Hon. Chairman Sir, first of all, I would like to thank you for allowing us to have this discussion in the House. Last week also, we took up some issues of national importance and had a good debate and discussion. Today also, we have taken this Short Duration Discussion on the issue of farmers. As we heard this morning, there is also a Calling Attention Motion on the issue of flood situation in many States. I was trying to find out where I should begin from and what benchmark I should make here. So, I thought the best benchmark here to make and to quote is the ruling party’s manifesto of 2014. Let us not think what happened120 before that and what happened 10 years ago. The ruling party’s manifesto says that the Government would strengthen and expand140 (1) the rural credit facilities. Today, I am trying to tell you where the Government has reached in the last three years. I have also read my party’s manifesto of 2011 and I have seen where we have reached in six years in Bengal.
Sir,
some speaker from the Government side said that the Opposition is always
opposing and we do not appreciate the good work done by the Government. We
appreciate the Government because for the last five years the award given by
the Central Government for food grain production and coarse grain production
has come to my240 State. In my State, the annual income of
a farmer has moved up to a little over Rs. 2 lakhs.280 You look at the West
Bengal model which nobody has (2)
tried. It is working very well in West Bengal. The Minister of Agriculture is
here. We have discussed it informally with him.
Now,
let us come to the issue of the great announcement of demonetization. On the
cashless economy, we have to see the hard facts. What did the farmers do? They
went back to the old system. As there was no cash available, they went back to
the barter system, and the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh had to appeal to
traders to pay at least a half in360 cash. Sir, if you compare the sale of
last year to that of this year, prices of all the commodities have shown a
considerable drop. Sir, there is a frequent talk happening on the minimum
support price. We have done it in a different way in West Bengal. We are actually
paying for the farmer's part of the premium.420 I do not want to repeat
the same thing which earlier speakers have mentioned on the insurance claims of
farmers. This is not a problem in our State because the (3) State Government is covering for the farmer, but in the rest of
the country, everyone talked about the minimum support price. Let me make a specific
recommendation to the Minister on480 minimum support price. Today, I heard a
lot of rhetoric from the Treasury Benches that they will do this, they will do
that. I want to tell you what was done for farmers, and I will be failing in my
duty if I do not recall our fight for farmers' rights when a big corporate
company like Tata, in association with all the media houses, wanted to snatch
away 1,000 acres of land from the farmers. Sir, 600 acres560 of land was owned by
farmers, who were willing to give their land without being forced by this
company but our party said that the 400 acres of land, which belonged to the
unwilling farmers, must not be600 snatched away. So, we all know what
happened in (4) 2006 and we all must
remember what happened after that. Everyone said that we were making political
points. The Supreme Court of India, in its historic judgement, said that 400
acres of land, which was taken from the farmers, had to be given back to them,
and, now, farming is happening on the same land there. This is not rhetoric but
I thought this is an appropriate moment to make some constructive suggestions to
the Government. You should see how one or two States are using models which are700
different. You should acknowledge the history and the contribution made by
people who have been part of this movement. They720 are neither launching
television channels nor changing names. We talk about bullet trains, smart
cities, kisan channels, but the life of the farmer is still the same.
Sir,
farmer suicides are a shameful feature on India's social scene. The Central
Government itself submitted before the Supreme Court that there were 12,000
farmer suicides per year. There are statistics to show that more than 3 lakh
farmers had committed suicide (5)
during the last 21 years. Demonetisation also contributed to farm crisis.
Though some States have decided to wave off farm loans, the Central Government
has not supported any of the States. There is an argument that there will be a
big crisis in financial sector if you waive off840 loans. According to
the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament, the Non-Performing Assets of
the country are Rs. 6,00,000 crore. Almost 70 per cent of these assets are in
corporate sector whereas only one per cent is in the agrarian sector. Big
corporates are given crores and crores of rupees as loans by public sector
banks. Big names in Indian corporates are given loans to the tune of Rs. 2,00,000
crore by public sector banks. But the amount of loan waivers for farmers will
be much less than this (6) massive
loot. These loans to corporates had been at minimal interest. How many crores
of rupees did we lose in scams? I do not want to give the numbers here960
as there is no time. You will get loans on a low interest to buy a luxury car. The
bank980
staff will come to your house to complete the formalities. If a farmer wants to
buy a tractor, he has to give 10 to 12 per cent interest on loan. For that, he
will have to spend weeks and months with the bank people. A poor woman, who
wants to buy a goat, will have to bear huge interest burden in micro finance. I
would say that the Central Government is ignoring the agriculture sector.
During the 12th Five Year Plan, the allocation for agriculture
sector was Rs.1.8 lakh crore. The Central Government is destroying the
cooperative1080
sector, which has been helpful to poor farmers to an (7) extent. Demonetisation was extremely harmful to the cooperative
sector.
Hon.
Speaker Sir, I rise to support this Bill. This legislation is a feather in the
cap of the UPA1120 Government. The passage of this Bill has
to be inscribed in golden letters in the history of our democracy. The Non-Resident
Indians have their roots in India. Thousands of Non-Resident Indians are living
in foreign countries. Not only the Indian political leaders, but also the
successive governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and
France have time and again expressed and acknowledged the great contributions made
by our Non-Resident Indians. We have to bow our heads before the1200
glorious memories of the great martyrs of our freedom struggle. This is a
landmark legislation. It bears the colour of the patriotic blood which was
responsible for the Indian Council Act. By this historic legislation, we are
expanding the horizon of the meaning of democracy. We have seen elsewhere in (8) the world and in our neighbourhood
countries, governments are shattering1260 and crumbling down and the military rulers
are suppressing people. But the Indian democracy has stood the test of time.
We
are proud of being the largest and the greatest democracy of the world. With
the enactment of the present legislation, our democracy attains more greatness.
There are as many as 25 lakh Non- Resident Indians. There has been a
long-pending demand from our Non-Resident Indians. I hope that nobody would
have any objection to the purpose of this Bill. This Bill came before
Parliament in the year 2006 and the Standing Committee gave its report on it.
The Bill seeks to provide for granting voting right to every citizen who has
not acquired the citizenship of any1400 (9)
other country and who has been absent from his place of ordinary residence
in India. The Bill empowers the Central Government to specify in consultation
with the Election Commission of India the time and manner in which the name of
a person who is not an ordinary resident be listed in the electoral rolls. The
Bill provides that the authority concerned shall make corrections of entries in
the electoral rolls and inclusion of names in the electoral rolls after proper verification.
The proposed amendment seeks to create a very valuable political right in
favour of the Indian citizens working and living abroad. It will benefit all
those people who are working abroad and students who have gone abroad to study.
Countries like the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Australia
allow their overseas citizens to vote subject to certain (10) conditions.
