by Sri Lankan government. It was our CM (M.Karunanidhi) who offered Rs 6 lakhs to these fishermen’s families. A committee has been constituted by the Tamil Nadu government, but the Centre has not allowed them to travel to Sri Lanka to help freeing these fishermen”. 

BJP MP Dilip Saikia is in Chair

Ms. Ranjan, MP from Chhattisgarh, brings up several policy and taxation-related issues pertaining to energy solutions. 

She specifically highlights concerns with the Centre’s rooftop solar scheme, and the promotion of electric vehicle.

She points out that those in power are themselves not travelling in electric vehicles, therefore why would the common man trust this technology. 

Ms. Ranjan also compares current renewable energy capacity, against the pledge taken by the country as part of the Paris agreement. 

Samajwadi Party MP Naresh Chandra Uttam Patel lamented that the current budget only allocated Rs. 4283 crores for animal husbandry and fisheries. He noted that animal husbandry was one of the biggest occupation of rural India and that steps to strengthen the rural economy had to be taken. Highlighting the issue of stray cattle causing crop loss, affecting milch animals’ health, he questioned BJP’s lack of action on cows in Uttar Pradesh. 

Lok Sabha is debating budgetary allocation for Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha during the discussion on Demands for Grants under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Congress’s Benny Behanan demanded the Centre to support the fishing and farming community and assure them of income security. 

“Ensure timely and adequate compensation is provided to safeguard the community. Coastal tourism is opened in the name of benefitting fishermen. It is disrupting the marine ecosystem and disrupting their livelihood,” the Congress leader said.

Mr. O’Brien points out that Opposition parties requested a discussion on Home and Defence ministries but the requests were turned down.

Protests irk the Agriculture Minister, he accuses the Congress party of overseeing shooting of farmers in the 1980s.

Loud protests in the House.

“There is a fodder crisis in India. Union Minister has himself stated in Parliament that yes, the country is deficit in fodder. This means cows are dying without food in government-owned gaushalas, especially in the BJP-ruled States…” the TMC MP says during a discussion on Demands for Grants under the control of Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying for 2024-25, in Lok Sabha.

Opposition protests as Mr. Chouhan attempts to begin in his address. Chaos ensues in the House as Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar tells members that “nothing will go on record”. 

Chairman Dhankhar names Randeep Surjewala, says he doesn’t know how to “conduct himself in the House”.

After demands for grants for Ministry of Health and Family Welfare were passed, the Lok Sabha takes up discussion on Demands for Grants under the control of Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying for 2024-25.

TMC MP Sayani Ghosh begins the discussion. 

This is the condition of our smart cities, Ms. Bachchan points.

In his response, Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal points out that Gurugram is not on the list of 100 smart cities.

Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar interrupts the minister and says that Ms. Bachchan had alluded to the fact that Gurugram symbolises the development of our country. “The request to you is two-fold -- you have been the Chief Minister of Haryana, and you now hold the related portfolio, and so the request relates to alleviating the waterlogging problems of Gurugram,” he says. “Our cities are equipped to handle rainfall of around 1.5-2cm, but there is no planning to deal with rainfall of around 8cm (as was witnessed in Delhi NCR last week),” he adds. 

Going forward, we will consider suggestions on how to equip cities to deal with climate change, Mr. Lal says.

In reply to the discussion on Demands for Grants under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for 2024-25, Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda stated that the NDA government has strengthened health infrastructure. “There were 387 medical colleges in the country. The number now stands at 731. Undergraduate seats [in medical colleges] have increased from 51,348 to 1.12 lakh seats — an increase of 118%. As for PG seats, the increase is 133%,” he informed the House. 

There is also a lack of public EV charging stations, she says. “It’s a myth and fallacy that electric vehicles are going to resolve your emission problems. They have a whole different category of problems -- EVs themselves, and the kind of batteries and power gridsa they need are going to contaminate the environment in a much more serious way,” she adds.

MoS Rao Inderjit Singh, in response, dissents with Ms. Chowdhury’s opinion. “Electric vehicles are the future...whether it contributes enough to save the environment, I cannot debate on that because I am not qualified to do so,” he says.

Lok Sabha resumes discussion on Demands for Grants under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for 2024-25. Minister J.P. Nadda is addressing the House.

Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal introduces a Bill to provide reservation of seats for Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly of the State of Goa. 

Here’s what the Bill says:

• The Bill will empower the census commissioner to notify the population of STs in Goa.
• Based on it, the Election Commission (EC) will amend the Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Order, 2008, to make way for ST reservation in the 40-member Goa assembly.
• As of now, no seat in the 40-member Goa assembly is reserved for the ST community while one seat is reserved for Scheduled Castes. The ST community has been demanding that four out of the 40 seats in Goa be reserved for it. It is estimated that Goa has an ST population of 1.5 lakh.

The proposal to bring the Bill was cleared by the Union Cabinet in March this year, days before the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections was announced on March 16.

After laying of papers, the Lower House takes up motions for elections of members to the National Jute Board and Employees’ State Insurance Corporation.

During Question Hour, Tamil Nadu MP D. Ravikumar asked why the government is continuing GST compensation even after it has stopped giving the compensation to States.

In her reply, the Finance Minister stated that the same is being done to pay the loan taken during COVID for compensation to States. “Technically, the GST compensation cess ended in June 2022. But with the consent and collective decision-making process in the Council, it has been extended till March 2026. Only because during COVID, there was no collection for GST, assured GST compensation to States couldn’t be paid and had to be borrowed. Cess collection after June 2022 is only for paying that loan taken to pay the compensation paid to the States during COVID time,” Ms. Sitharaman responds.

The House witnessed a heated exchange between Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the Opposition benches when the Minister was responding to a question on the refund of money deposited in Sahara Group & PACL Limited.

The Minister assured the House that the Centre is working on the refunds under the supervision of the Supreme Court. “The Centre can’t decide on matters that are in the court. MPs should not mislead outside that it is the government that is not releasing money,” Ms. Sitharaman said. 

This is an issue which is burdening people, mainly the middle class, says Mr. O’Brien. “Insurance penetration in India is low. Internationally, it’s more than 7%, [while] in India, it is under 4%,” he says.

They won’t listen to us, at least listen to the Cabinet Minister who has raised the same issue, the MP says, alluding to a letter written by Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari making similar demands. 

In his letter dated July 28, Mr. Gadkari said that “levying GST on life insurance premiums amounts to levying tax on the uncertainties of life. The Nagpur Division Life Insurance Corporation Employees Union feels that the person who covers the risk of life’s uncertainties to give protection to the family should not be levied tax on the premiums to purchase cover against this risk.” Read more here

20% of all the fake currency in India comes from West Bengal, Mr. Bhattacharya says, quoting an RBI report. The House protests his statement, he says he will authenticate his sources.

During Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, BJP MP Hema Malini raised concerns about the declining population of peacocks, and questioned the Centre on the measures being taken to protect peacocks and other bird species in the country. Here’s what the Minister said:

India, the land of Periyar and Ambedkar, ranks 159 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index, the MP says. 

“Journalists are facing police cases including UAPA, arrests and imprisonment,” Mr. Sivadasan says. He also points out the arrest of journalists Prabir Purkayastha and Siddique Kappan as examples.

“In the last ten years, more than 100 journalists were killed in different places in India, including noted editor Gauri Lankesh,” he adds.

Mr. Sivadasan also says that journalists are one of the most exploited groups in India, and the government is not taking steps to ensure proper wages for them.

India is ranked 159 out of the 180 nations considered in the 2024 edition of the press freedom index, published by the organisation Reporters Without Borders. While this is a marginal improvement from last year, India’s performance in the recent past has been consistently poor. See detailed charts here.

Commented on reports suggesting that the Centre is set to introduce a Bill to amend Waqf Act, Congress MP Pramod Tiwari told news agency ANI that any new Bill should be thoroughly deliberated. He urged the government to engage in discussions with their allies JDU and TDP before presenting the Bill.

It is being determined, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar says.

Proceedings in the Lower House begin with Question Hour. 

Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar arrives in the House. He begins the day with birthday greetings.

Congress’s MP Manickam Tagore has submitted an Adjournment Motion notice in the Lok Sabha, seeking a revision of the income criteria for OBC-creamy layer to reflect current socio-economic conditions. “Implement transparent policies to address disparities and ensure effective support, or else remove the creamy layer forOBCs, which has blocked the way for youth into the system. Enhance support for OBC youth through better educational and vocational training programs,” the notice states.

Congress MP Manish Tewari has also submitted an Adjournment Motion notice, seeking a discussion on the border situation and the trade deficit with China.

After Question Hour and laying of listed papers of the table of the House, the Lok Sabha will take up legislative business. Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal is set to introduce the Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies of the State of Goa Bill, 2022.

Following Zero Hour, the House will move to resume discussion and voting on demands for grants under the control of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for 2024-25.

At 6 p.m., the House is schedule to take up voting on the outstanding demands for grants in respect of the Union Budget (2024-25).

Congress MP Manish Tewari gave an adjournment notice in Lok Sabha to discuss the “border situation and the huge trade deficit with China” in the House on Monday. 

In the notice, Mr. Tewari asked the house to suspend Zero Hour and relevant rules and other business of the day to discuss the matter. 

“Since 2019, there have been ongoing border clashes between India and China, with reports of Chinese troops blocking access to patrolling points in Eastern Ladakh. Recent reports suggests that China has completed construction of a 400-metre bridge which gives Chinese forces the ability to speedily move troops between the North and South bank of the Pangong Lake.

The government is all set to bring a Bill in Parliament to amend the 1995 law governing Waqf boards to ensure more accountability and transparency in their functioning and mandatory inclusion of women in these bodies, sources said.

They claimed that the move comes in the backdrop of demands from within the Muslim community.

The Bill to amend the Waqf Act, 1995, will make it mandatory for Waqf boards to register their properties with district collectors to ensure their actual valuation. There are 30 Waqf boards in the country. 

-(PTI)