RAJYA SABHA FRIDAY, THE 11TH JULY, 2014 (The Rajya Sabha met in the Parliament House at 11-00 a.m.) 11-00 a.m. 1. Starred Questions The following Starred Questions were orally answered:- Starred Question No. 61 regarding Pending railway project proposals. Starred Question No. 62 regarding Security mechanism in Railways. Starred Question No. 63 regarding Performance of BSNL and MTNL. @11-33 a.m. (The House adjourned at 11-33 a.m. and re-assembled at 11-42 a.m.) Starred Question No.64 regarding Collision of Gorakhdham Express with goods train. Starred Question No.65 regarding Status of railway lines/tracks and stations. Starred Question No.66 regarding Increase in passenger fares and freight charges. Answers to remaining Starred Question Nos.67 to 80 were laid on the Table. 2. Unstarred Questions Answers to Unstarred Question Nos. 386 to 511 were laid on the Table. 12-00 Noon. 3. Ruling by the Chair The Chairman gave the following ruling:— ―Hon’ble Members on July 9, I received some notices of alleged Breach of Privilege on account of leakage of certain portions of the Railway Budget (2014-2015) in a newspaper on July 8, 2014, the day on which it was laid in this House. The notices were from Shri Madhusudan Mistry, Shri V. Hanumantha Rao, Shri Shantaram Naik, Smt. Rajani Patil, Shri Praveen Rashtrapal and Shri Ashk Ali Tak, members, Rajya Sabha. They enclosed a clipping of the Indian Express of July 8, 2014 which contained certain proposals of the Government which were to be announced during the Railway Minister’s budget speech. The matter was also raised by them in the House during Question Hour on that day and I had said at that time that it is under my examination. @ From 11-28 a.m. to 11-33 a.m., some points were raised. 20 11TH JULY, 2014 2. I have examined the notices on the basis of facts of the case, materials placed on record and the past precedents. It is a fact that some of the proposals of the Government which found place in the Railway Minister’s Budget Speech were indeed reported by the Indian Express in its issue of July 8, 2014, the day on which the Budget was due to be presented to the Parliament. It is unfortunate that contents of the Budget Speech of the Railway Minister were reported in the media. This needs to be looked into by the Government to ascertain if norms of official secrecy were infringed. 3. There are several instances in the past wherein the presiding officers have observed that the leakage of Budget proposals does not constitute a Breach of Privilege. I have no reasons to differ with these rulings of the past. Accordingly, I hold that these notices are not admissible.‖ 12-02 p.m. 4. Papers Laid on the Table Shri Ananth Kumar (Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers) laid on the Table a copy each (in English and Hindi) of the following papers:— (i) Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of India (Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Department of Pharmaceuticals) and the Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (IDPL), for the year 2014-15. (ii) Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of India (Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Department of Pharmaceuticals) and the Rajasthan Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (RDPL), for the year 2014-15. Shri Thaawar Chand Gehlot (Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment) on behalf of Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad laid on the Table:- I. A copy each (in English and Hindi) of the following Notifications of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (Department of Information Technology), under sub-section (3) of Section 96 of the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout-Design Act, 2000:— (1) S.O. 2745 (E), dated the 8th December, 2011, regarding declaring of convention countries with effect from the date of publication of this notification in the official Gazette. (2) S.O. 307 (E), dated the 4th February, 2014, regarding declaring of convention countries with effect from the date of publication of this notification in the official Gazette. 21 RAJYA SABHA II. A copy each (in English and Hindi) of the following Notifications of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (Department of Telecommunications), under Section 37 of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997:— (1) F. No. 3-24/2012-B &CS, dated the 20th September, 2013, publishing the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Interconnection (Digital Addressable Cable Television Systems) (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2013. (2) No. 311-33/2014-QoS, dated the 7th April, 2014, publishing the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Fifteenth Amendment) Regulations, 2014. Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu (Minister of Urban Development; Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation; and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs) on behalf of Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar laid on the Table:- I. A copy each (in English and Hindi) of the following papers:— (a) Twenty-seventh Annual Report and Accounts of the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), New Delhi, for the year 2012-13, together with the Auditor's Report on the Accounts. (b) Review by Government on the working of the above Institute. (c) Statement giving reasons for the delay in laying the papers mentioned at (a) above. II. A copy (in English and Hindi) of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of India (Ministry of Textiles) and the National Handloom Development Corporation (NHDC) Limited, for the year 2014- 15. Shri Nihalchand (Minister of State in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers) laid on the Table a copy each (in English and Hindi) of the following papers:— (i) Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of India (Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals) and the Hindustan Organic Chemicals Limited (HOCL), for the year 2014-15. 22 11TH JULY, 2014 (ii) Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of India (Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers) and the Hindustan Insecticides Limited (HIL), for the year 2014-15. (iii) Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of India (Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers) and the Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Limited (BCPL), for the year 2014-15. Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan (Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Minister of State in the Ministry of Food Processing Industries) laid on the Table a copy each (in English and Hindi) of the following Notifications of the Ministry of Agriculture (Department of Agriculture and Cooperation), under sub-section (6) of Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955:— (1) S.O. 968 (E), dated the 29th March, 2014, notifying the Fertiliser (Control) Order, 1985, made under Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 as special order for the purposes of the said section. (2) S.O. 1180 (E), dated the 30th April, 2014, amending Notification No. S.O. 382 (E), dated the 15th February, 2013, to substitute certain entries in the original Notification. (3) S.O. 1181 (E), dated the 30th April, 2014, publishing the Fertiliser (Control) Amendment Order, 2014. (4) S.O. 1182 (E), dated the 30th April, 2014, notifying the specifications of the customized fertilizers for a period of three years from the date of publication of this notification. @12-13 p.m. 5. Leave of Absence (i) Shri Mithun Chakraborty (West Bengal) was granted leave of absence from the sittings of the House, from 7th July to 14th August, 2014, during the current (232nd) Session of the Rajya Sabha. @ From 12-04 p.m. to 12-13 p.m., some points were raised. 23 RAJYA SABHA (ii) Shri Dilip Kumar Tirkey (Odisha) was granted leave of absence from the sittings of the House, from 7th July to 14th August, 2014, during the current (232nd) Session of the Rajya Sabha. (iii) Shri Kunal Kumar Ghosh (West Bengal) was granted leave of absence from the sittings of the House, from 7th July to 14th August, 2014, during the current (232nd) Session of the Rajya Sabha. 12-15 p.m. 6. Motion for election to the Tea Board A motion for election of one member to the Tea Board was moved and adopted. 12-16 p.m. 7. Statement regarding Government Business Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, Minister of Urban Development, Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, made a statement regarding Government Business in the Rajya Sabha during the week commencing on Monday, the 14th of July, 2014. 12-17 p.m. 8. Matters raised with permission 1. !Shri Prabhat Jha raised a matter regarding rape of a minor girl in Bokaro in Jharkhand on the directives of a Social Panchayat. Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad, Leader of the Opposition also spoke. !Shri Thaawar Chand Gehlot, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, responded. 12-23 p.m. 2. Shri D. Raja raised a matter regarding continued attack on Indian fishermen particularly Tamil fishermen by Sri Lankan Navy. Dr. V. Maitreyan also spoke. 12-27 p.m. 3. !Shri Avtar Singh Karimpuri raised a matter regarding non-disbursal of scholarship to students belonging to SC category in the various States, particularly in Punjab. ________________________________ ! Spoke in Hindi. 24 11TH JULY, 2014 12-30 p.m. 4. Shrimati Kanimozhi raised a matter regarding setting up of a Ministry for Fisheries. 12-34 p.m. 5. !Shri Ramdas Athawale raised a matter regarding atrocities against dalits at Tigaon village in Faridabad, Haryana. 12-37 p.m. 6. !Shri K.C. Tyagi raised a matter regarding recent attack on Palestine by Israeli Army. 12-41 p.m. 7. Shri K.N. Balagopal raised a matter regarding Indians trapped in Iraq. Shri M.P. Achuthan, Shri P. Rajeeve, !Shri Avinash Rai Khanna, !Shrimati Viplove Thakur, !Shri Sharad Yadav, Shri Vayalar Ravi and Shri Ananda Bhaskar Rapolu also spoke.