Hon. Speaker Sir, I have gone through the written reply given by the hon. Minister. I must say with respect that it is really an evasive reply. Just now he said that the data is dynamic; somewhere it is static. Then, he has not said where that data is. Now, I tell you the data. One out of 10 children is in child labour in India. It is rising for the first time in 20 years. Nine million more children are at risk of being forced into child labour by the end of this year as a result of the pandemic. The closure of 1.5 million schools due to the pandemic and lockdowns in India has impacted120 247 million children enrolled in primary and secondary schools, and added to the risk of many of them140 (1) slipping into child labour and unsafe migration. I understand that there are certain Acts. There is no doubt that if these Acts are fully implemented, these children cannot go into it, but these children also need to earn a livelihood, at least, for their parents. Now, what is the scheme? What do you want to do? If you want to stop child labour and want that they should not go to job at all, then you have to give substitutes to the families of those children. What have you done for that purpose? This is what I would like240 to know from the hon. Minister.
Hon. Speaker Sir, I thank you for
giving me the privilege of asking a question on tourism. It is good that
in our country, tourism is increasing, but one of the most important
factors,280
which reduces the tourists, is the fare that the airlines (2) are charging. There
should be a control on airfare, whether it is Kashmir, whether it is Ladakh
or whether it is other parts of India which are full of tourist spots,
so that people in the country can afford to come to these destinations.
Secondly, I would like to know about the possibility of reducing the
charges that are imposed by the Government on the tourists in various
sectors like360 hotels and other things. Does the Government of India
have any plan to reduce these charges, so that more people can afford to come
into these destinations? If that happens, it will give a boost to the tourism
sector in India. Sir, the hon. Minister has given a very long reply, but I
do not know if he has studied420 the question before giving the reply.
The question relates to negative growth in the tourism sector. The Minister’s
reply deals with how they are developing rural tourism and wellness tourism (3)
without taking into consideration the holistic policy of tourism. I would
like to know one thing from the hon. Minister. You said that there is
a negative growth. What are480 the numbers in terms of tourists
from abroad in the last three years? What is your target for the
coming financial year in respect of the foreign tourists? One of my
honourable friends said that fares are very high. A new thing is happening
now. Today I saw in the newspapers that domestic airfares will go up and
foreign airfares will come down. What is the policy? Does the Government
have any policy to raise the number of tourists travelling560 within the country or
coming from outside? I appreciate that the hon. Minister is concerned about the
well-being of tourists, but he has also got to pay some attention to the
well-being of the people in India who have to600 run the
services that tourists use. For example, in my (4) State,
the transporters who run tourist busses have been begging for the last three
years to reduce the tax by 30 per cent, but nothing has been
done by the State Government or the Central Government. Now, the result is that
these people are selling their tourist busses because they cannot make a
living. Now, we are talking about improving tourism. What will happen to those
people who are working in tourism sector in India? They need to be
helped at a time when unemployment is high and economy is700 going down. We are
not doing enough to support our people in order to be able to
welcome tourists more720 effectively.
Sir, on behalf of my party, I
congratulate the Central Government, especially the Foreign Minister,
who has brought all our students from Ukraine to Chennai. Sir, a new problem
arises now. These students are not able to complete their medical courses as
they had to come back to Tamil (5) Nadu and other places in India. I would like
to ask whether the students hailing from India who had gone to Ukraine for
further studies could now be taken to Russia using our friendly relations with
the Russian Government. Is it possible to have them admitted in Russian
universities so that they can continue their studies? The same subjects are
dealt with in Russian universities. The Foreign Minister may kindly840
answer in affirmative because lives of these students are going to be adversely
affected. Most of the students who have gone from Tamil Nadu are wards of
salaried people. Most of them are poor students. Their parents have put their
lifetime earnings into their medical education. We do not know when things will
become normal. So, I am making another demand to the Government that these
students may be relocated in Indian colleges. The tuition fee of medical
education is very high in our country. It should be feasible
for (6)
them to get admission in the colleges. The Government should devise a mechanism
for all the students who have come back as a one-time case. They should be
relocated in960 various colleges in our country. The Government
should also take steps to build more medical colleges. This will also encourage980
the States. It is also a fact that thousands of Indian students
returning from Ukraine are facing the issue of rehabilitation. The course
of events in Ukraine has dashed their hopes and dreams. It is
difficult to predict how long it will take for things to return to normalcy
in the country and how long it will take for the stranded students at
various stages of education to complete their education. So, I request the
Government of India to let the Indian students from Ukraine complete their MBBS
and pursue other streams in Indian universities. If they are given
admission1080
in Indian colleges, their careers will be saved.
Hon. Chairman (7) Sir,
in my constituency, the conflict between human life and wildlife
is a big issue. Recently, three persons at three different locations were
attacked by the tigers within one month.1120 All of them lost their lives. So,
people’s lives are at risk. As per the Government’s advisory, if any direction
has to be given or a final decision has to be taken, the authority concerned of
the State Government has to go to the area, and discuss with the Collector, the
Gram Panchayat, and the District Forest Officer. It takes a
number of days to arrive at the final decision. In the meanwhile, we may
lose innocent lives. In my1200 opinion, whenever a new advisory
is to be issued, the District Collector, and the District Forest Officer in
consultation with the Gram Panchayat should take the decision as to whether
such an animal has to be removed from the area or relocated to some other
area. At present, the authority (8) to take such a decision is with the
Government. The1260 Government official has to go to the
remote areas. My constituency is 300 kilometres away from Chennai. This whole
process takes minimum 15 days, and in the meanwhile, a lot of people may be
losing their lives. So, this is a serious issue which must be addressed
properly. A new Advisory may be issued in this regard.
Mr. Chairman, Sir, I would
like to draw the attention of the hon. Labour Minister to the ESI
ceiling limit. Sir, the Employees’ State Insurance Scheme is one of the
major social security schemes which is benefiting lakhs of workers in
our country, both in the organised sector and the unorganised
sector. However, it is quite unfortunate to note that the
wage ceiling limit for entitlement of ESI benefit scheme is Rs. 21,000 per
month. This ceiling limit1400 (9) of Rs. 21,000 was fixed in the month
of January, 2017. Subsequent to that, many wage revisions have taken place,
many agreements have come into force and the cost of living index has
also increased very much. Since salary has been increased, lakhs of workers are
now out of purview of the Employees’ State Insurance Scheme. There is a
proposal which is pending before the Labour Ministry and that proposal
is that the wage ceiling limit may be increased to Rs. 50,000. So, I would like
to know from the hon. Minister whether the Government is thinking to increase
the wage ceiling limit for entitlement to the Employees’ State Insurance Scheme.
The Employees’ State Insurance Scheme is one of the best schemes
available in our country through which workers are getting super-speciality
treatment and all (10) other special treatments.
