TUESDAY, THE 26TH OCTOBER, 1999 (The Rajya Sabha met in the Parliament House at 11.00 a.m.) 1. Introduction of Prime Minister The Chairman introduced Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister of India to the House. 11-01 a.m. 2. Introduction of Ministers by the Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister introduced the following Ministers:- 26th October, 1999 (Cabinet Ministers) 1. Shri Lal Krishna Advani – Home Affairs 2. Shri Ananth Kumar – Culture, Youth Affairs and Sports 3. Shri T.R. Baalu – Environment and Forests 4. Ms. Mamata Banerjee – Railways 5. Shri Jagmohan – Urban Development 6. Dr. Satya Narayan Jatiya – Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation 7. Shri Manohar Joshi – Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises 8. Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi – Human Resources Development and Science and Technology 9. Shri P.R. Kumaramangalam – Power 10. Shri Pramod Mahajan – Parliamentary Affairs and Water Resources 11. Shri Ram Naik – Petroleum and Natural Gas 12. Shri Nitish Kumar – Surface Transport 13. Shri Jual Oram – Tribal Affairs 14. Shri Ram Vilas Paswan – Communications 15. Shri Naveen Patnaik – Mines and Minerals 16. Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu– Chemicals and Fertilizers 17. Shri Kashiram Rana – Textiles 18. Shri Shanta Kumar – Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution 19. Shri Jaswant Singh – External Affairs 20. Shri Sharad Yadav – Civil Aviation (Minister of State (Independent Charge) 1. Ms. Maneka Gandhi – Social Justice and Empowerment 2. Shri M. Kannappan – Non-Conventional Energy Sources 3. Shri Dilip Ray – Steel with additional charge of Parliamentary Affairs 4. Shri N.T. Shanmugam – Health and Family Welfare Minister of State 1. Shri Ramesh Bais – Chemicals and Fertilizers 2. Ms. Bijoya Chakravarty – Water Resources 3. Shri Shriram Chauhan – Parliamentary Affairs 4. Shri Jaisingrao Gaikwad – Human Resources Development 5. Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar – Science and Technology with additional Charge of Parliamentary Affairs 6. Prof. Chaman Lal Gupta – Civil Aviation 7. Dr. Vallabhbhai Kothari – Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises 8. Shri Faggan Singh Kuleste – Parliamentary Affairs 26th October, 1999 9. Shri Venur Dhananjaya Kumar – Finance 10. Shri Muni Lall – Labour and Employment 11. Shri Omar Abdullah – Commerce and Industry 12. Shri Harin Pathak – Defence 13. Dr. Debendra Pradhan – Surface Transport 14. Shri E. Ponnuswamy – Petroleum 15. Shri A. Raja – Rural Development 16. Shri O. Rajagopal – Law, Justice & Company Affairs 17. Dr. Raman – Commerce & Industry 18. Shri Gingee N. Ramachandran – Textile 19. Shri Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao – Home Affairs 20. Shri Th. Chaoba Singh – Culture, Youth Affairs & Sports 21. Dr. (Smt.) Rita Verma – Mines and Minerals 22. Shri EV alias Balasaheb Vikhe Patil – Finance 23. Shri Humumdeo Narayan Yadav- Agriculture 11-07 a.m. 3. Papers laid on the Table Shri N.T. Shanmugam (Minister of State (Independent charge) in the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare) laid on the Table- 1. A copy each (in English and Hindi) of the following papers: — a. Thirty-first Annual Report of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, for the year 1997- 8, under section 19 of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, Act, 1966. b. Annual Accounts of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, for the year 1997-98, and the Audit Report thereon, under sub-section (4) of section 18 of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, Act, 1966. (d) Review by Government on the working of the above Institute. (f) Statement giving reasons for the delay in laying the papers mentioned at (a) and (b) above. Shri Shriram Chauhan** (Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs) laid on the Table- _______________________________________________________________ **Spoken in Hindi 26th OCTOBER, 1999 2. A copy each (in English and Hindi) of the following Ordinances under sub-clause (a) of clause (2) of article 123 of the Constitution: — (i) The Income-Tax (Amendment) Ordinance, 1999 (No.7 of 1999), promulgated by the President on the 1st July, 1999. (ii) The Representation of the People (Amendment) Ordinance, 1999 (No. 8 of 1999), promulgated by the President on the 21st July, 1999. (iii) The Contingency Fund of India (Amendment) Ordinance, 1999 (No. 9 of 1999), promulgated by the President on the 28th July, 1999. 11-08 a.m. 4. Report of the Committee on Government Assurances Shri Solipeta Ramachandra Reddy presented the Forty-seventh Report (in English and Hindi) of the Committee on Government Assurances on dropping of assurances on the request of Ministries. 11-09 a.m. 5. Reports of the Public Accounts Committee Secretary-General laid on the Table a copy each (in English and Hindi) of the following Reports of the Public Accounts Committee (1998-99) which were presented by the Chairman of the Committee to the Speaker of the Twelfth Lok Sabha before its dissolution on 26th April, 1999: — i. Tenth Report on the Action Taken by Government on the recommendations contained in Fourteenth Report (Eleventh Lok Sabha) on "Union Excise Duties- Provisional Assessments". ii. Eleventh Report on the Action Taken by Government on the recommendations contained in Forty-fifth Report (Tenth Lok Sabha) on 'Avoidable extra expenditure on import of sugar". 6. Reports of the Committee on Public Undertakings Secretary-General laid on the table a copy each (in English and Hindi) of the following Reports of the Committee on Public Undertakings (1998-99) which were presented by the Chairman of the Committee to the Speaker of the Twelfth Lok Sabha before its dissolution on 26th April, 1999: — i. Third Report on Action Taken by Government on the recommendations contained in the Twelfth Report (Eleventh Lok Sabha) on Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd.-Setting up of Single Buoy Mooring Project. 26th OCTOBER, 1999 ii. Fourth Report on Senior Level posts in Public Undertakings-Appointment and related matters. iii. Fifth Report on Pyrites, Phosphates and Chemicals Ltd. -Dehradun Unit. iv. Sixth Report on Action Taken by Government on the recommendations contained in Tenth Report (Eleventh Lok Sabha) on ITI Ltd. 11-10 a.m. 7. Recommendations of the Business Advisory Committee The Chairman informed the House that the Business Advisory Committee at its meeting held on Monday, the 25th October, 1999, allotted time for Government Legislative and other business as follows:- Business Time Allowed 1. Discussion on the Motion of Thanks on 8 hours the President’s Address 2.Consideration and passing of the 1 hour Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill, 1999 3.Consideration and passing of the 1 following Bills after they have been passed Lokha Sabha (a) The Income-Tax (Amendment) Bill , 1 1999 (b) The Contigency Fund of 1 India(Amendment) Bill,1999 1 (c) The Constitution Eighty Fourth (Amendment) Bill, 1999 26th OCTOBER, 1999 12-39 p.m. 8. Motion of Thanks on the President's Address Shri Arun Shourie moved that an Address be presented to the President in the following terms: — "That the Members of the Rajya Sabha assembled in this Session are deeply grateful to the President for the Address which he has been pleased to deliver to both Houses of Parliament assembled together on October 25, 1999." (The House adjourned for lunch at 1.00 p.m. and re-assembled at 2-04 p.m.) Shri S. Viduthalai Virumbi seconded the motion. 2-39 p.m. Amendments were moved by — Shri N. Thalavai Sundaram Shri S. Ramachandran Pillai Shri R. Margabandu Shri Khagen Das Shri Sanatan Bisi Shri Dipankar Mukherjee Shri O.S. Manian Shri Nilotpal Basu Shri Vayalar Ravi Shri Pranab Mukherjee 2-43 p.m. The following Members took part in the discussion on the Motion and the amendments moved thereto: — 2.43 p.m. 1. Dr. Manmohan Singh 3-36 p.m. 2. Shri E. Balanandan 4-02 p.m. 3. Shri Ranganath Misra 4-09 p.m. 4. Shri C. Ramachandraiah 4-20 p.m. 5. Shri K.R. Malkani 4-32 p.m. 6. Shri Sanatan Bisi 4-41 p.m. 7. Shri Eduardo Faleiro 26th AND 27th OCTOBER 1999 The discussion was not concluded. 4-58 p.m. 9. Statement by Minister** Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi (Minister of Human Resource Development and Science and Technology) made a statement on the "Award of Swarnajayanti Fellowships for the year 1999-2000." (The House adjourned at 5.23 p.m. till 11-00 a.m. on Wednesday, the 27thOctober,1999.) .