Madam
Speaker, while building any new nuclear power plant in our country with
international cooperation, it will be our earnest effort to see to it that the
design parameters of these plants conform to the best available safety
standards anywhere in the world. As far as safety requirements are concerned,
there can be no compromise and there will be no compromise. With regard to the
threat of terrorists and other elements inimical to our country, we have to
adopt a holistic approach. We cannot discuss in the Question Hour as to what we
can do and what we should do to tackle the terrorist threat, but all security
precautions that are humanly possible, will be in place in safeguarding our
nuclear power plants as well as other sensitive installations including various
irrigation projects. I would like to submit that it140 would be a counsel of despair to suggest
that since there is a nuclear threat, we must put a stop160 to country’s economic and social
progress and technological development, and that we should not make use of new
technologies and we should not exploit the potential that exists. I do not
believe that it does justice to our capabilities to meet the challenges that
are on the horizon.
The hon. Member has asked a very
important question and I think all of us should be concerned with the quality
of education that is imparted in our educational institutions. The part of the
problem is that over the years, we have been emphasizing issues of access and
not paying much attention to quality. I think that there are some very high-quality
educational institutions but they are few in numbers. The large280 part of the problem that arises in this
country is that much of the technical education which is imparted in the form
of engineering and medical colleges, is mostly set up by the private sector.
Almost 90 per cent of320 all
engineering institutions and about 50 per cent of all medical institutions are
in the private sector. There is no quality control for imparting quality
education. We do not have enough teachers who have requisite degrees. There is
not enough investment in infrastructure and there is not enough capital
investment in equipment. There is no reform of the education system in terms of
curriculum that matches world standards. There is not enough research going on.
This is the problem with our education system. I think, the nation must move
towards ensuring quality in education.
Madam, I have to place on420 record that universities in other parts
of the world which are called world-class universities did not become
world-class universities in a few years. If you really look at the top-class
universities in the world, they have taken over a hundred years to reach where
they are. The problem here is that because education is expanding at a very
fast pace480 and there are
more and more students getting into the university system, we do not have
enough quality institutions to absorb them. One of the things we need to do and
I would request the hon. Members of this House to actually request their State
Governments, the Chief Ministers and the Education Ministers to quickly ensure
that a semester system is put in place in every university in India, both
private and public, so that the mobility of students is560 enabled. As far as quality is concerned,
we need to deal with it at two levels. We must ensure that malpractices in
institutions are stopped. The Education Malpractices Bill is already introduced
in Parliament and it will be coming up for discussion in this House. Advertisements
brought out by educational institutions making tall claims about the
infrastructure and the facilities provided at their premises do not reflect the
reality or the quality of the institutions. Those persons and institutions will640 be dealt with through the Education
Malpractices Act. At the same time, we must ensure quality of education through
a mandatory accreditation process. In the recent past, we have increased the
salary of teachers enormously. In fact, an incumbent in the teaching
institution gets a higher salary than an IAS entrant today.
Hon. Speaker Sir, we must have some
restraint700 in making a
statement in this House. Every one of us can say that there is a fault, there
is a violation in principle or in performance. But what kind of publicity are
you giving? My humble suggestion to all the Members either in the Government or
in the Opposition is that you can find fault with the Government. There is
nothing wrong in it because it is your duty. If this Government were to make a
fault or a mistake, you can always point it out. You are saying that the Prime
Minister did not take any action. 800
But here is the Prime Minister who volunteered to come before PAC as a witness.
We did not ask for it. There is no rule or authority for calling him to appear
as a witness. But the Prime Minister volunteered to840 come before it. You could have got all
the information from him and put whatever questions you wanted. But you are
talking about the Prime Minister not taking any action on the issue of
corruption. The hon. Prime Minister has made a statement from the Red Fort on
the action taken against corruption. He admitted that there is corruption in
this country. Which Prime Minister will have the guts to say that there is
corruption in the country?
The
hon. Member has said that no action has been taken against the culprits in the
case of 2G spectrum. How can you say so? Is there any instance in the NDA
Government when a Central Minister was put in jail? 960 Let them show one instance. The hon.
Prime Minister has got the guts to send a Minister to the jail, knowing980 fully well that in a coalition
Government there is a possibility of the fall of the Government itself. He has
permitted the CBI or he has accepted the suggestion of the CBI or the orders of
the court to send a Central Minister to jail. Not just that, a Rajya Sabha
Member belonging to the ruling coalition and a former Secretary who was an IAS
Officer and Chief Executive Officer of several corporations, and one
more Member from Lok Sabha have also been sent to jail. How can you say that
this Government has not taken any action against corrupt people or against people
who have violated some guidelines? This Government has got the guts to take
action against some Members of this House when they committed a mistake. Not
only were they suspended, they also lost their seats. This1120 shows what kind of devotion and
commitment this Government has got to eradicate corruption. There can be one or
two instances otherwise also. I am not saying that we are foolproof or we are
totally clean or there is nobody who is corrupt. Your attempt at slinging the
mud and making publicity will only tarnish the reputation of our country.
Hon. Chairperson, I would like to
submit that the hon. Members of Parliament can criticize the Government and
find fault with the Government wherever it commits a mistake. There is nothing
wrong in it. I admire, appreciate and support this. But do not make comments which
hold no truth. They are giving astronomical figures and sending this message
outside the country. They are thinking that all of us are corrupt. Is the
entire country corrupt? What kind of picture do1260
they want to project to the world? Please restrain yourself in making
criticism. This House is for criticising the Government1280 if it is on the wrong side, and also
for suggesting the ways to come out of it. We can join together and evolve some
methods, some policies and bring some legislation which can eradicate this
corruption. All of us, including leaders from the Opposition and the
Government, are sitting here in the wee hours. Let them say that the Prime
Minister should be included in the Lokpal; the Media should be included in the
Lokpal; the Judiciary should be included in the Lokpal. They cannot say that
only a particular party will be in the Government for hundreds of years to
come. Whatever applies to us, will apply to everybody. Please do not say that a
person from the1400 civil
society will sit on our head. How many civil societies are there? Which civil
society will be there? Please do not give away our authority. We are the
elected representatives. We want the people to judge.
Mr. Chairman, Sir,1440 the current protest against corruption
at high places is a reflection of deep disgust against the various scams that
are unfolding. The problem today in our country is that the people have lost
their faith and confidence in the Government. There is a trust deficit and this
trust deficit has not been developed within a day or a year. What we have seen
is one mega scam after another. When 2G scam came to surface, we wrote to the
Prime Minister several letters pointing out how irregularities were taking
place, how spectrum was being allotted at the price level of earlier years to
several companies on the basis of first-come-first-served policy, how the date
for submission of applications was also changed suddenly and how a few
companies were favoured. 1570
