Thank you, Madam Speaker, for giving
me an opportunity to participate in the discussion on Supplementary
Demands for Grants on behalf of our party Biju Janata Dal. While speaking on
the subject, it is important for me to touch upon the issue of demonetization
which has affected the whole country and virtually derailed the functioning of
the Parliament. Speaker Madam, our hon. Chief Minister, Shri Naveen Patnaik has
all along supported the move of demonetization which is against black
money and we all stand here to support that. But when we go on the ground, we
find that there is a very difficult situation. It is a kind of a war-like
situation in the country. It is not a war on LoC but a war in the financial
sector. It is important that we all have to come together irrespective of (140) party
politics and join hands together to see that the economic difficulty which the
people of our country are facing is handled. (160) No
other consideration must come into play over here. This is a kind of an
emergency situation. That is why, it is time that we must come together and
work hand in hand.
Having said that, I would like to
come to the issue of economic growth. Today, India is the only country
in the world which is growing at the highest rate. The growth rate of our
economy is 7.6 per cent. I would like to say that though the growth
is there, it is not a job-led growth. Almost one million youngsters enter the
job market in India every month but we are not able
to create jobs. So, I would urge upon the hon. Finance Minister, (280) Shri
Arun Jaitley, who is sitting over here, to take this into consideration while
moving the Motion. What is required for us is job and nothing else. Having said
that, I will also touch upon the issue of GST, (320) which
our Government led by Shri Naveen Patnaik has supported. It is important
that GST has to be rolled out from 1st of April, 2017 as has been
committed so that the repercussion which has arisen out of demonetization can
be partly made good by virtue of growth of 9.5 per cent, which the economists
are ensuring that GST will result in higher growth in the economy. So, it will
be compensated. Then, Madam Speaker, I would like to touch upon the issue of Finance
Commission. As per the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, the
divisible pool share was increased (420) from 32
per cent to 42 per cent. But the State of Odisha remained in loss
because the share of divisible pool in respect of Odisha came down from 4.78
per cent to 4.62 per cent amounting to a loss of Rs.4600 crore. I would urge
upon the hon. Finance Minister, Shri Arun Jaitley to compensate Odisha
which (480) we have been striving for. I would also
like to urge upon the hon. Finance Minister not to make any budgetary provision
for supporting the Polavaram Project which we have been advocating in the
larger interest of the people of Odisha. Our hon. Chief Minister has repeatedly
requested it to the Government of India and we have also been raising
this issue in the Parliament. I would like to add just one more point before I
conclude. Health sector in our country (560) has
been passing through one of the most difficult times. There are several studies
which say that if the per capita income of the people of our country
increases by one per cent, the private expenditure on the healthcare goes up by
1.4 per cent meaning thereby that we Indians are becoming poor with every
passing day because of the difficulty in the health sector. So, I would urge
upon the Union Government to make higher budgetary provision (640) for
the health sector so that whatever assurances in respect of improvement in
health sector were given by the Government when it came to power in 2014 are
addressed to.
Madam, as earlier speakers have
also mentioned, the Parliament has not been functioning now for this whole
Session and it is very difficult to have a debate or a
discussion (700) in these circumstances, but I would like to
say, anyway, a few things for those of you who are listening. I want to make
only two points. The Finance Minister has announced a special package for
Andhra Pradesh. We have been asking that we should get legislative backing for
all the commitments that have been made so far. I just want to ensure that in
this discussion also, sufficient funds are available with the Government to fulfil
all of the promises made to Andhra Pradesh. That is my first point. My second
point is on demonetization. (800) I know that this
is not the subject of this debate, but I just want to make a few points. I know
that the cash supply situation has been improving, but it needs to improve further.
I think, day by day, (840) there needs to be an
improvement, but if we look at it from last week to this week, perceptible
difference does not seem to be there. So, we need to see an improvement every
week so that we can improve the confidence levels of all the people in this
country. Then, there is the issue of service charges for e-payments. Today,
many people are not willing to move to the e-payment method because of service
charges. The Government has waived the charges for the Government transactions.
We request the Government to look into it so that the private parties also
waive the transaction charges. It should not be for a period of time, but going
forward also, if we (960) have to be in a cashless
or less cash economy, digital transactions have to be less costly than cash
transactions. (980) The question is: how do we
bring out the methodology to make that happen? In order to make that happen,
digital transactions should be less costly than cash transactions. There is one
other thing, Madam. I have gone to my constituency and I have talked to my
people in the streets, waiting in lines at vegetable markets and in the villages
as well. Every single person in this country, right from top to bottom, is
going through different levels of inconvenience, but nobody is saying that they
do not support this move. Everyone I have spoken to has supported this move.
The reason they have supported it is because they are looking forward to a
country where the corruption levels will go down. That is really what is behind
their support of this policy. Therefore, if we see that six months (1120) from
now or one year from now, those corruption levels have not come down or
everything is back to square one, I think the people will not accept that
result. So, the result is very important. The intention is very good;
inconvenience is acceptable; but the result is very important. If we do not achieve
this result, I do not think it is going to be a very good situation.
There are significant changes in the
General Budget 2016-17 presented by the Finance Minister in February this year
as it provided impetus to investment in infrastructure, particularly in
transport and national highways, and also had some focus on agriculture. There
is no doubt that for the last couple of years, India’s economy is growing
as there have been efforts for freedom and equality for a sustainable
economy. (1260) Agriculture plays a pivotal role in
the economy of a country and better performance of this sector is vital for (1280) inclusive
growth for a developing country like India. Planned, balanced and
harmoniously developing industry and agriculture are essential for employment
generation and economic development. However, the agricultural growth, which
may have boosted the total GDP growth, seems unlikely to see
improvement. Lately, agriculture is being badly affected. We did have good
monsoon and we were expecting a good crop since agriculture was expanding at
about four per cent, but now it is unlikely to happen because of lack of
transactions. Farmers who are supposed to grow food for the society and prosper
along with it are falling victims to unnatural deaths. Farmers who are spending
lakhs of rupees as investment are being left with debts. Natural calamities are
adding to their losses (1400) and pushing them into
difficulties. The Government should waive the loans given to the farmers. As
far as healthcare is concerned, there is a huge disparity in the country. It is
a matter of shame that India should rank (1440) as
low as 97 among 118 developing nations in the Global Hunger
Index. India also fares poorly on other indices like stunted children
below five and infant mortality. In malnourished and undernourished children,
we appear to be a world leader. We should provide enough funds so that we can
provide all young children a nutritious breakfast and quality lunch in schools
as is being provided in several countries. Madam, it is about three years since
Andhra Pradesh has been promised a Special Category status, but the Government
is not implementing the assurance given on the floor of this Parliament. The
State of Andhra Pradesh, after bifurcation, is facing a financial crunch.
The people are agitating and restless. I would request the Government to kindly
implement the assurance of granting Special Category status to Andhra Pradesh,
as promised in this august House. Also, as promised in this august House during
the passage of Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, I would request (1600) the
Government to set up a Railway Zone at Visakhapatnam. With these words, I
support these Supplementary Demands for Grants.
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