Sir,
kindly permit me to raise this matter of urgent public importance
in this august House. The Hindustan Newsprint Limited is in great distress for
the last one year. More than 5,000 employees have not been paid their wages and
other benefits for the last one year. This matter was brought up by me before
this august House during the last session of Parliament. There was a discussion
held in Kolkata with the liquidator of the parent company, Hindustan Paper
Corporation Limited, along with the representatives of the Government of
Kerala, State Bank of India, Canara Bank and the Managing Director of
HNL. It is understood that during the meeting the liquidator has agreed
to hand over 100 per cent shares of HNL to the Government of Kerala for a
consideration of Rs. 25 crore. It is my humble request140 to the Government of India, especially
to the Ministry of Heavy Industries, to give approval to the same
immediately so160 that the
company can restart its operations and the employees are paid their wages. This
would have a boosting impact on the newspaper industry and more than 5,000
families depending on this industrial unit for their survival.
Sir,
I would like to give my hon. friend some good information. There are
hundreds of extraordinary things that CSIR has done. I can name all of them but
I will just name a couple of things. Right now, there was a discussion in this
House about what we do with plastic. So, I am just adding to that. In 2016, I
went to a CSIR lab in Dehradun which is called the Indian Institute of Petroleum.
In one small room, they were280
doing a research about converting plastic waste into wealth. I must tell you
that in 2019, just after taking over the charge of this
Ministry, I went to the same laboratory. They have set up a big plant in
the320 campus, where in 24
hours, our Indian Institute of Petroleum is converting one tonne of plastic
waste, which they collect from the whole city of Dehradun with their own
efforts and with the help of NGOs, into 800 litres of diesel. This waste can
get converted into petrol and petrochemicals also. Following that, we
got a meeting organised in Delhi. We called all the corporations, all the DDA
people and this technology can be scaled up to 100 tonnes. If it is
scaled up to 10 tonnes, you can convert it into 8000 litres of diesel. In Delhi
also, we420 are going to set
up all these plants with the help of DDA. You must have seen that aeroplane
flying on 26th January. It was run on bio-jet fuel which was made by Jatropha
plant. It has been made480
by CSIR for the first time and ours is amongst the only two or three
countries in the whole world to make it. Now, we are flying these aeroplanes
with that fuel. From an atomic clock to virtually everything, like Saras, the
small commercial aircraft which is going to help us in regional
connectivity, the ink that you use in the elections, were developed in our own
CSIR labs. Today, the ink is exported and we get a royalty between Rs. 2 crore and
Rs. 3 crore only with this ink. Before I had seen the CSIR labs, I did560 not know about the achievements of CSIR
or the creditable work being done by it. So, I request all the hon. Members to
visit CSIR labs all over the country and they will have a different
picture about the scientists who have delivered fantastic outcomes for this
country and made us proud all over the world.
Sir,
no doubt the640 Central
Institute of Psychiatry in Ranchi is a very prestigious institution and it
is one of the oldest institutions of the country. After the enactment of
the National Mental Health Act in this House in 2017 and its notification in
2018, the Government has a huge programme all over the country which supports
strengthening of mental healthcare services at all places, which
includes this place also, starting from the Primary Health Centre to
Psychiatry Department in a medical college to700 the 41 mental hospitals run by
various State Governments. There is a huge scheme in which, when a plan is made
by the respective hospital or a department or an institution like this, we
support them to be converted into centres of excellence. The Government pays
something like Rs.33 crore for an institution. For departments in medical
colleges, support at different levels is provided to all those places which
have projected their requirements. I would also urge the Members,
including800 the hon. Member
who has asked the question, to go and visit either the Psychiatry Departments
in the various medical colleges or the exclusive mental hospitals in their
respective States, or the national institutions like the ones at Tezpur,
Bengaluru and Ranchi. Of course, in the new AIIMS also, we have set up these departments.
There is a well-defined, comprehensive,840
thoroughly inclusive scheme which is already supporting these institutions. I
am so happy to tell you that out of 718 districts in the country, we are right
now supporting 655 districts. This District Mental Health Programme is also
operational in 535 districts. So, I would suggest that the hon. Member, who is
concerned about Ranchi, should take proactive interest in the proposals made by
the Ranchi institution for its support. In fact, NIMHANS, Bengaluru has done a
lot of surveys on the Ranchi institute. There are some issues there like
internal conflicts and internal differences of opinion amongst the
faculty and the workers about the development of the institute. But I would urge
upon the hon. Member to personally960
visit that institute and help the Government in improving the conditions there.
I would request all the hon. Members to980
take proactive interest in improvement of Psychiatry Departments in the
respective medical colleges in their State or any one of the 41 exclusive
mental hospitals in the country. Those who are proactively working have
already got the support. Those who now come out with support will get all
possible help from our side.
Sir, we have had a lot of discussion on
this subject for the past few days but what we actually need is not
just the discussion, the committees and the reports. What we need is instant action.
Sir, 133 crore people of our country need an instant action. Air pollution has
been recognised as the world’s largest single environmental health risk,
and the average PM 2.5 in our air is equal to smoking 7 cigarettes. This means that
we have come to a point where instead of1120
feeding bottles, infants are made to smoke a pack of cigarettes through natural
breathing process. There are equal number of non-smoker lung cancer patients as
that of smoker patients. E-vaping has been banned but our environment itself
has become a vaping chamber. Numerous industries, transport, random burning of
waste and road-making process are the contributors to the natural vaping
system. Having said that, I would request the Government to spread among the
masses that as much as it is our responsibility to make provisions, equal
participation has to come from their end as well. People of our country are
sensible enough to understand that we do not need Kiki Challenge, 10-Year
Challenge, or Ice Bucket Challenge to go viral. We should take up the challenge
for cleaning up our environment.
I
request eminent personalities on social media to initiate this1260 Shudh Hawa challenge, even for the sake
of likes and comments. A small contribution can definitely be made. I would1280 request the hon. Prime Minister and all
other Members to take up this initiative. If every individual conserves energy,
uses public transport or opts for car pool and uses energy-efficient products,
a huge difference can be brought about. In order to deal with this
monstrous issue, rigid and stern steps are inevitable. The Government has to
impose a cap on use of coal instead of digging new coal mines. The existing
ones should be capped and renewable energy sources must be worked upon. India,
being the initiator of International Solar Alliance, must take help of the
Surya Devta to deal with the Vayu Devta. Fuel burning has to be stopped,
otherwise an incident like the Great Smog of London is1400 inevitable in India. Now, I come to the
issue of stubble burning. The Government should take strong steps and initiate
a stubble collection programme by providing small incentives to farmers. This
can easily be reused for different purposes like making1440 paper, packing material, bio-mass
pellet, and even bio-mass power plants can be set up. It is a gift of nature
which has so many reusable properties. The solution lies in the problem itself
just like a tricky question of a competitive examination. We just need
smart and strict actions. We must also impose a strict ban on production and
use of firecrackers. People involved in this industry can work in the
stubble recycling units. This will protect innumerable children and adults
involved in this sector. After all, it is a festival of lights and not
sound. I would like to end by repeating myself that a mass participation with
extra impetus from the Government’s end is required to tackle the problem of
air pollution. I once again thank you for giving me a chance to speak on this
issue.1579
