New Delhi: Discussion on the motion of thanks on President’s address to the joint sitting of both the Houses of Parliament and several matters of public importance figured in the first week proceedings of the Budget Session.
Several members participated in the discussion in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Two BJP MPs from Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday highlighted the achievements of the Modi government at the Centre and the Yogi government of Uttar Pradesh. They said, 4.5 lakh youths were given jobs and 36,000 crore rupees worth farmer loans were waived off in the last five years.
Initiating the debate on the motion of thanks Harish Dwivedi of BJP slammed the previous governments at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh for only providing lip services rather than actually working for the welfare of the poor and backward classes. He claimed that 4.5 lakh youths were given jobs in Uttar Pradesh and 36,000 crore rupees worth loans of the farmers were waived off.
Dwivedi said, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Modi government has provided free food grains to 80 crore poor people across the country while Yogi government supplemented the scheme by providing additional assistance to the poor and the marginalised in Uttar Pradesh.
He said 4,600 special trains were run during the lockdown which transported 66 lakh migrant workers. The Modi government has also provided 165 crore COVID-19 vaccines free of cost to the people in the country, he said. Dwivedi also said that a number of flagship schemes are being run by the Modi government for providing free LPG and electricity connections, free houses and free health service to the people.
Participating in the debate, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that the Modi government has created two India – one of the rich and the other of the poor and the gap between the two are growing. He said, the Presidential address did not touch central challenges facing the country.
In Rajya Sabha, moving the motion of thanks, Geeta alias Chandraprabha of BJP said, people are repeatedly giving a clear mandate to the NDA because it is making efforts to bring equality through the welfare of the downtrodden, exploited and backward classes while ensuring the country’s development. She said, as many as 27 ministers are from OBCs in the Union Council of Ministers and 20 belong to SC and ST communities while 11 union ministers are women. She also highlighted the implementation of various welfare measures in the poll-bound states, where the first phase of voting will be held on February 10, 2022. The BJP MP also pointed to the government’s efforts for women empowerment which includes raising the age for marriage for girls to 21 years from 18.
Shwait Malik of the BJP, Ram Gopal Yadav of Samajwadi Party, Tiruchi Shiva of DMK and Sukhendu Sekhar Ray of Trinamool Congress are among others who also participated in the discussion. Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge charged the government with not delivering on its various promises, including providing two crore jobs per year. He alleged that the government has failed to control price rise of essential commodities like petroleum products and daily food items.
Fauzia Khan of NCP, Sushil Kumar Modi of BJP and Sanjay Singh of Aam Aadmi Party raised several matters of Public importance.
On Thursday, the Lok Sabha has resumed discussion on the motion of thanks on presidential address. Pinaki Mishra of BJD, Rajiv Ranjan Singh of JD(U), Adhir Ranjan Choudhury of Congress, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore of BJP among others who participated in the discussion. Another BJP MP Jaskaur Meena from Rajasthan demanded cancellation of the REET examination.
The Rajya Sabha resumed normal disruption-free functioning with members participating in the debate on the motion of thanks on the President’s address.
Respoding to this, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu expressed happiness over the development during the current budget session and hoped the MPs should let that spirit prevail for the rest of the session.
The Upper House resumed the debate on the motion of thanks with Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi leading the charge from the ruling party side.
Mr. Naqvi claimed that the politics of “cuts, corruption and appeasement” is over and there are no pressures of “middlemen” or “nepotism” in this government.
Some members raised various issues including the early appointment of the next Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), giving exemption to Tamil Nadu students from NEET examinations and higher investments in Assam. A D Singh of RJD, M. Thambidurai of AIADMK, Birendra Prasad Baishya of AGP, Digvijaya Singh of Congress and Sasmit Patra of BJD were among others who participated in the discussion.
Elamaram Kareem of the CPI(M), K.C. Venugopal of the Congress, B.Lingaiah Yadav of TRS, M. Shanmugam of DMK, Rakesh Sinha (nominated member), Amar Patnaik of BJD, Shaktisinh Gohil of Congress, Santanu Sen of TMC, Jose K Mani of Kerala Congress and Vikas Mahatme of BJP raised issues during the zero hour.
On Friday, cutting across party lines members in the Lok Sabha expressed concern over certain remarks by an MP on Speaker Om Birla’s conduct in the House and said the dignity of the House and the Chair must be upheld. Responding to this, Speaker said that members should be careful while making comments — both inside and outside the House or on social media.
Adhir Ranjan Choudhury of Congress, Sudip Bandyopadhyay of TMC, Arvind Sawant of Shiv Sena, A. Raja of DMK, Farooq Abdullah of National Conference, Ritesh Pandey of BSP, Supriya Sule of NCP, Bhartruhari Mehtab of BJD called for honouring the dignity of the Speaker and the Chair. Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the government fully appreciates the efforts of the Speaker for conducting the House smoothly with everyone’s cooperation.
Later, the Lok Sabha resumed debate on the motion of thanks on President’s address. Adhir Ranjan Choudhury of Congress and Kirit Solanki of BJP were among others who participated in the discussion.
The Rajya Sabha, on Friday resumed the discussion on the motion of thanks. Prasanna Acharya of BJD, K. Somaprasad of CPI-M, Manoj Kumar Jha of RJD, Priyanka Chaturvedi of Shiv Sena and K Ravindra Kumar of TDP took part in the discussion.
Being Friday the House took up private members’ bill on Population Regulation moved by Rakesh Sinha of BJP. Several opposition members expressed concerns saying that Indian Women of this generation will be the biggest victims. The proposed Bill aims at seeking to regulate population by promoting two-child per couple policy.
Fauzia Khan of NCP and L. Hanumanthaiah both from Congress expressed apprehensions that the move is targeted at a particular community and if passed, it will only further marginalise the marginalised. Manoj Kumar Jha of RJD, Amar Patnaik of BJD, V. Sivadasan of CPI(M), Binoy Viswam of CPI, Vikas Mahatme of BJP and his party colleague Mahesh Poddar participated in the discussion.
Earlier, the Rajya Sabha witnessed noisy scenes followed by a walkout by DMK, Congress, Left Parties, RJD and TMC members over the Tamil Nadu Governor’s decision to return the NEET exemption bill.
Chairman Venkaiah Naidu later said, people were feeling happy that the Rajya Sabha was functioning without disruption and members are having their say. He also urged the members to follow rules and not disrupt.
