ENGLISH SHORTHAND DICTATION-252

 

The policy of uniformity emphasizing centralization of everything at the Centre has failed in India. The Congress must admit this fact. We have wasted time by following this policy for 47 years. We must rethink on this policy. The unitary Constitutional approach has failed. The federal structure in our Constitution must be strengthened, The State Governments must have more voice in the Central Administration. Our Constitution must be rewritten to emphasize federal structure. The majority of people belonging to minority communities feel that they are neglected. The Centre is trying to divide those sections on party lines. Instead of indulging in such things, the Centre must try to satisfy the aspirations of the minorities.

There is a feeling in Tamil¹²⁰ Nadu that the Hindi language is being imposed. Nowadays, the Congress Members have also joined us on this issue. I¹⁴⁰ (1) do not know whether it is a true feeling or not. More and more Hindi programmes are being telecast on television. In the name of Tamil programmes, Hindi programmes are being telecast with dubbing in Tamil. It is a horrible Tamil dubbing as dubbing is done in the North. How long will it go like this? I wanted Tamil words, not English and Hindi words in Tamil broadcasts. I wrote to the Ministers. But the Hon'ble Minister replied that it is appropriate to use English and Hindi words in Tamil broadcasts. I do not know why they are afraid of²⁴⁰ Tamil. We are always with them. We voted for them. We sent 28 Members of Parliament. So, do not²⁸⁰ be afraid of Tamil. We want Tamil in Tamil broadcasts. We do not want Tamil in English broadcasts or Hindi broadcasts. This must be understood. But they continued like this. (2) Can you use Tamil words in Hindi broadcasts? I wanted that the Tamil calendar year, month and date should be telecast in Tamil programmes. But the Minister said that there was no proposal for telecasting Tamil calendar in Tamil programmes. The Tamil broadcast mentioned the name of a year '1915 Saka’ which we do not understand. I do not know what it means. We enquired about it from a³⁶⁰ number of people. I enquired about it from the former Governor. Nobody was able to tell me its meaning. I do not bother whether it is a Sanskrit word or a Hindi word. I have no objection to it. But you should also broadcast and telecast Tamil months and years. What is wrong in it? You are trying to⁴²⁰  treat the Tamil people as second-class people. It will only be encouraging the divisive forces in Tamil Nadu.

Mr. Vice-Chairman Sir, I have been listening to the speeches made (3) on the Motion of Thanks during the last couple of days. Members from the Treasury Benches as well as from the Opposition spoke on various aspects. After hearing what has⁴⁸⁰ been said so far, I find that most of the speakers from Treasury Benches are apologetic. They spoke without any conviction. Sir, the Address is full of platitudes and I am really aghast at this naivety. I am, therefore, inclined to agree with the observation made by the former President, Mr. Venkataraman, that the President’s Address was only a ritual and that it did not serve any purpose. So, it is better to dispense with it. I totally agree with⁵⁶⁰ that observation. My honourable friend, Mr. Balram, raised this issue yesterday. This is wasting the time of this House, the time of Parliament. Absolutely nothing happens by this Address. The Address contains some reference of the Standing Committees. When the⁶⁰⁰ constitution of the Standing Committees for various ministries was mooted (4) in the House, we from the Opposition welcomed it because we thought that these Standing Committees would make the Executive more accountable to Parliament. All Members in both the Houses of Parliament worked in the Standing Committees. We produced some good reports. We made some recommendations. Not even a single recommendation to my mind is being accepted by the Government. The casual way in which the Government has treated the recommendations of the Standing Committees clearly shows the callousness of the Government. On top of it, the Prime Minister himself⁷⁰⁰ exhorted his own party persons to politicise the Standing Committees. This is really the most unfortunate thing coming from the⁷²⁰ Prime Minister of this country, because in the parliamentary system of Government, the committee system has its own role, and it is a time-tested, well-taken institution which will make the Executive accountable to Parliament and to the people. I am really sorry for this kind of an utterance coming from (5) the Prime Minister.

 

There are other committees. There are statutory committees. There are Joint Parliamentary Committees on various issues. This Government's attitude toward the recommendations of those committees is also most unfortunate. For example, the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Securities Scam produced a unanimous report. The party which is ruling this country had majority in the Committee. But the moment the Committee report came in for discussion in this House,⁸⁴⁰ the way in which the Members of the Government, including the Ministers in the Cabinet, attacked the findings of the Committee, is really very unfortunate.

Sir, I rise to speak on this Motion of Thanks. When Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma was elected to the highest office in the country, the Prime Minister said that the nation was safe in his hands. I now remember those words. What the Prime Minister said then has been proved today. The nation is safe in his hands. The President has said that the year (6) 1993 started with problems, but ended on a note of optimism. It is proved. Why did he say that the year ended on a note of optimism? It⁹⁶⁰ is because of the improved law and order situation, a record production of food grains, unprecedented levels of procurement, very high⁹⁸⁰ levels of food grains stock, containment of the rate of inflation at a single digit level, comfortable foreign exchange reserves, etc. These are the achievements of the present Government during the last three years. The President has talked about the achievements and the future programmes of the present Government.

I heard my honourable friend Mr. Morarka. He was jokingly saying that the greatest achievement of the present Government is the turning of the minority into majority. I wish he were here but he is not present here. Turning our one billion dollars of foreign exchange reserves into¹⁰⁸⁰ 13 billion dollars is not a joke. It is not (7) easy. We could do this under the leadership of the present Prime Minister who has rightly chosen the right man as the Finance Minister of India. Today I am very happy that¹¹²⁰ we have the best Finance Minister. He is the best Finance Minister in the world. I feel very much privileged to have him. So, we must be thankful and grateful to the President for mentioning all these things. The inflation rate in 1991 was 17 per cent. Today it is just above 8 per cent. So, we have to be thankful to him for mentioning this.

About the law and order situation, of course, he has¹²⁰⁰ said that it has improved, but it is very debatable. It has improved in Punjab. Of course, we can say that in Punjab it was an insurgency problem and not a law and order problem. That has been totally solved. Now normalcy has returned to Punjab. We must also be (8) very happy about this. Let me go to Jammu and Kashmir. When, I joined Parliament, the situation in Jammu and Kashmir was very bad. Jammu and Kashmir was burning.

The¹²⁶⁰ next point is about the formation of the National Commission on Human Rights. This is very appropriate. This has been done to counter the allegations made by our friends. Today, unfortunately, we have unfriendly friends as our neighbours. They are all friends but very much unfriendly. So, you have to counter their charges diplomatically. So, after the National Commission on Human Rights was set up, the world knows that India is very much concerned about human rights. So, by establishing the Human Rights Commission we can somehow refute the charges. For this also, we have to be very thankful to the President.

Another point is regarding population control. The President said that the potential rate of growth in 1990-91 was 2.14 per cent. The important point is that the annual rate of population growth¹⁴⁰⁰  (9) has come down to 1.9 per cent. I am happy to know this. But I still have my doubts and fears about the way the population rise has been controlled. The family welfare measures are being adopted only by the affluent sections of the population. You know in the Western countries ladies are resorting to birth control measures not for the welfare of the country or the family, but because they want to be free from the burden of children. My point is whether these measures are being resorted to by the poorer sections of the population, like slum dwellers and beggars. Has anybody gone to explain them about the benefits of birth control measures and persuaded them to do so? The day before yesterday, I read in the Indian Express, that one Mamta, a beggar, who has (10) been begging for the last 15 years, has five children.