Need to Include Orissa under Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reform Programme to overcome power shortage in the State.
Date: 02 .12.2009
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY (DHENKANAL): I would like to bring to the notice of the House the issue about power crisis in Orissa. There is rapid industrialization, and massive rural electrification and erratic monsoon has created scarcity of power in Orissa. Orissa is the first State to undertake power sector reforms and the State should not be penalized for the same as APDRP (Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reform Programme) of 11th Plan is not applicable to the private distribution companies.
I, therefore, urge upon the Government that the entire 1320 MW power which will be generated from the proposed expansion unit of Talcher Power Station of NTPC should be allocated to the Orissa State and include Orissa under restructured APDRP Scheme.
Discussion on the motion for consideration of the Metro Railways (Amendment) Bill, 2009. (Bill Passed).
Date: 06.08.2009
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY (DHENKANAL): Madam, I would like to be very short because the House has agreed to bypass the discussion on this Bill.
Madam, I would just like to bring two things to your notice as the common person of this country or rather I would say, as hoi polloi. I have traveled by the Delhi Metro. I think, most of the hon. Members have not travelled much by the Delhi Metro; I doubt if the Minister, except for inauguration or special festivals, would have ever travelled by the Metro.
Madam, I have noticed two things which I would like to bring to your notice. The first one is that a terror accident is just about to happen in the Delhi Metro. I am not predicting it. I am not a soothsayer like most politicians are soothsayers. I am not like that. I am incapable of that. But, Madam, if you go to a metro station and you board the coaches, you will realize yourself that something could go wrong at any time; and there is absolutely no care being taken. This is our peculiar Indian mentality. When something happens, then we go on with green alert, red alert and blue alert. After that, within three-four days, everything is back to normal. This is one thing.
Second thing that I would like to bring to your notice is that everybody heard about the Zamrudpur accident in Delhi. Even today, the people around that area are not getting water. But the interesting fact is about the main engineer responsible for that, who had been deputed from the Indian Railways to work for the DMRC. The moment the accident happened, this gentleman was so smart that he sent a letter to the Chief of the DMRC and said: “This fault is mine. Therefore, I may be sent back to my parent cadre.” Now, is that a punishment? If somebody does that, is the Government not responsible? If an accident has happened, if lives have been lost, will that person be put to task or not? It is because, gradually the Government and the establishment in India are forthrightly and openly projecting an image that human lives do not hold any meaning for them. If two-three persons die or if 60 people die, it does not matter to them! We are a huge country of one billion, 100 million people.So, I would just like to say that these two things should be taken into account by the Ministry.
Discussion on the motion for consideration of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2009 moved by Shri Kapil Sibal on the 31st July, 2009 (Bill Passed).
Date: 04.08.2009
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY (DHENKANAL): Sir, I stand here to debate on this very important Bill today, a Bill which some sections of the society are viewing as a 100-day achievement of the UPA-II Government. It is a Bill which most of the speakers in this House today have more or less agreed as an ill-thought out, conceptually weak Bill. It is a hurriedly prepared Bill just to show that within 100 days, they have achieved this much. Let us all admit one thing. You, Sir, will definitely agree, as you have struggled a lot in your life, that nothing in life is for free. Even the parent’s love for children is not for free. Somewhere deep down in the parent’s heart, maybe not spoken, there is a desire that when they grow old, when they are infirm, maybe their child will grow up and protect and look after them. So, parent’s love is also not free.
When a Government talks about free education, it obviously implies that free education is meant only for that section of society which is weak and which is incapable of paying school fees. When we think of that section of society, we also think of a revolutionary poet, Bob Marley, who said that a hungry man is an angry man. It implies that free education willy-nilly will mean free education versus full belly. What does that show us? It shows that a family, where the father is a carpenter, or a plumber or an electrician, wants the child, if it is a son, to become an apprentice who will go out with him, work with him, learn the trick of the trade as well as be an earning member of the family as soon as possible.
You are talking about children between the ages of six and fourteen. By fourteen, a child in India, who belongs to the weaker sections of the society, is invariably an earning member. The family depends on him for their bread. So, if you go and tell them – if the Government ever in India can create a machinery that can approach all these families and tells them – to send their wards to a school for formal education, the parents will pooh-pooh them away. It is primarily because we are in a country – let us admit the facts – where we have not handled ourselves well in the past sixty-two years and we have only created a larger base of people who are incapable of approaching better levels of education.
On the other hand, we see that when the parents pay for their children’s education, there is accountability, both from the parents’ and from the schools’ side. They demand that every class has a teacher; they demand that schools have the books available, which is not the case in the Government schools or in the Government colleges, whether it is at the elementary level or at the higher level. Therefore, this is a Bill which needs even more debate. It is not a superficial flippant which this Government should rush through just to show that its CV is getting thicker.
Is the Government doing it because it is preparing to apply for the next job after four and half years or after five years? If that be the case, then all of us, like in the case of Constitution (Amendment) Bill where you yourself must have seen, an amazing unanimity was shown – just one person, probably by mistake said “No”, will agree and say, “Fine, go through the Bill.” But if there is sincerity, if there is love for the nation and love for the poor people, debate this Bill properly.
The focus in this Bill, you will notice, is mostly on inputs, like class rooms, building toilets, which means overall infrastructure, teacher training, library, etc. But, what about the output? What about the learning achievements?
What about teaching our children how to behave properly? What about teaching our children what are the values of this country? Or are we just going to ape the Americans, like this Government is doing right from the nuclear deal? Are we going to ape the West?
We are talking about forcing private schools to have 25 per cent reservation for students belonging to economically weaker sections. Who will choose these students? Which school will accept these students? What will be the psychological situation and condition of these students, who know that when 75 per cent of the other students are paying and that they have come here for free? What will be the attitude of the teachers who are supposed to teach these free students plus the paid students? Let us not ignore these facts.
Another part is about those 75 per cent of those students. What about their fee structure? Will you burden them with higher fees? Will they have to compensate for these 25 per cent students? Will that not be injustice to the larger sections of the society? What is the cap on fee? Even today we see that private schools arbitrarily go through the roof with their fees. There is no control. I personally feel that vocational training is one of the most important things. As I mentioned earlier, if a farmer’s son stays home and learns how to farm, learns how to handle the field when the monsoon is delayed, if he learns what are the difficulties with the cropping pattern, what are the insects that damage the crop, he will be a good farmer and he will be economically viable to this country. If a carpenter’s son goes and runs hand plane with his father, if he learns where to nail it, then he will be an asset to this society. A perfect carpenter will be an asset to the Indian society. So, what does education really imply? In my opinion, education really implies at disciplining your mind. It is not which Moghul Emperor started Deen-e-Elahi as a religion or what is the seventh theorem of Geometry that helps any of the distinguished Members here in this House or all our Nobel laureates or anybody. What helps them? What helps these brilliant and young people sitting here all around me with bright faces? It is the disciplined mind and we have one of the brightest Ministers as the Minister of Human Resources Development. He is not unlike some of his colleagues. He is not a … *. He is a very bright person in this sub-continent. He is revered … (Interruptions)
SHRI KAPIL SIBAL: Sir, … should not go in the proceedings.
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : I did not say, …
SHRI KAPIL SIBAL: You said, … I do not think it should form part of the proceedings. … (Interruptions)
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : If it is unparliamentary, then please delete it. … (Interruptions)
MR. CHAIRMAN : Please be brief and come to the point.
… (Interruptions)
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : But what I meant was that he is a bright person and he has success to show in his career. …
(Interruptions)
MR. CHAIRMAN: Please come to the point.
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : So, Sir, as a bright person, he has to also realize that you cannot create just semi-literate half-educated people who will be mere job seekers. Where are you going to create so many jobs from? Where will you employ these people?
You are talking of creating a knowledge hub in India. That is because our presumption is because all our neighbours Japan, China right up to the West America, England and everybody else, every society is an aging society whereas India is a young country. That is very good. We are all happy. We will have these young people all over this country. But then an untrained youth force may be more damaging for this country than it will be beneficial. So, will our education system be able to handle this half-educated young people or will they all go on strike demanding jobs, demanding benefits and eventually whosoever will be in power at that time will not know the din that we would have created today by saying that Ayes have it, Ayes have it? … (Interruptions)
MR. CHAIRMAN: Please conclude.
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : Sir, one of the most important things that I find in education is that I have been educated in the southern part of India, in a place called Pondicherry. I find that when teachers are inspired, when teachers are allowed to create a curriculum out of their experience of interacting with children, then only you create a school system – a learning system that thrills or exhilarates the students. If the students cannot be thrilled, the child or the baby is not happy to go to school, no matter what the economic situation, there will be no learning. What eventually will happen? It will be mugging and by mugging, we will never create enterprising minds. We will only create muggers and people who will be forced to work as servants. We will only create more servants people looking for jobs. … (Interruptions)
Sir, I would like to come to a few details before I wind up. The threat to teachers to be adequately educated within five years, to be adequately prepared within five years or else lose their jobs and to schools to get their infrastructure act together within three years or else lose recognition is something that is impractical. In the rural areas, when we see the Government schools, they function in tents. The children are sitting under trees and learning and when the question of recognition comes, if it is a Government school, it is to be there. It is understood that it is a recognized school. It is no matter whether there is any toilet whether there is a class room, there is nothing which matters.
So, for whom are you creating this rule that they have to create infrastructure? Is it for Government schools or private schools? When it is private schools, they already have everything. That is why parents pay such high fees to put their wards in private schools. It is only Government schools which do not have infrastructure and it is only Government schools where the poor go to study.… (Interruptions)
MR. CHAIRMAN: Please conclude.
… (Interruptions)
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : Sir, I have just a couple of suggestions that I would like to quickly go through. Definitely, you will be amazed to know about it. There should be an independent assessment of learning in schools. There should be transparency. It should be made public. A National Learning Assessment Institute or something like that is what we are contemplating now. We are thinking and debating about it. As I said just now, a National Learning Assessment Institute should be created which could be mandated to test learning across the country in all schools, take samples and make the findings public.The School Management Committee part in this Bill is a very welcome thing. But I personally feel that it needs more powers over finances and functionaries of the school.At the end, I would say that it is also sad that we have kept the poor children of Jammu and Kashmir out of this Bill. I do not know why we always accept the fact as if Jammu and Kashmir is not a part of this nation. We should incorporate it into this Act. Hon. Minister, maybe, as a test case, start your experiments in Jammu and Kashmir and prove it to our neighbouring countries and to the rest of the country that this is your dream project; this is what you want to do when you are in charge of HRD. Do you actually want to prove it? Or, do you just want to be flippant about it which would actually mean nothing? With these words, I conclude.
Need to expedite the completion of All India Institute of Medical Sciences at Sijua, Orissa.
Date: 22.07.2009
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY (DHENKANAL): Hon’ble Speaker Madam, I would like to bring an issue to the notice of the House that the foundation stone for setting up of All India Institute of Medical Sciences Branch was laid by the Hon’ble former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Jee at Sijua (Orissa). But the work has been hanging fire for more than five years. The poor people of Orissa are being deprived of health care as a result thereof. I, therefore, urge upon the Government for taking initiatives for early completion of work so as to meet healthcare needs of the State.
Discussion on the Demand for Grant No. 74 under the control of the Ministry of Power for the year 2009-2010.
Date: 21-07-2009
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY (DHENKANAL): Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for allowing me to participate in the discussion and voting on the Demands for Grants under the control of the Ministry of Power for 2009-10.
I would like to pide, what I wish to say, into two parts. First, because of paucity of time, I would like to talk about only three major problems of my State, namely Orissa. The State Government under the able leadership of Shri Naveen Patnaik has been effectively trying to generate, transmit and distribute power or energy as equitably and as efficiently as is possible.
Under the instigation of the federal Government, the Government of Orissa, in 1999, which was then a Congress-led Government, had embarked on an ambitious plan to privatise the energy sector. In the process, two States in this nation, namely Orissa first, and second, the State we are in now, that is Delhi, went ahead with the process of privatisation. But, now unfortunately we find that the federal Government has decided to do a volte-face and avoid taking up responsibilities which are due and for which they had been clamouring.
Everybody told us that privatisation will bring in a new era and that it would help us to create a state where there will be no shortage of energy. In the process, one of the major companies, albeit it does not enjoy a majorly good reputation, out of four discoms, it took up three in Orissa. North Orissa, West Orissa and South Orissa are with Reliance Power and CESCO is with the State Government, which is controlling mostly the coastal part of Orissa.
We have been deprived of funding from the Central Government under the pretext that we have gone in for privatisation. That has hampered transmission and distribution, by not enabling the State Government and the Corporations under the State to modernise these assets. The State Government had been asked by the federal Government to set up an Ultra Mega Power Project which is supposed to have a minimum generating capacity of 2,000 megawatt in Orissa. The State Government in the district of Sundergarh, in a place called Vedabahal, gave the land and has got the necessary clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forest and has been able to organise all the pre-requisites for starting the power plant there.
The State Government has suggested two other sites, with equal opportunities there too. But, unfortunately, the Central Government has not thought it fit to react to the request of the State Government and the Ministry of Power is obviously neglecting Orissa in this aspect. I, for one, am not a person who will cry here on bended knees saying that my State is poor and please help my State. Everybody has been speaking in that same tone. But I take pride in the industrious character of the `Oriya’, the average young `Oriya’ and I take pride in the natural endowments that the State of Orissa has received from the Almighty. Therefore, we are not a poor State; we are not poor people; we are capable people; and we are able to take our own decisions – whether social and political – which our hon. Chief Minister has also proved in the past few years that we are able to stand up on our own legs. We do not need anybody’s assistance. But the impediment is primarily coming in from the Central Government or the Federal Government in letting us go in our own way because of the Federal structure of this nation. Therefore, even in an ideal project like the Rajiv Gandhi Grammen Vidyutikaran Yojna (RGGVY) whereby you intend to electrify every village by 2012, the impediment is that the work has been given to the Central Corporations like NTPC, NHPC and some such organisations. Now, these organisations are not under the control of the State Governments.
Many complaints have been heard about the RGGVY from different States. I have been listening to all the speeches, but nobody, unfortunately, has highlighted this fact. In my own constituency of Dhenkanal, Talcher is one of the hubs. One of our colleagues from the South has mentioned that NTPC and NHPC should be named as `North India Thermal Power Corporation’. I would say that we would be happy if Corporations like NTPC and NHPC also went away to the South.
Sir, in Talcher we are blessed with millions of tonnes of fly ash every year. We do not know what to do with it. They initially gave us very rosy pictures that there will be no problems, create fly ash bricks. How many bricks can you create? Even if you do create, the transportation cost of the bricks is so high that beyond a certain point, they do not prove economical and nobody wants to buy them. So, we have these huge ash ponds coming up all over Angul and Dhenkanal districts and it is creating a mess in the lives of the common people. So, actually, we are sick and tired of these organizations. An unfortunate part is that in the previous Government, during the NDA Government, a huge NTPC project was inaugurated in Talcher and the whole project was earmarked that all the power generated from that project would go to the State of Karnataka, i.e., in the South of India. So, we take the brunt; we take the pollution; the dirt; the fly ash; the dirty water, but the energy goes to the South of India.
Now, under the RGGVY, you have again bestowed the onerous task of electrifying our villages on those same corporations. There is nobody who is supervising it. This Central Government is not concerned and is not following up on the achievements of these Corporations. The State Government has no authority to haul anybody up and by that what is happening is that there is total laxity; there is total neglect and nothing is being achieved. Sir, in my own two districts of Dhenkanal and Angul and in the rest of Orissa, we see that the progress is very slow and yet there is nobody to pull them up and there is no lagaam on them.
The other point is that you have the Accelerated Power Development and Restructuring Programme (APDRP). This scheme is primarily meant for urban and blocks headquarters’ system management. Money is being spent in huge quantities for these projects. You also have an RAPDRP now. But what I had mentioned earlier, by virtue of privatisation, Orissa initially got Rs. 74 crore in the Tenth Plan. But, after that, only once we got that money. Now, we have been deprived of any more funds primarily because you are giving the example: “You have privatised; you have gone ahead with privatisation and now you should fend for yourself.” The private companies are unwilling to under-write these sums. Therefore, Orissa is being deprived of any more funding in this sector. I would not say this as a plea. I am not beseeching you. This is my demand to the federal Government that we also have organisations like the GRIDCO, the Orissa Power Transmission Corporation Limited and the Orissa Hydro-Power Corporation which are capable, efficient with proven track records. These organisations have proven track records. You can fund these organisations because primarily what is happening is this.For example, if you take the Reliance Infrastructure, which is handling Orissa and Delhi, it is spending Rs. 38 billion in developing the transmission and distribution network in Delhi. That is because politically and in every way that you can think of, Delhi is vital for its goodwill on a larger scale. So, it is investing in Delhi. But where does it get the money from? When it was BSES, it had taken up Orissa. So, the initial investment for this Company by which it took up the distribution network in Delhi was from Orissa. But there is no investment by this Company in Orissa. On the one hand, because of your persistence, we privatised it. The Company does not invest now. On the other hand, you are blaming us saying: “Since you have gone in for privatisation, we will not give you any money.” So, you are stopping the funding to the State. Therefore, we are being the losers. Because of their insistence and their interests, we have privatised it and yet we are the losers.
MR. CHAIRMAN : Please conclude now.
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : Sir, I would need two more minutes from you. I will be very brief. You will be surprised how brief I will be!
In the second part of my speech, I will dwell on the slightly broader ambit of the nation. I am very sad to note that even in the last Lok Sabha – I was here – we had a Vote of Confidence. The Government and the party which was controlling the Government, which still controls the Government, could risk the federal Government on the egoistic issue of the Indo-US Nuclear Treaty which was signed by us. They won. They managed. Whatever they did, I should not get into that. But what I am trying to say is that even from that period till now, the Government of India has not made any estimation of what the power requirement of this country will be in 50 years, by 2050. So, what is the target that we are trying to reach for power generation in this country?
Sir, if you see the 17th Electric Power Survey by the Central Electricity Authority, it had forecast a demand of 7,94,561 million units for 2008-09 with a peak deficit of 12 per cent. But, if you see what is our present installed capacity as on April 1, 2009 – April 1 is the Orissa Day – it is 1,47,965.40 MW. This is as per the CEA’s website. So, our deficit is huge. What are your plans? You have not been able to project your plans properly. You have not been able to tell the nation, to tell the House how you propose to deal with the shortfall that the nation is facing. When you are claiming that there will be power for all by 2012, how do you expect and how do you think you will meet the required, assured quality and affordable energy by that time?
MR. CHAIRMAN: Please wind up.
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : I will wrap up. Now that you have instructed me, I should wrap up.
Personally I would like to congratulate the Prime Minister for one good thing that he has done in these last five years during the previous Lok Sabha and now and that is, he has signed on emission capping of this nation at the risk of upsetting those bureaucrats who have sold their souls to multinational and international companies which want to set up all their polluting industries within the territory of India. So I would like to congratulate the Prime Minister for this. But the Power Ministry also has to take into account that if you are strengthening the emission laws, you have to decide what sort of power sector you want to concentrate on.
MR. CHAIRMAN : Please conclude now. Shrimati Supriya Sule.
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : Sir, are you asking me to conclude?
MR. CHAIRMAN: Yes. I have given you enough time.
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : Lastly I would say that hydro power is one power which is eco-friendly and cost-efficient. Even if the initial investment is high – it is true it will be high – but within 10 to 12 years any hydro power unit that we have seen in India has been able to pay back its capital investment. Then hydro power is the cheapest power that is available in India. We have tremendous capacities for that from the Northeast to my State of Orissa which has 11 large river basins. We can not only make ourselves power sufficient, but we can also empower our colleagues from the South and also the North with a lot more power.
MR. CHAIRMAN: Please wind up now.
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : But I would like to say that it is time that we concentrated on what sort of power we want. Nuclear power is not the answer to the requirements of what India will have by 2050.
Before I wind up, I would request the Government and the Minister that they should come up with a White Paper on what is the estimation they have about the requirement of energy by 2050, how they want to meet that requirement and what are the plans that they have to meet that requirement without damaging the environment.
General discussion on the Budget (Railways) for the year 2009-2010.
Date:08-07-2009
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY (DHENKANAL): Thank you. For the Railway Minister, there is no ‘right way’ or ‘wrong way’, but there is only the ‘Railway’.
After such Railway Ministers as Dr. Ram Subhodh Singh, Babu Jagjivan Ram, Shri L.N. Mishra, Shri Kedar Pandey, Shri Nitish Kumar, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, Shri Lalu Prasad – in-between we had Janab Ghani Khan Chowdhury – Kumari Mamata Banerjee is a fresh breadth of air and a new feeling, bringing in new hopes and aspirations, not only for the Railways, but hopefully also for the States like Orissa. We also contribute a lot to the revenue of the Railways.
I must admit that the present Railway Budget at least has noted the existence of Orissa, which had been neglected for the past so many years. Even with the Party with which we were allies had consistently neglected us. Now we are happy that this Railway Minister has taken note of our existence. I have very limited points to bring to the notice of the Railway Minister. I am happy she is here right now.
Sir, I represent Dhenkanal constituency which has three major railway stations; Dhenkanal, Angul and Talcher. The British had built this railway up to Talcher to get coal, to take it to Calcutta which was the headquarters of the East India Company. So, it was not the contribution of the Indian Railways but of the Britishers to build the railway line. These railway stations, especially Talcher and Dhenkanal, are over a century old but unfortunately for the past 60-62 years no developmental activities have been taken up in these century old railway stations. I would request the hon. Minister to please pay attention and develop Dhenkanal, Angul and Talcher, a triangular situation. I would also like, if she would be kind enough to run this ‘Duranto’ – I do not know if it is a South European word or what – train from Bhubaneswar to New Delhi through Dhenkanal and Angul. The line exists – if it could through Sambalpur and then to Delhi – and it would need upgradation in certain portions but it can take super-fast trains. That line may be modernised. It has been electrified for a great distance. If that could be modernised and that train could run through Dhenkanal and Sambalpur, it would help not only Central Orissa but also the Western part of Orissa which has been very-very neglected till now.
At the end I would like to bring to the notice of the hon. Minister that till recently the Regional Railway Recruitment Boards were a bone of contention for everybody. Whoever failed in a certain State was dumped into places like Orissa. If they failed in a certain State, they were pushed over to Orissa. That created a lot of heart burn. We have seen that in States like Maharashtra and other places in Assam there have been heart burns and that heart burn has resulted in violence against poor, helpless students. So, I would request the hon. Minister to not allow the Railway Recruitment Boards to be functioning in such a way that students who fail in one place can go and appear in another place.They should genuinely be regionalised and students from that area should be made to appear in those Regional Railway Recruitment Board’s test from where they belong. This would bring in peace and it will bring in a lot of credit to the Railway Ministry.
Discussion on the resolution regarding Constitution of National Board for the development of Himalayan States.
Date:03-07-2009
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY (DHENKANAL): Mr. Chairman, Sir, I cannot but support the Private Member’s Resolution on the National Board for the Development of the Himalayan States. It is a brilliant idea and I must congratulate the hon. Member of Parliament who has brought forward this Resolution. But, Sir, let us not limit this to making it like a bloated District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee kind of a set up.
As you know, the Himalayas are a very important geographical part of the whole globe, the whole world. They have a major role to play in the environmental balance not only for this sub-continent but also for the whole of Asia as such and thereby we can assume for the rest of the world too.There are basically two types of rivers that we see in this sub-continent. One is the perennial rivers that flow twelve months a year, come rain, come sunshine and most of them originate from the Himalayas, from the glaciers. The other one is the peninsular type which is mostly rain-fed and we find that because of a lot of procrastination on the part of the Central Government, when it comes to the project to connect inter-linking rivers which we were hearing about in the late 1990s and the earlier 2000, nothing has actually been done in that aspect thereby we have deprived the people of this sub-continent of getting drinking water, water for irrigation. So, the large tracts of this country today, especially in 2009, are reeling under acute shortage of drinking water. It is so because there are no signs of the monsoon yet and our agriculturists have been very badly hit. So, let us not minimize the problem of safeguarding the Himalayas to only a few States or look at it with myopic eyes as if it is a rural development issue or something like that.
The Himalayas, with the environmental importance that they enjoy, have to be safeguarded. We all know that the glaciers are melting fast and they are melting so fast that it is said that by the year 2025, the Himalayan rivers, the so-called perennial rivers will start drying up and this will affect the whole of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. A famine-like situation might continue for a very long time.
Therefore I would suggest that a human and environmentally balanced outlook at this zone is very necessary. It is not only a problem of the Northeast or Himachal Pradesh or Jammu and Kashmir, but the Himalayas have to be looked at in a very holistic manner, in a very total manner. In this area, we can produce a lot of hydro electricity and that should be able to give energy to major parts of this country. Instead of doing that in a balanced way where strict environmental monitoring is maintained at all times, we are allowing this area to be plundered and looted. If we go to even hill stations like Shimla, Manali and Nainital, these towns have become ugly slums now. I remember, as a child when I used to go to Shimla and other hill stations, they had a lot of trees and greenery and they used to be genuinely cold. Now when you go there in the summer, even the mountains have started getting hot. That means, somewhere down the line, we have made a major mistake by which we have tinkered with the environment of these areas and have very badly damaged these areas. So, the Himalayas have to be protected while keeping in mind the environmental conditions of that area.
Sir, I had the pleasure, in the last Lok Sabha, to be invited to Tajikistan and the way the Chinese have moved into Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and those Central Asian countries is amazing. They are taking care of the environment very well and yet building up infrastructure there. In India, what we see is, if we want to build a road, the first casualties are the trees and the natural water bodies. We destroy our environment whereas on the other hand, in those areas, especially in Tajikistan, the Chinese have actually taken a lot of care to protect environment.Therefore I would like to sum up my speech and say that while talking of the Himalayas, let us not have a narrow outlook on the issue. Let us also think of the greater interest of the whole Sub-Continent and of the complete area, starting from Kashmir right up to Brahmaputra in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. We have to look at it in a total manner. In the last Lok Sabha we were discussing that Arunachal Pradesh alone has the capacity to produce 65,000 MW of hydro electric power if the resources are properly tapped. That means, we have enough resources, but we have to maintain these resources with a sustainable outlook and take care of the environment while having a human face.So I would like to wholeheartedly support the setting up of the Board that is being suggested in this Resolution. But the ambit of the Board should be much greater. It should not be limited only to become a rural development monitoring board; it should rather look at the environment, look at the interests of the people of those areas and give them infrastructure without destroying nature which is at its best in the Himalayas.
Discussion on the Interim Budget (General) for the year 2009-10; Demands for Grants on Account in respect of Interim Budget (General) for 2009-10 and Supplementary Demands for Grants in respect of Budget (General) for 2008-09.
Date:20-02-2009
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY (DHENKANAL): Respected Madam Chairperson, at the outset, I wish to thank you for giving me this opportunity and I do not wish to take too much valuable time of this House. I have just a few points to show or to showcase how careless, uncaring and how haphazard this Budget has been.
Madam, it is a known fact that by the single name that the major Party of the UPA, the Congress swears, viz., Mahatma Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi’s name. His call was to look at this country in a very microscopic manner. He wanted the people in-charge of governance to look at this country at the level of the panchayats. But our mania to follow the Americans, to idealize them and love everything that they are rejecting has made us an impractical country where we are forgetting what our forefathers have taught us.
Madam, I will just touch a few points and I am sure that as a sensible representative of the people of this very city of Delhi, you will also be bound to agree with me.
Let us take for instance the per capita income. In India, it is Rs. 38,000, on the other hand, the loan, as we have learnt lately, availed by this country, by 2010, that means, by next year, the per capita loan availed by this Government will be Rs. 30,000. This same amount in 2003 was Rs. 15,000 and in seven year, this has doubled to Rs. 30,000.
So, a common person – whether it is the Chairperson or it is a big industrialist, or it is the small, poor or backward farm labourer — there is an equal distribution Rs. 30,000. When the per capita income is Rs. 38,000, it means you will work ten months’ hard labour. It will be like rigorous imprisonment to repay the loan, which will not be repayable because by the time you repay your Rs. 30,000, a Government like this would have taken another Rs. 60,000 loan on your head. Therefore, it is time that we actually decide what we want to do with the economy and with the people of this country. What is the point and why is this false bravado of claiming achievements in projects like the National Rural Health Mission, the Mid-Day-Meal Scheme, the NREGA, Swajaldhara and all the so-called infrastructure construction, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, these islands of prosperity that you are creating for industrialists and big businessmen? Where is the help in building this nation when you are trampling the poor and the real aam aadmi?
Madam, I will give you one more example. In this Budget under the Defence Head, this Government has sanctioned Rs. 1,41,700 crore. But what does history tell us for the past consecutive years? The Government, including this Government, for the past five years, has not been able to properly make our Armed Forces combat and be ready as per international standards. Therefore, what happens is that every year we find that the Ministry of Defence is compelled to return funds because those funds have been lying unspent. It is because those funds have been lying unspent. So, when you are giving them such huge amounts and they are not even able to develop an LCA or a proper Armoured Vehicle or a Tank or our own weapon, we have to buy, we have to import AK 47 and AK 56 rifles. It is a pity because we are not giving them the free hand to acquire and to become modern. Therefore, I personally feel that it is a criminal waste to get this kind of huge amounts of money just locked up and unspent and force the poor people of this country to pay back loans for which they have absolutely not done any mistake.
Madam, this Budget presented by the hon. Foreign Minister and Finance Minister is a cruel joke on this nation because the Finance Minister becomes the Home Minister, the Home Minister has to go somewhere else. The Prime Minister has gone somewhere else. Then, somebody else does the Prime Minister’s job. The Prime Minister acting and in waiting is not allowed.… (Interruptions)
MADAM CHAIRMAN : Is it part of the Interim Budget?
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : Madam, I am not disrespectful to anybody. The Prime Minister in waiting Shri Pranab Mukherjee is a very respectable, a very veteran and probably a true leader of this country. But, unfortunately, we see that such senior leaders have been slighted as the whole nation saw what happened on the 26th January. Anyway, we feel sad because a senior, a most respectable person is treated like this. No matter where we sit in the House, he is a great man who looks at everybody equally. He is probably one of the few people in this Government who knows how to speak to his colleagues with respect and with folded hands. Always, you will notice in his speech that he uses the words “I humbly submit” which, I find, missing in most people. I praise him for that. But we feel sad the way he is slighted and the way he is treated by his own Party. He should be deserving to be the Prime Minister. But, unfortunately, that is not the way the mechanism works in his Party. He is, after all, not fit to be liked by people. But I would like to bring to your notice that issues such as drinking water, health, roads and rural connectivity, energy – all these issues, as a blanket measure, have been ignored in this Budget. The amount of money sanctioned for these projects have been very much paltry.
Let us take, for example, the loan waiver. I will just give you one more example and then I will wind up. It is a very sad way in which the Loan Waiver Scheme has been implemented in this country. Mostly, cooperative loans have been availed by either political goons at the rural level or real farmers, real indigent people. Now, the real, sincere worker has tried to repay some part of the loan. He might or she might have succeeded or failed. They have made an effort. But the goons, the people with connections, people who have access to officers, bureaucrats, police and politicians have completely stopped repayment. They have not paid a single paisa. This Loan Waiver Scheme is a joke on the whole nation. In this Loan Waiver Scheme, those who have not paid a single paisa have benefited but those who have actually toiled hard and worked hard have not benefited. It is a very funny thing.
Lastly, I would say that in major parts of this country, unless you have access to urban areas, unless you have friends or relatives, there is no medical help available in the rural parts of India today. No doctors are willing to go to the rural areas. No nurse is available, no compounder is available. No medicines are available. There is nothing. The NRHM is only creating buildings or fixed assets. But the software, the doctors, the medicines and other things are not available in this country. So, let us be conscious that when we are planning for this country, when we are going to face the people again, that we have this Parliament or this Government for the past five years which has not done anything worth the salt that the people have given them.
With these words, I conclude.
Discussion on the motion of thanks on the President’s Address moved by Shri V. Kishore Chandra S. Deo and seconded by Shri Madhusudan Mistry.
Date:17-02-2009
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY (DHENKANAL): Thank you. I rise to participate in the Motion of Thanks on the Address of Madam President.
Like speakers before me mentioned, it has been mentioned over and over again, that it is the Government, and here, I would like to re-assert that it is actually some bureaucrats, who make a draft of the President’s speech. So, the hollowness and the pomposity of the speech are invariably visible at a very surface level.
It was simple rhetoric; and the UPA’s claim of accomplishing the targets set by CMP, simply ended as a bubble that burst because they are incapable of presenting an honest balance sheet for the past five years. Had they been assessees income tax department would have seized their assests by now, and they would have been penalized for taking the country to ruins. Socially, politically and even outside the country, India has reached the pits during the past five years.
In the Address to the hon. Members of both the Houses of Parliament, the President never thought it fit to address the problem of our burgeoning population, a problem that has actually plagued this country so-badly that none of the projects, none of the programmes, and none of the policies that we declare and we tried to implement actually reache the aam admi, because by the time the implementation takes place, it has all gone haywire and the way the population is spinning out of control is not a joke any more. But unfortunately it was not deemed necessary to underline or stress this issue.Prices of essential commodities – those of us who go out to the shops and actually buy things will realize this – are even today skyrocketing. It is a shame; our country is so-well connected; we always see on the Highways, Kashmir to Kanyakumari, India is one and the first proof of that which I personally saw when I was gradually becoming aware of political oneness of the country, was in 1977. At that time, except AIR and Doordarshan there was no private media house yet from the top of the country to the bottom, from the East to the West everyone voted against the Emergency and against the then Congress Government and threw it to the rubbish bin. It is another story that the others also failed and so the Congress came back. But the country’s history tells us that from 1977 onwards, people have been rejecting the Congress again and again.
In spite of this kind of a modern society where we are well connected through Media, it is a pity that when international prices of petroleum products are going up, our oil companies are compelled to put a lid on the rising prices. When we do decide to jack up the prices, it is a bit too late. Here in Parliament we hear that the companies have borne so many thousands of crores as losses and hence the Government has to make up for that. Again when we see that from 147-148 dollars a barrel the prices have come down to 45-46 dollars a barrel we do not see the linkage between the prices that are available at the outlets. This is because we are using such vital things in this country’s economy only for mere petty political gains. We are holding the prices high so that when election comes close we will bring down petrol and diesel prices by another Rs.3 or Rs.4. These people think that they will take the kudos for their achievements. But let us be aware that the aam aadmi of India today is a very-very conscious citizen of this country. He has realised that your CMP was a completely mal-nutritious policy which did not work out at all and it has failed. Because of this failure the aam aadmi today will probably be compelled to eat kachcha aam in the coming days.
Madam, projects that were started by the NDA Government, like the Golden Quadrilateral and the criss-cross North-South-East-West corridors, have as yet not been completed. Forget about taking up new eye-catching infrastructure projects, even on-going projects have not progressed in the last five years. We saw the birth of the NREGS. I remember very clearly, at that time I had spoken against this programme because I had said that it would pide families. Every major son will want to be separated from the father so that he can claim to be an independent family and can claim rightfully hundred days of employment. That has happened. In the process we have brought down land holdings to the minimum. We have brought more people into the fold of home-less in the rural areas. It has not helped in creating the backbone of economic independence for the common people in the villages.
In the name of Bharat Nirman, all projects and programmes were brought under one umbrella. I would like to ask all the hon. Members here as to what they have seen in their constituencies; where is that Bharat, that is India and where is that nirman. This has been a complete failure except for the roadside hoardings where we see the photographs of one Member each of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and that is all. In reality nothing has happened for the people. Many hon. Members have talked about terrorism. What has been the reaction of this Government to terrorism? They have changed a Minister. They have revived an old law in a new guise and a new name. They are claiming to be forming a new police force which will guard the coastal areas. But these are all knee jerk reactions. There is no positive outlook on how to combat a global threat such as terrorism. There is no over view look at policy that will help in controlling this menace.Similarly, as far as Maoist violence goes, my State of Orissa has been inflicted along with many other States in the Eastern part of this country, but here also the Government has failed to bring about a coherent policy to meet internal terrorism and it is sad that the Presidential Address did not deal with this major problem in a very tangible way. Just giving walkie-talkies or UB-40 or U2 or Uzi guns will not solve the Maoist menace. It has to be a socio-economic answer to a problem that is ever widening and getting deeper and deeper by the day when more and more people are getting recruited into the ranks of the Left Wing extremists. But a simple thing that the Government of Orissa had requested that five more districts be included in the Left Wing extremists’ affected list that the Central Government has but till date the Union Government has been incapable of reacting to this small demand of the State Government.The NDA Government had committed for six All India Institute of Medical Sciences kind of hospitals in different parts of the country. One was promised to Bhubaneswar also but unfortunately five years have passed by but not a rupee has been given for these projects neither do these projects come under the scanner of the Presidential Address. This Government has formulated a new mineral policy. All mineral-rich States have opposed this policy. Orissa, for instance, has been demanding hike in royalty on coal and other minerals. You are not able to hike the royalty. You are not able to recognise the fact that these are finite resources. They are not infinite. They are not unending. They will end one day sooner than later but no benefits accrue to these concerned States and no royalty has been hiked. States like Orissa have suffered since long because of freight equalisation policy which was adopted immediately after Independence. I guess and assume you understand what freight equalisation meant for the States in the east and north-east like Orissa, Bihar and such other States. It meant that we had to pay through our nose for the rest of the country to develop but now when the other parts of the country have developed, the mineral-rich States are not being looked after and the colossal losses that we bore when the freight equalisation policy was adopted has not been made good till date.Madam, farmers and farm workers have been completely neglected by this Government. There are only two-three very simple things that a farmer wants. A farmer wants water on time, proper seeds and appropriate knowledge of useable technology. Forget about technology, we have no system of passing on technological knowledge to our farmers. But proper seeds and water on time, this Government has completely failed on this front to address such important issues. They have not been able to take any innovative steps on the issues of farms and farming.Orissa had recorded highest procurement of rice during the last two years. I am happy to mention here that the Minister of Agriculture was kind enough to commend this achievement of the State.
But again, a small request by the Government of Orissa to direct FCI to open more procurement centres has fallen on deaf ears of the Federal Government. Resultantly, the Oriya farmers are compelled to resort to distress sale.
MADAM CHAIRMAN : You may conclude now.
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : Madam, I am the only speaker from my Party and also from the State of Orissa. So, you should allow me some more time.
Madam, my complaint has been that Orissa has consistently, through the decades, been neglected for no fault of the Oriyas or the State of Orissa. The people of Orissa are gentle and soft spoken but that does not mean that we will be trampled upon; will be squashed and we will be set aside. The time has come when the conscious Oriya people who are aware of the country’s needs, the needs of the State will rise up. In that situation the Congress Party will get a befitting reply in the coming elections when the whole country and our State will go to the polls… (Interruptions) They should have patience. Patience pays. This impatience on the part of the Government which is looking for independent and small players in every State to pick up the ragtag to throw aside anybody who is powerful to survive speaks of the very pitiable state of affairs for the Congress. The reality is that the Congress has lost its roots. It fought for freedom from the clutches of the foreigners but today it has itself fallen in that very swamp. It does not have the answer to the problems of this country because it does not know what the problems of this country are. People who are siding with them, who are members of the UPA are committing a crime on the people of this country and they will have to suffer in the days to come. I have the faith that not only the intelligent people of Orissa but everywhere in the country the people will rise up and will realize what the UPA, especially the Congress is and they will give a befitting reply to this Government and to the Congress in the forthcoming elections.