Hon.
Members, I would like to make an observation and also an appeal. People
were feeling happy that the Rajya Sabha is functioning without disruptions and
Members are having their say, but not today, unfortunately. One has to go
through the Rules. The Rules say that notice under Rule 267 has to be
admitted by the Chairman. I have not admitted it because that is not
an issue before either the Central Government or before the Parliament. It is
an issue there in the State. You can discuss it during the President's
Address because they want to say something about the State. Some hon.
Members were shouting that their issue must be taken up. It has not been120 permitted by the Chair. You are
criticising the Governor; you are criticising the Centre; you are criticising
the Chair and140 (1)
the House also. Meanwhile, some hon. Members requested that the Leader of
Opposition wants to speak. The Leader of Opposition160 can speak only if the House is in order.
Your own Members are creating disorder. You have been participating in Zero
Hour and Question Hour. All States are being accommodated to the extent
possible. I have sympathy for everybody. So, my appeal is that we should function
as per the rules, regulations and guidance from the Chair.
Hon.
Chairperson, if you go to Para 22 of the Speech
of the hon. President, he has laid stress on empowering the240 farmers of this country. It is a
welcome thing. The President has mentioned about empowering the farmers in
rural economy280 of the
country. I am not going to deal in (2)
detail about the rural economy but I know that you would not give me
time for that. I have a very limited time. The other Members have very
elaborately explained as to what is the rural economy of this country
now. The President has also complimented the farmers. Despite the pandemic, the
farmers produced more than 30 crore tons of food grains and 33 crore tons of
horticulture in 2020-21. Our agriculture exports reached a record level and
registered a growth of more than360
25 per cent valuing Rs. 3 lakh crore. This is the contribution of the farmers
of this country. In the Question Hour, we were discussing about the Swaminathan
Commission and the Minimum Support Price. The farmers are contributing
so much to this country. What are they getting in return? The farmers'
income has not been doubled. This was the420 promise of this Government that the
farmers' income will be doubled by 2022. Can the Government say that it has
been able to double the income of (3)
the farmers? The income of the farmers has not yet been doubled. Had the
farmers' income been doubled, they would not have committed suicide. You
will be astonished to know480
as to why the farmers of this country are committing suicide every day. It
is not my report. It is the report of the NCRB. According to the
NCRB data, more than 42,000 farmers and daily wagers committed suicide in 2019.
It is not the latest report. There has been an increase of 6 per
cent in suicide figures from the previous year. Every year, the number of
farmers' suicide is560 going
on. Are they getting the Minimum Support Price for their produce? In the
Question Hour, I put the question about the Minimum Support Price, but I
think the Government gave a very evasive reply. The Government is not
coming600 out with a reply as
to whether they will bring (4)
a law in this House to ensure a legal coverage to the Minimum Support
Price. The Government refused to do that. This is one of the demands of the
agitating farmers of this country. Most of the farmers in this country
are small and marginal farmers and they are committing suicide. The farm
labourers are committing suicide. If the Government has been able to increase
the economic standard of the farmers, why are the farmers compelled to go for
committing suicide? Has the Government got an answer for this? This is a very pertinent
question about the plight of the farmers. Had they been in a happy condition,
thousands of farmers700 would
not have gone for agitation at the Delhi border.
Sir,
the Railway Minister is sitting here. I compliment the720 Railway Minister for giving sanction to
the different projects of Odisha. Sir, I would like to ask one thing. Why is step-motherly
treatment being shown to Odisha? Our Chief Minister has repeatedly asked
for unification of all Railway assets in Odisha under the East Coast
Railway Headquarters at Bhubaneswar. The (5)
Minister has replied that zones are not formed on State boundary line. I
would like to highlight the fact that the South Coast Railway Zone has been
formed on State boundary line. It is at the cost of the East Coast Railway. This
is a discriminatory act against our State.840
The
President has mentioned about forming two All India Institutes of Medical
Sciences, one in Jammu and the other in Kashmir. It is a very good decision and
I welcome it. There are some other regions in this country where health
services are very poor. I will give one example. Sundergarh is a tribal area in
Odisha and it is adjacent to Jharkhand which is also a tribal-dominated State.
Our Chief Minister has been requesting the Central Government to open an All
India Institute of Medical Sciences in Sundergarh.
Sir,
there (6) are
States like Odisha, Bihar, and Jharkhand which are mine-bearing States. The
Government of India is collecting a Clean Environment Cess. Earlier, they were
collecting Rs. 200 per960 ton.
Now, it has been enhanced and Rs. 400 per ton is being collected by the
Centre. The Odisha980
Government has requested for renaming the Cess as Environment and Rehabilitation
Cess. Sir, we are suffering. The mine-bearing States are suffering. Our
environment is polluted; our trees are cut; and the Government of India is
collecting this Cess in the name of Clean Environment Cess. The mine-bearing
States do not get a single pie on that. Our Chief Minister has always been
requesting to rename this Cess as Environment and Rehabilitation Cess and earmark
at least 60 per cent for the coal-bearing States. This has been our
request. The Government of India is not considering it. Sir, the share1080 of this gross tax revenue for
the Union Government has (7)
increased from 7.5 per cent to about 19 per cent in the last 20 years.
The Government of India is imposing cess and surcharge on petrol, diesel,
liquor1120 and some other
products also, and the increased trend of the Centre to rely on cess and
surcharge denies the States their rightful share in tax devolution because the cess
and surcharge amount is not going to the divisible pool.
The
States are not entitled to get the share of it as per the
recommendations of the Finance Commission. So, our request to the Centre
is that the revenue thus generated should form part of the divisible pool so
that1200 the States can get a
benefit of that. Sir, we understand that during the pandemic, the Central
Government spent a lot of money. The State Governments have also spent a lot of
money for the same. How will they get back that money? This is our
genuine and rightful demand. (8)
So, I urge upon the Central Government to concede it.1260
Sir,
the hon. President in his Speech has mentioned about women’s
empowerment. The President said that women’s empowerment is one of the top
priorities of the Government. Sir, this is just contrary to the
fact. A lot of slogans have been formed in support of women’s empowerment. Sir,
we know that the Triple Talaq Bill was passed by this House. We
say that among the Muslim community, a lot of superstitions are there and
we have to deal with that. Sir, I will put one question here. What
happened in Sabarimala Temple in Kerala? What was the judgement of the
Supreme Court? What was the stand of the ruling party? There are two national
parties. What was their stand? On one hand, we talk about women’s
emancipation, and on the other hand, we support preventing women from
entering into1400 (9)
a temple. We are not even prepared to go by the judgement of the Supreme
Court. What was the judgement of the Supreme Court? In the Sabarimala case,
the Supreme Court held that any exception placed on women because of
biological differences violates the Constitution. It violates the right to
equality under Article 14 and freedom of religion under Article 25. Why is the
Government following double standards? These are double standards. In a diverse
country like India, rule of law must be supreme. There should not be
dominance of one religion. At the same time, there should be no discrimination
against any particular religion. The Government should make it clear that no
religion is above law. (10)
