RAJYA SABHA _______ SYNOPSIS OF DEBATE _______ (Proceedings other than Questions and Answers) _______ Monday, July 08, 2019 / Ashadha 17, 1941 (Saka) _______ OBITUARY REFERENCE MR. CHAIRMAN: Hon. Members, I refer with profound sorrow to the passing away of Shri Sudarshan Agarwal, former Secretary-General of Rajya-Sabha, on the 3rd of July, 2019, at the age of 88 years. Born In June, 1931, at Ludhiana in Punjab, Shri Agarwal was educated at the Punjab University. Shri Agarwal joined the Judicial Service of Punjab in 1956 and served in various capacities as Civil Judge, First Class Magistrate, Settlement Commissioner in the Department of Rehabilitation and Presiding Officer of the Labour Court, before being promoted as the District and Sessions Judge in 1971. Shri Sudarshan Agarwal joined the Rajya Sabha Secretariat in November, 1971 as Deputy Secretary and was appointed as the Secretary-General of the Rajya Sabha in May, 1981. He served in that capacity till June, 1993. Shri Agarwal's twelve years tenure as the Secretary-General of Rajya Sabha, speaks volumes of his expertise in Parliamentary procedure and matters, as well as the dedication and efficiency with which he discharged his duties. He had the distinction of serving four Chairmen of the Rajya Sabha. ___________________________________________________ This Synopsis is not an authoritative record of the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha. 340 Shri Agarwal was actively associated with various social, educational and cultural organisations. He also served as the President of the Cancer Foundation and as the Chairman of Rotary Foundation, India. Shri Agarwal also served as a Member of the National Human Rights Commission, from October, 1998 to June, 2001 and as the Governor of Uttarakhand, from January, 2003 to October, 2007 and as the Governor of Sikkim, from October, 2007 to July, 2008. In the passing away of Shri Sudarshan Agarwal, the country has lost a noted constitutional expert, an able officer and a noted social worker. We deeply mourn the passing away of Shri Sudarshan Agarwal. (One Minute’s silence was observed as a mark of respect to the memory of the departed.) _______ MATTERS RAISED WITH THE PERMISSION OF THE CHAIR 1. Non-Availability of ATMs in Valparai Estate in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu SHRI T.K.S. ELANGOVAN: Valparai is an estate area where about 50,000 employees are working. They are paid a maximum of Rs. 7,000 to Rs. 8,000 as wages per month. The estate owners are crediting wages in their respective accounts. If these employees want to withdraw money, they have to go to ATM and there are only three ATMs available there. They can not go to withdraw money, because they lose a day’s wages if they go there. So, they are facing a great difficulty. Even the tourists visiting ATMs also have to wait in long queues. So, the Government should take steps to increase the number of ATMs and ensure that there should be a 341 minimum amount to deposit in account beyond which it should be given in cash to workers. (Several hon’ble Members associated.) 2. Impediments in Ease of Doing Business SHRI K.J. ALPHONS: The ease of doing business in this country has improved dramatically over the past five years. Sometimes it becomes doubtful whether all the States are coping up with this process of ease of doing business. An NRI who lived all his life in Nigeria, came back to Kerala to set up basic infrastructure. After getting permission from the municipality, he spent eighteen crore rupees to build a beautiful auditorium. After that he visited the municipality office nineteen times to get the completion certificate. But, when he was denied the completion certificate he committed suicide. This is a State-induced suicide. These kinds of things should not happen in future. The Government should issue an advisory to all the States to keep up with the spirit of ease of doing business. 3. Non-Issuance of SC Certificate to Dhangar Community in Uttar Pradesh SHRI RAM SHAKAL: The people belonging to Dhangar caste living in Sonbhadra in Uttar Pradesh, whose main occupation is agriculture and labour, were getting Scheduled caste certificates. But, they are not given this scheduled caste certificate for past few years. Due to this reason, these people are not able to take benefits of the schemes run by the Government. They are not able to participate in the elections also. I, therefore, request the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment to help them in getting scheduled caste certificates. 342 4. Demanding for More Trains from Jainagar, Bihar SHRI RAM NATH THAKUR: There are just a few trains between Jai Nagar and Raxaul in North Bihar, so the number of trains should be increased there. Large number of people from North Bihar visit coaching centres based in Jaipur-Kota. But very few trains are operating for going to these places. People of Jai Nagar have to travel a distance of 200 km to reach Patna. Therefore, number of trains from Jai Nagar to Kota should be increased. 5. Need to Include Bagheli language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution .SHRI AJAY PRATAP SINGH: (Spoke in Bagheli.) 6. Need to Stop Human Trafficking SHRI MOTILAL VORA: In Chhattisgarh, about 33 children brought from Bihar last week, were deboarded at a railway station there on the information of two lawyers. The children were being taken from Howrah to Mumbai. Similar incident has already occurred there with about 100 children before this incident. These children of the age group 8 to 10 years have been kept in Rajnandgaon and it should be investigated as to why they were being taken and what was happening with them, so that such incidents of human trafficking do not happen again. (Shrimati Viplove Thakur associated.) ___________________________________________________ . Synopsis of speech delivered by hon’ble Member in Bagheli will be published separately as supplement. 343 7. Need for Expansion of Air Strip at Meerut SHRI VIJAY PAL SINGH TOMAR: The Central Government has decided to connect various major cities of the country with air services under the Udan Yojana. Meerut is a major city of western Uttar Pradesh, which assumes historical significance. The city has Asia's largest church which is visited by thousands of foreigners every year. If the air services are started from Meerut, it will also reduce the traffic of Delhi. Meerut is the country's second largest hub in sports' goods. Uttar Pradesh's capital Lucknow is 550 kms away from Meerut and the High Court is about 750 kms away. Two very famous pilgrimage centres in Varanasi and Gorakhpur are more than 800 kms away from Meerut and it takes 12 to 20 hours to reach these places from Meerut via railways. So, I request that by expanding the air strip in Meerut, domestic air services should be started from here to various cities of the country. 8. Illegal Acquisiton of Large Forest Land in Eco-Sensitive Aravallis by Private Companies SHRI JAIRAM RAMESH: The Aravallis extends from Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and ends up in Gujarat. In recent days, there have been investigative reports of the illegal purchase of over 400 acres of forested common lands by a very high profile private company. It violates Supreme Court orders because it is a hilly forest area and hilly forest cannot be diverted to other purposes. And all common lands which have been encroached upon must be returned to Gram Panchayats. These purchases constitute a misadventure. The Aravallis are very eco-sensitive areas. The environmental devastation in the Aravallis is visible. I urge the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to take a firm position and cancel all these illegal purchases that have been made through the power of attorney. (Shri D. Raja, Shrimati Viplove Thakur and Shri Husain Dalwai associated.) 9. Resumption of Mining in Goa 344 SHRI VINAY DINU TENDULKAR: All the mines based in Goa have been closed down following an order delivered by the Supreme Court in the year 2018. The population of Goa stands at 15.5 lakhs, out of which 75,000 families have been affected by this order. The parents cannot deposit even the fees of their children. The economy of Goa depends on tourism and mining. The Government should enact a law in this regard to immediately resume mining in the mines that have been closed down in Goa. (Shri Sanjay Raut, Dr. Vikas Mahatme, Shri Shamsher Singh Manhas and Shri Sanjay Singh associated.) 10. Vacant Faculty Positions in Central University of Odisha SHRI PRASHANTA NANDA: The Central University of Odisha was established in 2009. It is situated at Koraput where mostly ST people are there. The motto of this University is nation-building. This University is a member of the Association of Indian Universities, and it was established with a view to impart professional and non-professional education, to carry out research work and to conduct training. But in the University, out of 23 posts of Professor, none have been filled up. Out of 43 Associate Professor posts, there is just one Associate Professor; the vacancy position is 42. Out of 154 Lecturers, only 17 Lecturers are posted, with 137 vacant posts. Under these circumstances, it would not be possible for the university to carry out its functions. I urge upon the Minister to look into this matter immediately, because the academic session is just about to start. (Shri Prasanna Acharya associated) 11. Payment of Arrears to the Sugarcane Farmers SHRI SURENDRA SINGH NAGAR: I would like to draw the attention of the Government towards the payment of arrears of the sugarcane farmers in the country.