Hon.
Members, I warmly welcome you all to the Winter Session of this august
House. I am aware that all of you are keenly awaiting this Session.
I expect all of you to make the best out of this opportunity. All of us
need to take note that we are meeting on the occasion of the historic
75th year of our Independence and the 72nd year of adoption of the
Constitution of India. There is a certain sobriety that is associated
with such rare occasions and I sincerely hope that all of us would be
guided by the spirit of the momentous occasion as we proceed with this
Winter Session. Only four days back, the 72nd Constitution120 Day was commemorated in the Central
Hall of the Parliament wherein our Constitution was adopted on 26th
of November,140 (1) 1949. Since some of you were not
present on that occasion, I would like to recall the160 spirit of that occasion. It was
recalled that the Constitution was a culmination of dreams of the
freedom fighters led by Mahatma Gandhi and other great sons and daughters
of our motherland and of the vision of the framers of the Constitution.
That vision was scripted from out of the bitter experiences of the colonial
rule and aspirations of a free and modern India. The people of India who
gave us this Constitution chose democracy as an instrument for socio-political
and240 economic transformation
of the country in a peaceful manner.
I
would like to emphasize on this solemn occasion that we need to be
guided by the philosophy and the provisions of the Constitution that determine
the architecture of our democracy280
instead of negating it on some pretext or the other. (2) I urge
all of you to make the best use of the 19 sittings scheduled during
this Session. Hon. Members, the bitter and unpleasant experiences of the
last Monsoon320 Session still
continue to haunt most of us. About 70 per cent of the valuable time of this
august House was lost due to disruptions and incidents of unruly
conduct of some Members during the last Session. Should we not
draw360 right lessons from
such unpleasant experiences that entail huge costs to the democracy besides
leaving a bad impression with the people of this country who have pinned
high hopes on their elected representatives? I leave it to your wisdom
as this august House was conceived as an assembly of wise men who
would let the heat and passion of the420
moment pass by before making the laws in a calm and serene atmosphere.
The Treasury Benches wanted a
detailed enquiry into the conduct of some Members during the final two (3)
days of the last Session. I have tried to reach out to
the leaders of various parties. Some of them made it clear that their
Members would not be a480
party to any such enquiry. Some leaders, however, expressed concern over the
way the functioning of the House was derailed during the last
Session and condemned the unruly incidents. I was expecting and
waiting for the leading lights of this august House to take lead in
expressing their outrage over what had happened during the last Session
with assurances of introspection and efforts to prevent recurrence
of such incidents. Such assurances by all concerned would have helped me
in appropriately560
handling the matter. Unfortunately, it was not to be.
Hon.
Members, as it has now become customary, I
would like to inform you all that the Parliamentary Standing Committees of
Rajya Sabha have held a total of 21 meetings in600
the National Capital since their reconstitution last month. They
met for (4) a total of 40 hours which comes to an average duration
of around two hours per meeting. The average duration slipped below two hours
per meeting since the new640
Committees held quite a few introductory meetings to discuss the agenda
for future. However, the average attendance in these meetings has been 49
per cent and I have urged the Chairmen to reach out to the
Members. I am happy to see the efforts made in this regard and I
compliment the Chairpersons and Members of the Committees for700 the same.
Hon.
Members, this is the fourth full Session of
this House to be held under COVID-19 protocol which720 is the same as during the
previous session. It is because of the continuing challenge of the
Coronavirus and rising cases being reported from different parts of the
world. Emerging new strains are posing a challenge and we should not lower
the guard. This august House would be happy to take note (5) that
vaccination is going on at a fast pace in our country. Over 120 crore
doses of vaccine have been administered with 80 per cent of the800 eligible people having got at least one
dose. It is heartening to note that those who got the required
two doses have outnumbered those who got only one dose recently. This
House compliments the Central Government, the State Governments and840 all other stakeholders including the medical
staff and grassroot level workers for their efforts in this
regard. All of them deserve compliments. I urge upon all the Members of
Rajya Sabha to take up the campaign to see that everyone in their area is
vaccinated.
Hon.
Members, all of you would be aware that Sansad TV has been launched on
15th September this year by merging Rajya Sabha TV and Lok Sabha TV. I urge all
of you to take active part in different programmes of the channel and also
provide feedback (6) and suggestions on the content and quality
of the programmes. You can make good use of social media platform of
Sansad TV to reach out to wider960
audience, especially in engaging the youth with various dimensions of our
democracy and developmental efforts. Together, we have gone through980 the highs and lows during the
eleven sessions over the last four years. It was a revealing experience
for all of us. I look forward to a new normal marked by decency and decorum
in the House. The way forward is to opt for dialogue and debate.
Each one of you can raise any issue in an appropriate manner and express your point
of view on any issue.
I
have already suggested yesterday that the
Government should try to reach out to the Opposition to the maximum
possible extent. It should take them into confidence regarding the
legislation they intend1080 to
take, as also the rationale behind the legislation. The Opposition must also
(7) take it in the right spirit, and then we must move on.
There is a certain scope for democratic and parliamentary space with collective
will. For doing1120 so, we
need to remind ourselves of the mandate of our sacred Constitution and
the responsibility cast upon us as the law makers under it. I look forward
to manifestation of that spirit during this session. Hon. Members
may kindly take note that due to the pandemic, the normal seating
arrangement with fixed seat and division numbers has been dispensed with in
this Session also as was done in the previous Session. Members will
be seated in Rajya Sabha Chamber1200
and galleries. The numbers of seats for each Party at both places have been
fixed as per the numerical strength for allocation amongst the Members
by the respective parties. Seats earmarked for the Parties or Groups
have already been communicated to their respective leaders. While every
Member seated in the Rajya Sabha Chamber (8) will have a microphone
on the allotted1260 seat, some
of the Members sitting in the galleries may not find the microphone on their
seats. However, in order1280
to facilitate their participation in proceedings, one seat in each
gallery has been kept vacant to which these Members can come and speak when
called by the Chair. Members who are sitting in the galleries may first
identify themselves by raising their hands before taking part in the discussion
so that they could be identified easily.
Hon.
Chairman Sir, I wish to raise a very important
procedural issue relating to suspension of twelve Members of Rajya Sabha
for the entire duration of the Session. The moving of the Motion
and its adoption is a gross violation of Rules of Procedure regarding
suspension of Members provided under Rule 256. When the hon. Minister
was moving the Motion, I sought1400
to raise a (9) point of order under the provisions of Rule 258 of
the Rules of Procedure. As per the conventions, every Member, who seeks to
raise a point of order, has to be permitted by the Chair1440 to raise a point of order. Furthermore,
when the Leader of the Opposition is seeking to raise a point of order, he has
to be allowed to raise the same. I was not allowed to raise my
point of order. This is a gross violation of the parliamentary conventions. As
per Rule 256, for suspension of any Member, there are two parameters which
have to be adhered to. Firstly, the naming of the Members by the
Chairman is required prior to the suspension. Only then, the Motion of
suspension can be moved. More importantly, this procedure is relevant only on
the date of occurrence of the alleged disregard or disorderly
conduct of a Member. However, (10) yesterday, the Motion for suspension
of Members was moved by the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs for their alleged
disorderly conduct which took place during the previous Session.1484
