THE WEEK IN PARLIAMENT

 Subhas Ray

THE first budget session of the Parliament after the new United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government came into office began on July 5, 2004. The opening day was lost due to the intractable attitude of the opposition led by the BJP which was bent upon disrupting the proceedings of both the Houses of parliament on the ‘tainted’ ministers issue. The Lok Sabha speaker, Somnath Chatterjee, after repeated appeals for calm and assurance of allowing a full fledged discussion on the issue, was forced to  adjourn the House for the day. It was a similar scene in the Rajya Sabha.

The next day, on July 6, railway budget for the year 2004-05 was presented in the Lok Sabha. It was hailed by majority of the members as a “people-friendly budget”. It not only spared passengers from any hike in fares but also contained many positive measures helpful for rural poor. Among the measures hailed were the decision not to hike freight rate; the proposal to introduce 15 new trains; free second class travel to unemployed youth attending central government job interviews; 75 per cent fare concession for widows of defence personnel killed by the terrorists; 50 per cent concession for escorts to physically handicapped persons and so on. The railway minister’s area of focus was on improving passenger amenities. He promised to supply healthier, cleaner and tastier food on trains and in stations. His decision to introduce earthern cups (kulhads) for serving tea and butter milk and make it mandatory to use khadi in trains was widely appreciated as a progressive step which would promote village economy. The CPI(M) floor leader, Basudeb Acharia, termed it as an innovative step.

DISCUSSION ON IRAQ

After the presentation of the railway budget, Lok Sabha held a discussion regarding the situation in Iraq. From the CPI(M), Varkala Radhakrishnan and Rupchand Pal participated in the discussion. Varakala reminded the House of its earlier unanimous decision not to send any troops to Iraq and said the so-called transfer of sovereignty in Iraq was nothing but a farce.  He questioned the United States authority to remain in Iraq by maintaining a 1,50,000 strong military force, which is actually calling the shots there. He also questioned the legality of the trial of Saddam Hussein by the puppet regime of Iraq and called for India to take a lead in demanding a fair and independent trial as per agreed international law. Varkala condemned the inhuman, brutal torture of Iraqi prisoners by the US forces at Abu Bhraib prison. “This brings out how hollow the US claims of being the most civilised people in the world and the consequent right to lead the world are”, he said. Varkala felt that Bush and Blair were far ahead of Hitler’s propaganda minister Geobbel in the matter of propagating lies. The fact that even after one and half years of occupation, the US could not find any trace of the so-called “weapons of mass destruction” proves this, he said.

Rupchand Pal of CPI(M) underlined our country’s tradition right from the days of freedom struggle of basing our foreign policy on national consensus. He said the earlier resolution passed unanimously by the parliament against sending any troops to Iraq must be adhered to. In fact, the situation in Iraq has worsened since then with the resistance becoming much stronger. Even within the US, there is a growing demand among the people for pulling out their troops. Rupchand Pal asked the government to make its stand clear on the so-called transfer of sovereignty in Iraq. He wanted it to boldly declare that India does not accept this farcical transfer. He decried the humiliation of Saddam Hussein, who legally still continues to be the president of Iraq, during the course of his trial. He expressed apprehension that there is a conspiracy to get Saddam killed after this illegal, summary trial and wanted the Indian government to lead the rest of nations in thwarting such an eventuality. By doing this we will only be following the glorious path of non-alignment and independent foreign policy. Iraq is going to be the acid test for this. India has to take a position and this should be in conformity with the unanimous resolution of the parliament that the US forces should unconditionally withdraw. The occupying forces must leave and the Iraqi people should be left to determine their own fate, he concluded.

DISCUSSION ON RAIL BUDGET

The discussion on railway budget was held in both the Houses of parliament on July 7, in which from the CPI(M) Basudeb Acharia took part in Lok Sabha while it was Dipankar Mukherjee in Rajya Sabha. Both welcomed the thrust given to the poor and said  the well being of the poor has been placed on the agenda. They pointed out that none of the previous rail ministers ever thought about the poor porters, vendors and thousand of workers who are engaged in the construction of railway lines or civil work. But the present minister, Laloo Prasad Yadav, has proposed measures for the social security of these exploited people. Basudeb Acharia drew the attention of the minister to the nearly 45,000 hawkers who are subject to the harassment of the railway police and authorities. He wanted the minister to look into their problem. Acharia also requested the minister to solve another problem. In 1980, there was a strike by loco running staff during which hundreds of workers were dismissed from service. They went to the court and the government was forced to reinstate them except for 13 employees. Out of these 13, one has already died. Acharia requested the minister to reinstate the remaining 12 and see that they get their pensioner benefits as ordered by the court.

Acharia wanted the central government to invest on the expansion of railway network as the industrial and economic development of the country is linked to the development of railways. He also pointed to the social obligation of the government in linking remote parts of the country through rail network. He said during the Ninth Five Year Plan the internal resources of the railways were to the tune of around Rs 14,000 crore and market borrowing comprised 34 per cent of this amount. In the past, frequent hikes in fare and freight were effected in order to increase the internal resources.  But this time it has been avoided by focussing on reducing its expenditure.

In the Ninth Plan the target for the new lines was 819 km but the achievement was only 662 km. The target for gauge conversion was 3,710 km but the railways could achieve only 2,103 km. Demanding sufficient fund for the improvement of railway signalling system, he said safety in the railways must be accorded highest priority. There are many 100 years old bridges which should be inspected by an expert committee. Also there is urgent need to replace around 22,000 km tracks and 30 per cent of passenger coaches, which have become over aged. Acharia pointed out that on the question of acquisition of electric and diesel loco coaches, and wagons, the railways were lagging behind. Both the public and private sector industries were not in a position to supply the entire order for the wagons. He demanded the Mokamah, Muzaffarpur and Burnpur wagon manufacturing units be made captive units of Indian Railways.  Emphasising the need to stop train dacoities, he suggested raising a joint force of the states and centre. He concluded by demanding absorption of thousands of apprentices and making the pay-scale of homeopathic doctors in railways at par with the allopathic doctors.

Participating in the discussion in Rajya Sabha, Dipankar Mukherjee said the replacement of plastic with kulhads was not a laughing matter but an important indicator that the interests of the poor will be central to the ministry, which has been reflected in the rail budget. Suggesting ways of mobilising  resources, Mukherjee wanted recycling of scrap material to be taken up. As an effective cost-cutting measure, he suggested resorting to e-mail tendering. He felt that the increase in the Depreciation Reserve Fund was an improvement.

Pointing out that today schemes worth Rs 40,000 crore were pending, Mukherjee questioned the government as to what are its plans to raise resources for completing such projects within five years. He recalled how a Remote Area Development Scheme of Rs 20,000 crore was mooted for completion of these schemes. Referring to the spate of dacoities – particularly from one state which witnessed around 15 dacoities in one month – which was causing much anxiety among the people, Mukherjee asked the rail minister to probe whether there was something more to it than meets the eye. He concluded by pointing out that the facilities being provided to the poor have been termed by the new railway minister as ‘concessions’, and not as ‘subsidies’.  “It is a directional change and we must welcome it.”

Economic Survey for the year 2003-04 was presented in the Lok Sabha on July 7.  It has identified five major challenges presently confronting the economy. These are:

• Sustaining the growth momentum and achieving an annual average growth rate of 7-8 per cent in the next five years

• Containing annual inflation rate to medium singe-digit level

• Boosting agricultural growth through diversification and development of agro-processing

• Expanding industry by at least 10 per cent and

• Effecting fiscal consolidation and eliminating revenue deficit.

The Survey has questioned the continuation of food subsidies and minimum support price. It expressed concern over the deterioration in the finances of the state governments.

GENERAL BUDGET

On July 8, the union general budget for 2004-05 was presented in the Lok Sabha. The Left parties welcomed the concern shown for agriculture development, employment generation, health, education, overall condition of the rural poor and imposition of 2 per cent cess for the education sector; special package for Bihar, J&K and North East; raising the income-tax exemption limit to Rs 1 lakh; no tax on pension of armed forces’ kin; new saving schemes to offer 9 per cent interest and many other issues. They also opposed harmful proposals like raising the cap of Foreign Direct Investment in telecom, insurance and civil aviation sectors; the decision to divest National Thermal Power Corporation shares; and a mere 1.5 per cent reduction of interest rate from 10.5 to 9 per cent charged by the centre on loans to the states.

RESERVATION IN PRIVATE SECTOR

On the last day of the week, July 9, the CPI(M) Lok Sabha member, S Ajay Kumar moved a resolution in the House seeking reservation for SC, ST and backward communities in private sector. He said the country was facing severe unemployment problem, as the generation of employment in all sectors did not register an increase in tune with the increasing demand. He linked this problem to the liberal policies pursued by the successive governments at the centre and the states for over a decade. Due to these policies whatever little employment avenue was there for such weaker sections in the state and central government organisations through the existing reservation policy has been blocked. There is virtually no recruitment in this sector, Ajay Kumar pointed out. Moreover, the government’s policy of cutting down investment in agriculture, coupled with the severe drought situation has further worsened the employment scenario for these communities, many of whom are starving.  Therefore, to accommodate these sections, new avenues have to be explored and identified. In this situation the government should come forward to enact a law so that reservation in private sector is ensured, demanded Ajay Kumar.

Participating in the debate, another CPI(M) Lok Sabha member, Varkala Radhakrishnan, highlighted how indiscriminate privatisation of public sector is shutting down these sections from any employment opportunities. He demanded the government to enact a law making it mandatory for the private sector to reserve jobs for the weaker sections.