RAJYA SABHA —— REVISED LIST OF BUSINESS

Friday, January 5, 2018

11 A.M. ———

PAPERS TO BE LAID ON THE TABLE Following Ministers to lay papers on the Table entered in the separate list: — 1. SHRI for Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; 2. SHRI SHRIPAD YESSO NAIK for Ministry of AYUSH; 3. DR. for Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Ministry of Culture; 4. SHRI for Ministry of Communications; 5. SHRI for Ministry of Rural Development; 6. SHRI for Ministry of Railways; 7. SHRI for Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; 8. SHRI for Ministry of Finance; 9. SHRI for Ministry of Health and Family Welfare; 10. SHRI for Ministry of Home Affairs; 11. DR. VIRENDRA KUMAR for Ministry of Women and Child Development; 12. SHRI for Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation; 13. SHRI for ; 14. SHRI MANSUKH L. MANDAVIYA for Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Ministry of Shipping and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways; 15. SHRIMATI for Ministry of Health and Family Welfare; 16. SHRI C.R. CHAUDHARY for Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution; and 17. SHRI P.P. CHAUDHARY for Ministry of Law and Justice. ————

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REPORTS OF THE DEPARTMENT RELATED PARLIAMENTARY STANDING COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

DR. SATYANARAYAN JATIYA SHRI PARTAP SINGH BAJWA to present the following Reports (in English and Hindi) of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development:— (i) 294th Report on Action Taken by Government on the observations /recommendations contained in the Two Hundred and Eighty third Report on “Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Mid-Day-Meal Scheme”; (ii) 295th Report on Action Taken by Government on the observations/ recommendations contained in the Two Hundred and Eighty fourth Report on “Issues and Challenges before Higher Education Sector in ”; (iii) 296th Report on Action Taken by Government on the observations/recommendations contained in the Two Hundred and Eighty seventh Report on Demands for Grants (2017-2018) of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports; (iv) 297th Report on Action Taken by Government on the observations/recommendations contained in the Two Hundred and Eighty eighth Report on Demands for Grants (2017-2018) of the Department of Higher Education; (v) 298th Report on Action Taken by Government on the observations/recommendations contained in the Two Hundred and Eighty ninth Report on Demands for Grants (2017-2018) of the Ministry of Women and Child Development; and (vi) 299th Report on the National Sports University Bill, 2017. ———— REPORTS OF THE DEPARTMENT RELATED PARLIAMENTARY STANDING COMMITTEE ON EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

DR. KARAN SINGH SHRI D.P. TRIPATHI to lay on the Table, a copy each (in English and Hindi) of the following Reports of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs (2017-18):— (i) *Seventeenth Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs (2017-18) on Action Taken by the Government on the Observations/Recommendations contained in the Twelfth Report (Sixteenth ) on the subject ‘Recruitment, structure and capacity-building of IFS Cadre, including need for a separate UPSC examination for cadre, mid- career entry and in-service training and orientation’. (ii) Eighteenth Report on Action Taken by the Government on the Observations/Recommendations contained in the Thirteenth Report of the Committee on the subject ‘India’s Soft power Diplomacy including role of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and Indian Diaspora’ pertaining to the Ministry of External Affairs; and (iii) Nineteenth Report on Action Taken by the Government on the Observations/Recommendations contained in the Sixteenth Report of the Committee on the subject ‘Indo-Pak Relations’ pertaining to the Ministry of External Affairs. ————

* The Report was presented to the Speaker on the 31st August, 2017 and to the Chairman, Rajya Sabha on the 28th August, 2017. 260

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE WELFARE OF SCHEDULED CASTES AND SCHEDULED TRIBES

SHRI SHAMSHER SINGH DULLO SHRI AMAR SHANKAR SABLE to lay on the Table, a copy (in English and Hindi) of the Eighteenth Report of the Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (2017-18) on the subject “Reservation for and employment of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Food Corporation of India (FCI)” pertaining to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution (Department of Food and Public Distribution). ————

STATEMENTS BY MINISTERS

1. SHRI to make a statement regarding "India's stand in the WTO".

2. SHRI NITIN JAIRAM GADKARI to make a statement regarding Status of implementation of recommendations contained in the Sixteenth Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources on Demands for Grants (2017-18) pertaining to the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.

3. SHRI to make a statement regarding Status of implementation of recommendations contained in the Thirty-sixth Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology on Demands for Grants (2017-18) pertaining to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

4. SHRI THAAWAR CHAND GEHLOT to make a statement regarding Status of implementation of recommendations contained in the Thirty-first Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment (2015-16) on the 'Review of the functioning of the National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation (NBCFDC)'.

5. to make a statement regarding Status of implementation of recommendations contained in the Thirty-third Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers on Demands for Grants (2017-18) pertaining to the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.

6. SHRI MANOJ SINHA to make a statement regarding Status of implementation of recommendations/observations contained in the Thirty-fifth Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology on Demands for Grants (2017-18) pertaining to the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications.

7. SHRI KIREN RIJIJU to make a statement regarding Status of implementation of recommendations/observations contained in the Two Hundred and First Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs on Demands for Grants (2017-18) pertaining to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

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8. SHRI MANSUKH L. MANDAVIYA to make the following statements regarding:— (i) Status of implementation of recommendations contained in the Thirty-second Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers on Demands for Grants (2017-18) pertaining to the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers; (ii) Status of implementation of recommendations contained in the Two Hundred and Forty-first Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture on the Action Taken by the Government on the observations/recommendations contained in the Two Hundred and Thirty-fourth Report of the Committee on Demands for Grants (2016-17) pertaining to the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways; (iii) Status of implementation of recommendations contained in the Two Hundred and Forty-second Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture on the Action Taken by the Government on the observations/recommendations contained in the Two Hundred and Thirty-fifth Report of the Committee on Demands for Grants (2016-17) pertaining to the Ministry of Shipping; (iv) Status of implementation of recommendations contained in the Two Hundred and Forty-sixth Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture on Demands for Grants (2017-18) pertaining to the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways; and (v) Status of implementation of recommendations contained in the Two Hundred and Forty-seventh Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture on Demands for Grants (2017-18) pertaining to the Ministry of Shipping. ———— MOTION FOR APPOINTMENT TO THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHT TO FAIR COMPENSATION AND TRANSPARENCY IN LAND ACQUISITION, REHABILITATION AND RESETTLEMENT (SECOND AMENDMENT) BILL, 2015. SHRI to move the following Motion:— "That this House concurs in the recommendation of the Lok Sabha that the Rajya Sabha do appoint one Member to the Joint Committee on the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Second Bill, 2015 in the vacancy caused by the disqualification from the membership of Rajya Sabha of Shri Sharad Yadav and communicate to the Lok Sabha the name of the Member so appointed by the Rajya Sabha to the Joint Committee and resolves that Shri Ram Chandra Prasad Singh be appointed to the said Joint Committee to fill the vacancy." ————

#QUESTIONS QUESTIONS entered in separate lists to be asked and answers given. ————

# At 12 Noon. 262

(FROM 2.30 P.M. TO 5.00 P.M.) PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS (RESOLUTIONS)

1. SHRI RANGASAYEE RAMAKRISHNA to move the following Resolution:—

“Having regard to the fact that:—

(i) from times immemorial, self governance by the institution of Panchayats was prevalent in the village society; (ii) even the British respected this institution which catered to the basic needs of the society in which influential, affluent and wise men were nominated at the local level; (iii) post independence, in the formative years of the Republic, the office bearers in these institutions were sought to be elected and the caste panchayats were replaced by elected panchayats; (iv) based on the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee report, Prime Minister Shri launched Panchayati Raj in Nagaur district in Rajasthan in 1959; (v) in the states such as Rajasthan, which adopted this model, the CD Block budgets comprising Public Works Department, public health, primary and secondary education, agriculture, animal husbandry, irrigation, etc. were transferred to Panchayati Raj institutions for being administered not by government officials but by elected Panchayati Raj representatives and the budgets were themselves created out of felt demands of the people and administered by the elected representatives of Panchayati Raj bodies; (vi) had this system been allowed to take roots and continue for a longer time, the nation would have reaped the benefits of a truly decentralized democracy but unfortunately this experiment was short lived; (vii) Panchayati Raj institutions could have been saved by taking one more logical step in their path of evolution, viz., integrating directly elected people's representative into the scheme of Panchayati Raj hierarchy itself and one more alternative which could have been seriously considered was to make the Panchayati Raj functionaries to elect MLAs; (viii) Panchayati Raj continued on paper and Sarpanches got elected without any attendant charter of responsibilities and financial powers that could have rendered their duties effective and meaningful; (ix) despite the detailed enumeration of allocable functions to Panchayats in Eleventh Schedule (article 243 G) of the Constitution, the non- devolution of financial powers to make these enumerated functions meaningful and the non-vacation of administrative space by concerned government departments, has resulted in rendering the Panchayati Raj a boneless wonder; (x) in his budget speech on 1.2.2017, the Finance Minister had announced a provision for secretarial assistance to Panchayats, which may not be necessary if the concerned departments place their field staff on secondment basis to Panchayat institutions along with their already sanctioned budgets;

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(xi) in the entire chronology of framing of the Indian Constitution, the segment that betrays a half hearted approach and the absence of consensus happens to be that concerning bicameral legislatures in the States; (xii) in the backdrop of diametrically opposed views on the need for a second chamber, more opposed and less favorably inclined, Dr. Ambedkar moved a compromise resolution proposing second chambers, purely as an experimental measure and article 169 of the Constitution resulted, which confined the bicameral set up only to states which already had a second house under the Act, 1935; (xiii) functional representation, originally an Irish model, is indeed the genesis of the idea, which if properly understood in the right perspective, provides for strengthening Panchayati Raj institutions by integrating them into the framework of the Upper House; (xiv) the practice of MLAs constituting an electoral college for the Second House can be abandoned in favour of local bodies, both in rural and urban areas, viz., Panchayati Raj institutions and Municipalities to form an electoral college to send their representatives to the Upper House; and (xv) the restriction of the facility of bicameral legislature only to Government of India Act, 1935 provinces can also be abandoned in favour of a uniform policy for all states to have· a Legislative Council, not dependent on an enabling resolution of the concerned assemblies, this House urges upon the Government to —

(a) initiate an amendment to article 169 of the Constitution to provide uniformly for an Upper House in all the States, to be composed of representatives to be elected by all Panchayati Raj institutions in rural areas and all municipalities and corporations in urban areas replacing the present system of substantial representation to the MLAs, and the teachers/graduate constituencies; and (b) amend Part IX of the Constitution to provide for transfer of certain field departments such as agriculture, animal husbandry, irrigation, public health, public works, primary and secondary education along with the concurrent transfer of the concerned budgetary outlays and real transfer of such areas to the Panchayati Raj institutions which will be possible only if the corresponding space is vacated by the concerned government departments.”

2. SHRI P.L. PUNIA to move the following Resolution:—

“Having regard to the fact that:—

(i) article 46 of the Indian Constitution enjoins a duty on the State to promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the society, especially the Scheduled Castes; (ii) though the Government is constitutionally bound to provide educational assistance but there has been undue delay in disbursal of scholarships to the Scheduled Caste students in many States/ UTs of the country including Delhi, Punjab, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and several North-East States; (iii) in some States, the reason for delay has been irregularities related to scholarship because of which genuine applicants also had to suffer and in some cases, due to non-receipt of information from States / UTs on time, the funds were not released; 264

(iv) as per information given to Rajya Sabha on 20th July, 2017, in the budget 2017-18, for post-matric scholarship to Scheduled Caste students, Rs.3347.99 crores had been allocated but Rs.5854 crores were due to the states as arrears and there is delay in disbursal of scholarship besides the allocation being disproportionate to the requirement. (v) the allocation of pre-matric scholarship has also seen a downward trend since 2014 and as per information provided to Rajya Sabha on 3rd August, 2017, from Rs.834 crores allocated in the budget in 2014-15, this year only Rs. 50 crores has been allocated despite the fact that last year the reported expenditure on prematric scholarship was Rs.507.47 crores; and (vi) as per data provided by a Report of the Ministry of Human Resource Department, 'Education Statistics at a Glance, 2016', the school dropout rate among Scheduled Caste students is higher than the national average and it increases as students proceed from primary to upper primary to secondary and even in higher education, there have been complaints of students dropping out because of lack of funds to pursue education, this House urges upon the Government to - (a) strengthen the Social Justice Ministry with resources for proper planning of welfare schemes for Scheduled Caste students including timely disbursal of scholarship funds; (b) clear all backlog of payment of scholarship to students along with compensation to those who suffered losses because of delay in release of funds; (c) earmark a certain percentage of funds for women out of the funds allocated for scholarship to Scheduled Caste students, (d) enact a law on Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan with a system allowing for participation of Scheduled Caste communities in planning and implementation of welfare schemes and in order to provide for accountability and transparency in allocation of funds for welfare of Scheduled Caste communities."

———— *STATUTORY RESOLUTION

DR. T. SUBBARAMI REDDY to move the following Resolution:—

“That this House disapproves the Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Amendment Ordinance, 2017 (Ordinance No.5 of 2017) promulgated by the on 2nd September, 2017.” ———— LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS

Bill for consideration and return

1. SHRI to move that the Bill to amend the Goods *The Goods and and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Act, 2017, as passed by Lok Sabha, Services Tax be taken into consideration. (Compensation to States) Amendment ALSO to move that the Bill be returned. Bill, 2017.

* To be discussed together. 265

Bills for consideration and passing

The Muslim Women 2. FURTHER CONSIDERATION of the following motion moved by (Protection of Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad on the 3rd January, 2018 and the amendments moved Rights on thereto:— Marriage) Bill, 2017. "That the Bill to protect the rights of married Muslim women and to prohibit divorce by pronouncing talaq by their husbands and to provide for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto, as passed by Lok Sabha, be taken into consideration.

SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD to move that the Bill be passed.

The Prevention of 3. DR. JITENDRA SINGH to move that the Bill further to amend the Corruption Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and as reported by the Select Committee, be (Amendment) Bill, taken into consideration. 2013. ALSO to move that the Bill be passed.

The Central Road 4. SHRI NITIN JAIRAM GADKARI to move that the Bill further to Fund (Amendment) amend the Central Road Fund Act, 2000, as passed by Lok Sabha, be taken into Bill, 2017. consideration.

ALSO to move that the Bill be passed.

The State Banks 5. SHRI ARUN JAITLEY to move that the Bill to repeal the State (Repeal and Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, 1959, the State Bank of Hyderabad Act, Amendment) Bill, 1956 and further to amend the State Bank of India Act, 1955, as passed by Lok 2017. Sabha, be taken into consideration.

ALSO to move that the Bill be passed.

The Motor Vehicles 6. SHRI NITIN JAIRAM GADKARI to move that the Bill further to (Amendment) Bill, amend the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, as passed by Lok Sabha and as reported by 2017. the Select Committee of Rajya Sabha, be taken into consideration. ALSO to move that the Bill be passed.

Bill for consideration and return

The Appropriation 7. SHRI ARUN JAITLEY to move that the Bill to authorize payment (No.5) Bill, 2017. and appropriation of certain further sums from and out of the Consolidated Fund of India for the services of the financial year 2017-18, as passed by Lok Sabha, be taken into consideration. ALSO to move that the Bill be returned.

NEW DELHI; DESH DEEPAK VERMA, January 4, 2018 Secretary-General.

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