LOK SABHA ___ SYNOPSIS OF DEBATES (Proceedings other than Questions & Answers) ______ Monday, April 10, 2017/ Chaitra 20, 1939 (Saka) ______ SUBMISSION BY MEMBERS Re: Alleged racial remarks against South Indians by an ex-MP. THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI RAJNATH SINGH) responding to the issue raised by several hon. Members, said: First of all, I would like to make it clear that our country is secular. Discrimination cannot be allowed in the country on the basis of caste, creed, religion and colour at any cost by anyone whoever he might be. Further, I would like to quote the statement of the concerned Ex-Member of Parliament in which he has stated that this is indefensible and for this, he sincerely apologise. Therefore, since he has already tendered his apology in this regard, there is no justification to raise this issue in the House. THE MINISTER OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS AND MINISTER OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (SHRI ANANTHKUMAR) also said: The hon. Minister of Home Affairs has already given the reply in this regard. It is the clear opinion of the Union Government and our party that we all are Indians. We do not discriminate in terms of colour or caste. We all are one and united. We all are Indians irrespective of whether we are from South, East, North, West or Central India. We neither have any difference nor any schism among us. *MATTERS UNDER RULE 377 (i) SHRI NANA PATOLE laid a statement regarding need to expedite the District Planning Map Series Project by National Atlas & Thematic Mapping Organisation in all the districts of the country. (ii) SHRI HARISH MEENA laid a statement regarding need to provide financial assistance to farmers who lost their agriculture crops due to unseasonal rains and hailstorms in Dausa parliamentary constituency, Rajasthan. (iii) SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT laid a statement regarding appointment of officers of State Government of Rajasthan in Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB). (iv) SHRI SUSHIL KUMAR SINGH laid a statement regarding need to construct bridges on roads constructed under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana in Gaya and Aurangabad districts in Bihar. (v) SHRI HARIOM SINGH RATHORE laid a statement regarding need to check the wrong depiction of historical facts associated with Maharani Padmini, the queen of Chittor in films. * Laid on the Table as directed by the Speaker. (vi) SHRI DEVENDRA SINGH BHOLE laid a statement regarding need to ensure compliance of admission rules in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Mati in Kanpur dehat district, Uttar Pradesh. (vii) SHRI GOPAL SHETTY laid a statement regarding need to allocate funds for construction of sanctioned railway line projects in Maharashtra. (viii) SHRI RAVINDRA KUMAR RAY laid a statement regarding need to check the pollution caused by Damodar Valley Corporation plant in Banjhedih in Kodarma district, Jharkhand. (ix) SHRI JAGDAMBIKA PAL laid a statement regarding need to provide adequate compensation to farmers of Siddharthnagar district, Uttar Pradesh whose land has been acquired for Indo-Nepal Border Road Project as per the norms of Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013. (x) SHRIMATI RAMA DEVI laid a statement regarding need to enhance the honorarium of Aanganwadi workers and also increase the budget allocation for nutritional foods and better basic facilities in Aanganwadi centres. (xi) SHRI BHAIRON PRASAD MISHRA laid a statement regarding need to upgrade a junior high-school to high school at each Panchayat in Banda parliamentary constituency, Uttar Pradesh. (xii) SHRI GANESH SINGH laid a statement regarding need to improve the BSNL mobile service in Satna parliamentary constituency, Madhya Pradesh. (xiii) DR. KIRIT P. SOLANKI laid a statement regarding need to fill up the vacant posts of sanitary workers in Railways. (xiv) SHRI MANSHANKAR NINAMA laid a statement regarding need to provide funds as a share of Union Government towards construction of Aanganwadi Centres in urban areas in Banswara parliamentary constituency, Rajasthan. (xv) DR. RAMESH POKHRIYAL NISHANK laid a statement regarding need to establish an International Sugarcane Research Institute in Haridwar, Uttarakhand. (xvi) SHRI VINCENT H. PALA laid a statement regarding need to amend the clause of Mines & Mineral Development and Regulation Act, 2015 for auctioning of coal and limestone in Meghalaya. (xvii) SHRI RAJEEV SATAV laid a statement regarding need to increase the pension of EPF pensioners. (xviii) PROF. SAUGATA ROY laid a statement regarding assent to the pending bills sent by West Bengal Government. (xix) SHRI NAGENDRA KUMAR PRADHAN laid a statement regarding enhancing the norms to accommodate the planting material cost under NHM in Odisha. (xx) SHRI KRUPAL BALAJI TUMANE laid a statement regarding need to protect the interest of domestic wheat growing farmers keeping in view the bumper wheat crop and low import duty on wheat. (xxi) PROF. A.S.R. NAIK laid a statement regarding framing a policy for reserved constituencies. (xxii) SHRI DHANANJAY MAHADIK laid a statement regarding need to provide adequate funds for development of the historical forts in Maharashtra. (xxiii) SHRI PREM SINGH CHANDUMAJRA laid a statement regarding menace of stray dogs and wild animals in the country. (xxiv) SHRI SHAILESH KUMAR laid a statement regarding need to expedite establishment of Vikramshila University in Bihar. (xxv) ADV. JOICE GEORGE laid a statement regarding shutting down of regional office of the Rubber Board at Kothamangalam. THE MOTOR VEHICLES (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2016 - Contd. THE MINISTER OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS AND MINISTER OF SHIPPING (SHRI NITIN GADKARI) replying said: I would like to express my gratitude and thanks to all the hon. Members who have put forth their views on this important Bill on road safety. We will seriously consider all the suggestions that they have made and will implement them. I extend my thanks to Shri Mukul Rai ji and all the Members of the Standing Committee as they submitted their suggestions after going through the Bill in a very short time and we have formulated this Bill on the basis of those suggestions. Besides, the Transport Ministers of 18 states also went through it. I would especially like to thank them. The Government has accepted almost all the recommendations of the Standing Committee. Some hon. Members have expressed their concerns with regard to third party insurance. I would like to make it clear in this regard that the upper limit of the compensation amount by the claims tribunal has not been fixed and the entire compensation amount will have to be paid by the insurance companies. To expedite the settlement of cases, a provision of compensation of Rs.5 lakh has been made in the Bill. The victims may accept that amount of compensation, otherwise, they will be free to approach the claims tribunal. This decision has been made with the intention of bringing down the cases. This Bill provides for an accident victim fund which will be used in case of hit-and-run incidents and for providing treatment to the injured during the golden hour. After the constitution of the fund, the Solatium Fund will be merged into this new fund. With regard to aggregators, the states can formulate their own policy as per their requirement. The state governments have full powers in this regard. So far as the question of public transport services is concerned, all the powers have been conferred on the state governments. The hon. Minister of Finance had stated in his speech that the Government will launch a new scheme for rural transportation. We are commercialising the lithium ion battery. Even normal vehicles will operate through the lithium ion battery. The old diesel buses will be refurbished to make them operational through lithium ion battery. Through it we can bring down ticket rates by upto 50 per cent and pollution will also be reduced through it. A number of hon. Members have presented their views with regard to over loading, lane driving, over speeding and ambulance. This is true that we have not been able to make available ambulances in large numbers even now. It was our endeavour to keep them at a distance of every 50 kms. We have created a 'red zone' where the number of accidents is more. Our first priority is to provide ambulance service to this 'red zone'. We have asked the Sirdi Sai Sansthan to donate us ambulances. We will operate them with their names disclosed on those ambulances. If any NGO comes forward to undertake this work under CSR, we welcome them. We need to provide training with regard to lane driving also. As such, in the 2000 driving training centers across the country, drivers will be given training with regard to manners, etiquettes, system, laws- everything, in an effort to bring about improvement in this regard. We will set up cameras across urban areas to monitor over speeding. Some financial difficulties are coming in this regard. Problem of overloading is everywhere. For this purpose, we are now installing weighing bridges at 38 places on National Highways. We have provided for hefty fines in this regard. We will set up logistic parks to bring down the logistic cost. At present, we have started a number of works with regard to inland waterways and in respect of the Ganges. My first priority is water transportation, second is railways and the third one is road transportation. We are bringing about a lot of changes in the transportation sector. We have introduced five new technologies in this regard. We are launching Sky Bus. For this purpose, we have floated tenders for a 70 km. stretch between Dhaula Kuan and Manesar. Before that, we are going to start the work on three trial projects within a month. This House has passed the Bill to launch inland waterways in 111 rivers across the country.