RAJYA SABHA Parliamentary Bulletin PART - I (TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTEENTH SESSION) No. 4719] TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2008 Brief Record of the Proceedings of the Meeting of the Rajya Sabha held on the 15th April, 2008 11-00 a.m. 1. Oath or Affirmation The following Members made and subscribed oath/affirmation and took their seats in the House:— ANDHRA PRADESH 1. Shri Mohd. Ali Khan 2. Shri K.V.P.Ramachandra Rao 3. Shrimati Ratna Bai Tadapatla ASSAM 4. Shri Birendra Prasad Baishya 5. Shri Biswajit Daimary 6. Shri Bhubaneswar Kalita BIHAR 7. Shri Prem Chand Gupta 8. Shri Nand Kishore Singh 9. Shri C.P. Thakur CHHATTISGARH 10. Shri Shivpratap Singh 11. Shri Motilal Vora 29744 29745 GUJARAT 12. Shri Bharatsinh Prabhatsinh Parmar 13. Shri Parshottam Khodabhai Rupala 14. Shri Natuji Halaji Thakor HARYANA 15. Dr. Ram Prakash 16. Shri Ishwar Singh HIMACHAL PRADESH 17. Shri Shanta Kumar JHARKHAND 18. Shri Jai Prakash Narayan Singh 19. Shri Parimal Nathwani MADHYA PRADESH 20. Shri Prabhat 21. Shri Raghunandan Sharma 22. Shrimati Maya Singh MAHARASHTRA 23. Shri Prithviraj Chavan 24. Shri Murli Deora 25. Shri Rajkumar Dhoot 26. Shri Prakash Keshav Javadekar 27. Shri Bharatkumar Bhavanishankar Raut 28. Shri Yogendra Premkrishna Trivedi 29. Shri Janardhan Madhavrao Waghmare MANIPUR 30. Shri Rishang Keishing 29746 MEGHALAYA 31. Shri Thomas A. Sangma ORISSA 32. Shri Rama Chandra Khuntia 33. Shri Mangala Kisan 34. Shrimati Renubala Pradhan 35. Shri Balbir Punj RAJASTHAN 36. Dr. Gyan Prakash Pilania 37. Dr. Prabha Thakur TAMIL NADU 38. Shri N. Balaganga 39. Shri A.A. Jinnah 40. Shrimati Jayanthi Natarajan 41. Shri T.K. Rangarajan 42. Shrimati Vasanthi Stanley 43. Shri G.K. Vasan WEST BENGAL 44. Shri Debabrata Biswas 45. Shri Shyamal Chakraborty 46. Shri Prasanta Chatterjee 47. Shri Ahmad Saeed Malihabadi 48. Shri Tarini Kanta Roy ANDHRA PRADESH 49. Dr. T. Subbarami Reddy BIHAR 50. Shri Sabir Ali 29747 11-47 a.m. 2. Welcome to new Members The Chairman welcomed the new Members. %11-49 a.m. The House adjourned and re-assembled at 12-00 Noon. 12-00 Noon. 3. Introduction of Ministers Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister introduced 7 Ministers of State to the House. 4. Starred Questions Answers to Starred Question Nos. 321 to 340 were laid on the Table. 5. Unstarred Questions Answers to Unstarred Question Nos. 2327 to 2481 were laid on the Table. 12-01 p.m. 6. Papers Laid on the Table The following papers were laid on the Table:— 1. A copy each (in English and Hindi) of the following papers (updated as on 11th April, 2008):— (a) Foreign Trade Policy (1st September, 2004 to 31st March, 2009); and (b) Handbook of Procedures-Volume 1 (1st September, 2004 to 31st March, 2009). 2. A copy (in English and Hindi) of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs draft Notification F.No.1/1/2008 – CL.V dated nil, regarding non filing of multiple copies of document for e-governance project, under sub-section (2) of section 610C of the Companies Act, 1956. % From 11-48 a.m. to 11-49 a.m. some points were raised. 29748 3. A copy each (in English and Hindi) of the following Notifications of the Ministry of Finance (Department of Economic Affairs), under sub-section (3) of section 21 of the Coinage Act, 1906:- (a) G.S.R. 45 (E) dated the 22nd January, 2008, publishing the Coinage of the Five Rupees coined to commemorate the occasion of “State Bank of India Bicentennial Year” Rules, 2007. (b) G.S.R. 47 (E) dated the 22nd January, 2008, publishing the Coinage of the Five Rupees coined to commemorate the occasion of “Lal Bahadur Shastri Birth Centenary (1904-2004)” Rules, 2007. 4. A copy (in English and Hindi) of the Ministry of Finance (Department of Economic Affairs), Notification No. PWPM:10475:078:VRR dated the 24- 30th November, 2007, publishing the Canara Bank (Officers’) Service (Amendment) Regulations, 2007, under sub-section (4) of section 19 of the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970. 5. A copy each (in English and Hindi) of the following papers, under sub-section (4) of section 15 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 :— (a) Annual Accounts of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Mumbai, for the year 2006-2007 and the Audit Report thereon. (b) Statement giving reasons for the delay in laying the papers mentioned at (a) above. 6. A copy each (in English and Hindi) of the following Notifications of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, under section 62 of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board Act, 2006:— (a) G.S.R.36 (E) dated the 30th November, 2007, publishing the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (Appointment of Consultants) Regulations, 2007. (b) G.S.R. 196 (E), dated the 19th March, 2008, publishing the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (Authorizing Entities to Lay, Build, Operate or Expand City or Local Natural Gas Distribution Networks) Regulations, 2008. 29749 (c) G.S.R. 197 (E), dated the 19th March, 2008, publishing the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (Determination of Network Tariff for City or Local Natural Gas Distribution Networks and Compression Charge for CNG) Regulations, 2008. (d) G.S.R. 198 (E), dated the 19th March, 2008, publishing the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (Exclusivity for City or Local Natural Gas Distribution Network) Regulations, 2008. 7. A copy each (in English and Hindi) of the following papers, under sub-section (1) of section 619A of the Companies Act, 1956:— (a) Annual Report and Accounts of the GAIL (India) Limited, New Delhi, for the year 2006-2007, together with the Auditor's Report on the Accounts and the comments of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India thereon. (b) Review by Government on the working of the above Company. 8. A copy each (in English and Hindi) of the following papers:— (i) Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of India (Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas) and M/s Balmer Lawrie and Co. Ltd. for the year 2008-2009. (ii) Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of India (Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas) and Oil India Limited for the year 2008-2009. (iii) Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of India (Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) for the year 2008- 2009. (iv) Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of India (Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas) and M/s Biecco Lawrie Limited for the year 2008-2009. 29750 12-02 p.m. 7. Reports of Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs Dr. Karan Singh laid on the Table a copy each (in English and Hindi) of the following Reports of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs:- (i) Twentieth Report (Fourteenth Lok Sabha) on Demands for Grants of the Ministry of External Affairs for the year 2008-2009; and (ii) Twenty-first Report (Fourteenth Lok Sabha) on Demands for Grants of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs for the year 2008-2009. 12-03 p.m. 8. Reports of Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance Shri S.S. Ahluwalia laid on the Table a copy each (in English and Hindi) of the following Reports of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance:— (i) Sixty-seventh Report on Demands for Grants (2008-09) of Ministry of Finance (Departments of Economic Affairs, Expenditure, Financial Services and Disinvestment); (ii) Sixty-eighth Report on Demands for Grants (2008-09) of Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue); (iii) Sixty-ninth Report on Demands for Grants (2008-09) of the Ministry of Planning; (iv) Seventieth Report on Demands for Grants (2008-09) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation; and (v) Seventy-first Report on Demands for Grants (2008-09) of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. 29751 12-04 p.m. 9. Reports of Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology Shri A. Vijayaraghavan laid on the Table a copy each (in English and Hindi) of the following Reports of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology (2007-2008):- (i) Fifty-fifth Report on Demands for Grants (2008-2009) of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting; (ii) Fifty-sixth Report on Demands for Grants (2008-2009) of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (Department of Posts) ; (iii) Fifty-seventh Report on Demands for Grants (2008-2009) of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (Department of Telecommunications) ; (iv) Fifty-eighth Report on Demands for Grants (2008-2009) of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (Department of Information Technology); and (v) Fifty-ninth Report on action taken by the Government on the Recommendations/Observations of the Committee contained in their Forty-Eighth Report (Fourteenth Lok Sabha) on Real Estate Management in Department of Posts. 12-05 p.m. 10. Disqualification of a Member on Ground of Defection The Chairman reported his decision declaring Shri Jai Narain Prasad Nishad, a member of the Rajya Sabha, who has become subject to disqualification under the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution and informed the House that he had passed the following order:— "ORDER In exercise of the powers conferred upon me under article 102(2) read with paragraph 6 of the Tenth Schedule to the 29752 Constitution of India, I, Mohammad Hamid Ansari, Chairman, Rajya Sabha, hereby decide that Shri Jai Narain Prasad Nishad, an elected member of the Rajya Sabha from the State of Bihar, by voluntarily giving up his membership of the Bharatiya Janata Party, his original political party, has become subject to disqualification for being a member of the Rajya Sabha in terms of paragraph 2(1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution of India.