RAJYA SABHA —— REVISED LIST OF BUSINESS

Friday, December 9, 2016

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 RAMVILAS PASWAN for Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution; 2. SHRI for Ministry of Communications; 3. SHRI for Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs; 4. SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN for Ministry of Railways; 5. SHRI for Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; 6. SHRI for Ministry of Civil Aviation; 7. SADHVI for Ministry of Food Processing Industries; 8. SHRI for ; 9. SHRI MANSUKH L. MANDAVIYA for Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers; 10. SHRI C. R. CHAUDHARY for Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution; and 11. SHRI P.P. CHAUDHARY for Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and Ministry of Law and Justice. ———— REPORTS OF THE DEPARTMENT RELATED PARLIAMENTARY STANDING COMMITTEE ON CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS

SHRI NARAYAN LAL PANCHARIYA SHRIMATI ROOPA GANGULY to lay on the Table, a copy each (in English and Hindi) of the following Reports of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers (2016-17):— (i) Twenty-ninth Report on Action Taken by the Government on the recommendations contained in the Twenty-third Report (Sixteenth ) on 'Demands for Grants 2016-17' of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers (Department of Pharmaceuticals); and (ii) Thirtieth Report on Action Taken by the Government on the recommendations contained in the Twenty-fourth Report (Sixteenth Lok Sabha) on the subject 'Cluster Development Programme for Pharma Sector (CDP-PS)' relating to the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers (Department of Pharmaceuticals). ————

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STATEMENTS BY MINISTERS

1. SHRI RAMVILAS PASWAN to make a statement regarding status of implementation of recommendations contained in the Eleventh Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution on Demands for Grants (2016-17) pertaining to the Department of Consumer Affairs.

2. SHRI JAYANT SINHA to make the following statements regarding:— (i) Status of implementation of recommendations contained in the Two Hundred and Eighteenth Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture on Demands for Grants (2015-16) pertaining to the Ministry of Civil Aviation. (ii) Status of implementation of recommendations contained in the Two Hundred and Thirtieth Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture on the issue related to Security at airports in . (iii) Status of implementation of recommendations contained in the Two Hundred and Thirty-first Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture on Demands for Grants (2016-17) pertaining to the Ministry of Civil Aviation. (iv) Status of implementation of recommendations contained in the Two Hundred and Thirty-eighth 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-first Report of the Committee on Demands for Grants (2016-17) pertaining to the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

3. SHRI to make a statement regarding status of implementation of recommendations contained in the Twenty-ninth Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance on Demands for Grants (2016-17) pertaining to the Ministry of Finance. ————

STATEMENT REGARDING GOVERNMENT BUSINESS

SHRI MUKHTAR ABBAS NAQVI to make a statement regarding Government Business for the remaining part of the Session. ————

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

# At 12 Noon. 187

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

1. FURTHER DISCUSSION on the following Resolution moved by SHRI RANGASAYEE RAMAKRISHNA on the 25th November, 2016:—

“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 Jawaharlal Nehru 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 for 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) however, 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 the 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 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; (xi) 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

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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 in the Government of India Act, 1935; (xii) functional representation, originally an Irish model, is indeed the genesis of an 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; (xiii) 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 (xiv) simultaneously, 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 such as 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 such as 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 BHUPENDER YADAV to move the following Resolution:— "Having regard to the fact that:— (i) in the absence of simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, there is hardly any year without election in the country which is highly time-consuming and involves monumental wastage of financial, manpower and other resources; (ii) separate elections affect stability, governance, administration and stands as hurdle in attending to peoples' grievances simultaneously bringing down the economic growth because of enforcement of Model Code of Conduct during elections; (iii) Central Election Commission and the State Election Commissions have separate electoral rolls which result in duplication of voters and electoral malpractices resulting in considerable expenditure in holding this democratic exercise; (iv) in the absence of public funding, which otherwise is being allowed in many countries, there is huge flow of black money into the electoral system which is also paving the way for entry of unscrupulous elements into electoral politics; (v) even though Election Commission puts limit on campaign expenditure, depending upon the nature of election, such ceilings practically remain only on paper and the actual cost of running an election campaign is often much higher than the prescribed limit; 189

(vi) lack of strong legislative backing with effective implementation machinery and absence of legally acceptable public funds leave candidates to fend for themselves during each election without any steady support to ensure continuation of their respective campaigns which otherwise has the obvious consequence of proliferation of black money into politics and the institutionalization of corruption; (vii) absence of effective measures to ensure transparency and accountability in funding of political parties which are hard to relinquish for those who enjoy their benefits and tend to impose themselves in the scheme of national politics as well; and (viii) the high cost of elections prevents those with modest financial resources from being competitive in elections resulting inevitably in biased policy decisions, this House urges upon the Government to— (a) amend election and other related laws forthwith to hold Lok Sabha and Assembly elections simultaneously which gives a period of clear five years to the incumbent Government to focus on governance; (b) amend laws and rules in such manner which facilitate reforms in electoral cycle in order to limit election expenditure and avoid wastage of time in electioneering; (c) ask Election Commission to have one single electoral roll in the country to weed out duplicate voters, check electoral malpractices and bring down the cost of holding the democratic exercise; (d) amend the Constitution and other relevant Acts and rules to introduce e-ballot/e-voting system in order to enable all voters, who may be away from their place of residence for different reasons, to exercise their right to franchise online; (e) implement State funding of elections; (f) enact or suitably amend the relevant laws to regulate utilization of funds by political parties; (g) take steps for strengthening democracy, transparency in political funding and other necessary reforms; (h) link Aadhaar Number with Election Card issued to every eligible citizen of the country; and (i) permit NRIs and Indians staying abroad to cast their vote during elections."

3. SHRI VIVEK GUPTA to move the following Resolution:— “Having regard to the fact that:— (i) India as a country has recognised the third gender as unique and the Government is in the process of bringing a legislation towards the welfare of members of the transgender community; (ii) the Indian Constitution is 'gender blind' when guaranteeing fundamental rights to the people; (iii) a transgender person is one whose gender identity does not conform with their biological sex; (iv) the recent census has shown that more than 5 lakh people belong to the third gender with about 55,000 in the age group of under 6 years;

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(v) the number of transgender people in the country are grossly under counted in view of the fact that the people of the community do not want to identify themselves openly due to existing social pressures; (vi) the people of the transgender community have been excluded in every facet of living due to non-recognition of their gender in the past; (vii) as a social group since independence, the transgender community have had to face the most torturous social taboos in every facet of their lives; (viii) social exclusion of transgender community leads them to depression and creates a scenario fertile for substance and alcohol addiction; (ix) only 46 per cent of people within the transgender community are literate compared to the national average of 74 per cent; (x) there is a high dropout rate among the people of the transgender community in the secondary level of education; (xi) more than 20 per cent of people within the transgender community belong to SC/ST category leading to greater social exclusion; (xii) there is a high rate of contraction of diseases like HIV among people of the transgender community; (xiii) the Indian Penal Code has different laws based on gender identity but does not include the third gender; (xiv) legislations in the country relating to succession mentions heirs as only male, female and has no provision for the third gender; (xv) cultural aspects of the transgender community play an integral role in the lifestyle of a person from the community; (xvi) familial values are the strength behind growth of a person and in that marriage plays an important role but officially, marriage of transgender persons is not recognized under law; (xvii) laws in our country do not allow a transgender to adopt children; (xviii) states like West Bengal have taken the initiative to help towards the development of the transgender community and not just for their welfare; and (xix) there is no umbrella scheme for the development of members of the transgender community throughout the county, this House urges upon the Government to— (a) undertake a nation-wide comprehensive survey to count the number of transgender people in the country to help plan welfare measures more efficiently; (b) provide targeted benefits to all persons belonging to the transgender community under existing Government schemes; (c) sensitise school syllabus regarding the third gender at primary level in all Government and private schools; (d) provide for subsidised education to any transgender person under the age of 18 years in both public and private schools; (e) provide for subsidised housing schemes for members of the transgender community. (f) provide for special wards for transgender people in all government hospitals; 191

(g) provide for free healthcare for people of the transgender community in all hospitals, both public and private; (h) establish a separate division under the Department of Aids Control for members affected by HIV among the transgender community; (i) provide for mental health counselling and addressing alcohol, drug abuse through special schemes for those affected among the transgender community; (j) extend all benefits that people belonging to the SC/ST community get, to all persons of the transgender community considering them as a minority group; (k) provide for nominating one member from the transgender community to the Rajya Sabha to ensure political representation of the community; (l) provide separate toilets in all government offices, educational institutions and public places for the transgender community; (m) provide for a special scheme for economic assistance in the form of pension to all persons of the transgender community who are unemployed; (n) provide for free vocational training courses for members of the transgender community in order to help them lead a dignified life; (o) provide subsidised loans for people of the community along with support to form their own self-help groups; (p) provide for capacity building and entrepreneurship development programmes for the persons belonging to the community; (q) establish special benches in courts to look into the cases relating to discrimination against transgenders; (r) amend the succession laws such that a transgender person is also recognised as a legal heir; (s) change the Indian Penal Code in such a way that any provision based on gender identity also includes the third gender; (t) call for strict criminal action against parents who abandon their child who is a transgender; (u) recognise the marriage between two transgender persons under the Special Marriages Act; and (v) provide for laws to allow members belonging to the transgender community to adopt children. "

4. SHRI VISHAMBHAR PRASAD NISHAD to move the following Resolution:— "Having regard to the fact that*:— (a) desperation is growing among farmers in Bundelkhand region due to crop failure because of drought, flood, frost and hailstorm; (b) this region consists of seven districts of Uttar Pradesh namely, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Jalon, Banda, Chitrakoot, Mahoba and Hamirpur and seven districts of Madhya Pradesh namely, Chhatarpur, Panna, Sagar, Damoh, Tikamgarh, Datiya and Gwalior; (c) farmers of Bundelkhand are continuously migrating to other places in search of employment for the last many decades;

* Original notice of resolution received in Hindi. 192

(d) farmers in Bundelkhand are getting frustrated because of huge loss of crops due to wild animals and Nilgais; (e) Bundelkhand is mainly rain-fed agricultural region and the production of crops depends mainly on the monsoon, which causes an irregularity in production and income that makes the life of farmers uncertain and difficult; (f) due to persistent severe droughts in Bundelkhand crop production is continuously decreasing as a result of which farmers are not even able to recover their cost price; (g) the financial income in the region is meager because of dearth of agro-based and cottage industries; (h) agriculture has become a vocation of loss because of under- valuation of cash crops and wide spread exploitation of trade which is the prominent reason for burden of debt and desperation prevalent amongst the farmers of Uttar Pradesh; this House is of the opinion that— (i) small scale and cottage industries should be established in the region; (ii) a training centre for central police force must be commissioned in Chitrakoot, Banda and Satna area of Bundelkhand, so that farmers in the area may get some security; (iii) loan recovery from farmers in Bundelkhand be stopped and waived off beside providing fertilizers, seeds and electricity free of cost to them; (iv) the farmers of Bundelkhand should be awarded a package of fifty thousand crore rupees, which will cater to completion of various incomplete works of the region and help in sustainable crop enhancement, macro-micro irrigation projects and other schemes related to development of infrastructure in the region; (v) a separate fund with the corpus of Rs. 500 crore should be established to provide financial help to elderly wives of old farmers and to provide facilities related to higher education for their children as thousands of elderly women and widows have high expectations of a relief and rehabilitation package; (vi) as the Finance Minister had promised in his budget speech, the Government should establish a price stabilization fund and a national market for agro product, start micro-irrigation and water- shed projects in drought prone areas new and increased NABARD fund to restore the credit and steps should be taken to increase the storage capacity; (vii) useful information should be provided regarding reasons for drought and forecast of appropriate time for sowing the crops to lessen the effect of it and there should be proper rain water management and crop monitoring; (viii) a survey of all poor and labourers of Bundelkhand should be conducted and on that basis BPL cards, free accommodation and toilet facilities be provided; (ix) the Central Government should take steps to stop the loss of crops due to wild animals and Nilgais; (x) the Central Government should provide free fertilizers and seeds in order to promote production of pulses and oil seeds;

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(xi) Yamuna Canal should be built by making a dam on Yamuna river near village Augasi of Banda district so that the problem of irrigation in Bundelkhand may be solved; (xii) beside the existing ponds in Bundelkhand region, concrete ponds should be constructed at places in the fields for rain water harvesting so that the farmers can use the water of these ponds when needed for irrigating their respective fields and reap the harvest and the Central Government should provide interest free loan for this purpose; (xiii) to curb migration from this region, the schemes like MNREGA should be amended for giving more than 100 days employment throughout the year under such scheme; (xiv) for plantation of fruit bearing trees in this region, a time-bound systematic action plan should be initiated under a Central Scheme; and (xv) for irrigation in the region, irrigation of crops of the farmers should be ensured by laying pipes in the fields, so that the production can be increased to improve the conditions of farmers. (xvi) there is a need to initiate programme to encourage farmers of Bundelkhand to use modern techniques for agriculture; (xvii) for the holistic development of Bundelkhand, employment guarantee should be given to all persons above 18 years of all classes to stop migration and to entirely stop committing of suicides by the farmers; (xviii) since this region is also educationally very backward, there should be separate provision for this region in the Education Policy; (xix) keeping in view the electricity problem in this region, the electricity supply should be given at concessional rates, and (xx) for saving the crops of farmers from wild animals and Nilgais, the Centre Government should make arrangements in each village Panchayat for an animal protection centre and a Gaushala (Cow Shelter)." ————

DISCUSSION ON DEMONETISATION OF CURRENCY

FURTHER DISCUSSION on Demonetisation of Currency, raised by Shri Anand Sharma on the 16th November, 2016.

———— LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS

Bill for consideration and passing

1. FURTHER CONSIDERATION of the following motion moved by The Rights of Persons Shri Thaawar Chand Gehlot on the 5th of December, 2016:— with Disabilities Bill, 2014. "That the Bill to give effect to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto, be taken into consideration.

SHRI THAAWAR CHAND GEHLOT to move that the Bill be passed.

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Bill for consideration and return

The Taxation Laws 2. SHRI to move that the Bill further to amend the (Second Amendment) Income-tax Act, 1961 and the Finance Act, 2016, as passed by Lok Sabha, be Bill, 2016. taken into consideration.

ALSO to move that the Bill be returned.

Bills for consideration and passing

The Human 3. SHRI JAGAT PRAKASH NADDA to move that the Bill to provide Immunodeficiency for the prevention and control of the spread of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Virus and Acquired and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and for the protection of human Immune Deficiency rights of persons affected by the said virus and syndrome and for matters Syndrome connected therewith or incidental thereto, be taken into consideration. (Prevention and Control) Bill, 2014. ALSO to move that the Bill be passed.

The Employee's 4. SHRI BANDARU DATTATREYA to move that the Bill further Compensation to amend the Employee's Compensation Act, 1923, as passed by Lok Sabha, be (Amendment) Bill, taken into consideration. 2016. ALSO to move that the Bill be passed.

NEW DELHI; SHUMSHER K. SHERIFF, December 8, 2016. Secretary-General.

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