Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today said there are problems in the sector and he would discuss the issues with the farmers and their associations. He also sought cooperation from the state governments, saying it was necessary for the welfare of farmers and said he would collectively work with the state governments irrespective of political parties to resolve the issues.
Replying to a discussion on the working of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Mr Chouhan said he would resolve the problems through dialogue and move forward taking everyone along.
Urging political parties not to treat farmers as a vote bank, Mr Chouhan said, respecting the federal spirit, he has invited the State agriculture ministers to discuss the problems faced by farmers.
Today after the question hour, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar called the Agriculture Minister to complete his reply. Immediately, Opposition members created uproar over issues such as legal assurance of MSP and other demands.
Amid the opposition uproar, Mr Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the Government is providing 6,000 rupees per year as minimum income support under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi to make small farmers self-reliant and empowered.
He alleged Congress has always talked about helping farmers but it has never done that. It was Shri Narendra Modi who launched the PM-Kisan scheme, he said.
Meanwhile, Congress members Digvijay Singh and Randeep Singh Surjewala besides Aam Aadmi Party’s Sanjay Singh led the Opposition protest in the Upper House. They demanded the right to reply, which was rejected by the chairman Dhankhar. After this, the opposition walked out.
Continuing his reply, Mr Chouhan said he had read all speeches of former Prime Ministers given from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Independence Day and said farmers were never the priority for the Congress. While referring to the previous speeches made by the country’s first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru, Mr Chouhan said in his 15 speeches, there was no mention of the word “farmer”. While Indira Gandhi mentioned farmers in some speeches it was not prominent, he said.
Without naming Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, Mr Chouhan said, “A leader went to Sonipat during his Yatra to meet farmers, and was found asking how to pose with them for photo-op”.
Continuing speech Mr Chouhan said the government launched an Oilseeds Mission worth 68,000 crore rupees and expanded irrigation to 1.3 lakh hectares.
After Mr Chouhan completed his speech, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar asked him to immediately resolve the problems faced by the farmers. “This is in the interest of the nation and would be very helpful in the country’s progress,” the Chairman said.
After this Mr Dhankhar informed the house that he had received a letter from Congress leader Digvijay Singh, seeking a right to reply under rule 238 (2), over the comments made by the Agriculture Minister about the loan waiver scheme in Madhya Pradesh during his tenure as Chief Minister. The Chairman rejected it saying that there is no provision for a reply under rule 238 (2), following which an uproar was created in the house by the Congress members.
During the Zero Hour TMC leader Derek O’Brien urged the government to reduce 18 per cent GST on health insurance policies, saying the high tax rate is burdening people, especially the middle class.
Raising the issue in the Rajya Sabha, he also referred to a letter written to the finance minister by senior BJP leader and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari making a similar demand.
The TMC leader pointed out that insurance penetration in India is low at 4 per cent compared to more than 7 per cent globally. Further, he said there is an imbalance in the insurance sector, where 75 per cent is life insurance policies, and 25 per cent is medical insurance.
Mr Derek O’Brien said the West Bengal chief minister has written to the finance minister in this regard and many opposition MPs have also raised the issue. Seeking government intervention, he argued it is not the GST Council that can only change this.
Congress member Renuka Chowdhury expressed concern that banks are not issuing credit cards to senior citizens. While another Congress member Jebi Mather Hisham raised the issue of high air fares to Gulf countries during the June to September holiday season. The fares have risen five-fold, causing financial hardships to poor labourers and the middle-class migrants who want to visit India, she said raising the issue during Zero Hour.
Against the one-way fare of Rs 8,000 from Gulf countries to Kerala, one-way fares have soared Rs 46,000 and about 1 lakh rupees for return fare. The poor and the middle class, who are toiling hard in the Middle Eastern countries to bring in remittances, are being put to such financial hardship by airlines jacking up fares in the months when they would normally visit India, she said.
Mr Sanjay Singh of AAP raised the issue of rising cancer cases in India. Quoting a WHO report, he said 22 lakh people died of cancer in the last three years. He urged the government to implement the recommendations of a parliamentary standing committee that called for free treatment of 25 per cent of cancer patients at private hospitals and free treatment of children suffering from cancer.
Maharaja Sanajaoba Leishemba of BJP demanded the 500-year-old all-women-run market of Ima Keithel in Manipur be declared as a living cultural heritage site while his party colleague Darshana Singh raised concerns over open bore wells in the country. Muzibulla Khan of BJD drew attention to incomplete national highway projects in Odisha.
Samik Bhattacharya of the BJP raised the issue of fake currency in circulation in the country, saying counterfeit currency often finds its way through the Malda district of West Bengal.
Replying to queries in the Rajya Sabha during Question Hour, Union Minister for Planning, Rao Inderjit Singh said the ‘Shoonya’ campaign on zero pollution mobility, launched in 2021, has helped in the reduction of pollution and saved fuel worth Rs 597 crore. Efforts will be made to bring more electric vehicles into this initiative, as currently it only includes a delivery system and ride-hailing, he said.
The minister informed the House that more than 200 corporate partners have collaborated in this initiative. It has significantly helped in the reduction of particulate matter pollution and resulted in fuel savings of approximately Rs 597 crore and the planting of approximately 1.1 million trees, the minister said.
‘Shoonya’ – Zero Pollution Mobility Campaign was launched on September 15, 2021. It is a pan-India consumer awareness campaign administered by NITI Aayog in partnership with leading companies working in the electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem in India.
The Lok Sabha has approved about 140 rupees lakh crore expenditure demands of different ministries of the central government, completing two-thirds of the legislative approvals needed for the full Budget for 2024-25.
The lower house, which had last week debated on the Budget, approved the demands for grants as well as the Appropriation (No 2) Bill 2024, which authorises the government to use certain sums out of the Consolidated Fund of India for the services of the financial year 2024-25. This followed a guillotine being applied after taking up a discussion on demands for grants for four ministries — Railways, Education, Health and Fisheries.
The Lok Sabha will next discuss the Finance Bill (No. 2), 2024, which essentially contains the tax proposals of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget for 2024-25.
Earlier, Health Minister J P Nadda urged state governments to spend more on improving healthcare infrastructure. Replying to the debate on the Demand for Grants for the Health and Family Welfare Ministry in the Lok Sabha, Mr Nadda listed the increase in a number of medical colleges, steps taken to reduce out-of-pocket expenses on healthcare and initiatives for early screening of diseases such as cancer and anaemia as achievements of the government.
Dismissing Opposition allegations on the reduction of allocations under the PM-Ayushman Bharat Healthcare Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM), Mr Nadda said the government does not believe in just making announcements. We believe in effective planning and ensuring last-mile delivery. The health minister also said that trauma centres built along highways will be reviewed, as trauma units cannot function in isolation, and are effective only when there is a full-fledged hospital.
The Minister said the health budget is now at 1.9 percent of the GDP and is steadily increasing towards reaching the goal of it being 2.5 percent of the GDP. He said the government is committed to reducing the out-of-pocket expenses on health under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership.
As some Trinamool Congress MPs interrupted the Minister, Mr Nadda dared them to tell the House why the West Bengal government had not shared the dengue registry with the Centre.
On Opposition claims on reduction of funds for the health infrastructure mission, Mr Nadda said states were able to spend less than half of the budgetary allocation of 4,200 crore rupees in last year’s budget.
After the Health Minister’s reply, the Lok Sabha took up a debate on the Demands for Grants for the Ministry of Fishing, Animal Husbandry and Dairy.
Initiating the debate, Trinamool Congress MP Saayoni Ghosh flagged concerns about the increase in fodder prices and the death of cattle due to lumpy cow disease. Ms Ghosh said 32.7 lakh cattle got infected with lumpy cow disease, and 2.4 lakh cattle heads died within months. She also raised concerns about rising milk prices.
BJP MP Dushyant Singh meanwhile lauded the budgetary grants for the ministry and said animal husbandry has a big role in doubling the income of farmers. He said the 21st livestock census will be completed by December, adding that livestock is particularly important for his state Rajasthan, which is water-scarce.
Singh said that milk production has increased under the BJP’s rule, and today India contributes to 23 percent of global milk production.
Benny Benhan of Congress talked about the impact of climate change on those who depend on fishing and livestock and mentioned the landslide in Wayanad of Kerala.
Samajwadi Party MP from Fatehpur, Naresh Chandra Uttam Patel said there is a big issue in Uttar Pradesh of stray cattle and said that the government is not making any efforts made to deal with the issue.
Earlier, during the Question Hour, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed the House that the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) is carrying out a detailed probe into the matter related to the Sahara group companies and further action will be taken after its report is received.
To a query on why all investors of the Sahara group companies have not come forward to claim refunds, Ms Sitharaman said there were 3.7 crore investors in the Sahara group companies and so far less than 20,000 investors have come forward to claim the refunds.
The central government cannot do anything on the matters of the Sahara group of companies even if it wants to as everything is monitored by the Supreme Court, she said.
Replying to a question on Mudra loans, the Finance Minister said Public sector banks’ non-performing assets associated with the Mudra loan category have declined to 3.4 per cent in the 2023-24 fiscal, which marks a consistent improvement.
Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal meanwhile introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha to provide reservation to Scheduled Tribes (ST) in the Goa Legislative Assembly.
As of now, the ST community has no seats reserved in the state’s assembly. According to the Bill, the population of the Scheduled Tribes has increased considerably in Goa as per the 2011 census vis-à-vis 2001 census figures. The Bill will empower the census commissioner to notify the population of STs in Goa. Based on it, the Election Commission will amend the Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Order, 2008, to make way for ST reservation in the 40-member Goa assembly.
The proposal to bring the Bill was cleared by the Union Cabinet in March this year, days before the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections was announced on March 16.
As of now, no seat in the 40-member Goa assembly is reserved for the ST community while one seat is reserved for Scheduled Castes.
During the Question Hour, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav clarified that 27 peacocks found dead at the Palam air base in Delhi in June this year had succumbed to heat stroke. A post-mortem revealed they had no disease, he said.
