People's Democracy

THE WEEK IN PARLIAMENT

CPI(M) Parliamentary Office

THE monsoon session of parliament began on August 8, with obituary references to deceased members including Comrade Dipanker Mukherjee and also Captain Lakshmi Sehgal, a noted freedom fighter. The house also paid homage to all the victims of floods, the pilgrims who died during Amarnath Yatra, the passengers of Chennai-bound Tamilnadu Express and the persons killed in a tragic shooting incident at Gurdwara in Wisconsin, USA.

ASSAM

SITUATION

The session started with an uproar in both houses on the issue of recent communal violence in the state of Assam. Adjournment motions were moved in both houses on this issue. While initiating the discussion in Lok Sabha, Basudeb Acharia, leader of the CPI(M) group, said he did not agree with what Shri L K Advani had said --- that the root cause of the riot in Assam was illegal immigration. In another motion the CPI(M) focussed on the failure of the government, saying that it was a monumental failure on the part of both the state and the central governments. Acharia referred to the pathetic situation in Assam which he saw during his visit, along with two other MPs, as a CPI(M) delegation. The latter visited a number of villages in the state, including the areas inhabited by the Muslim minorities in Kokrajhar district and its neighbouring areas. The people are living there in a miserable condition, Acharia said. A very huge number of population has been displaced. His query was: Should we call the Muslims residing there as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants?

Acharia also referred to the second agreement with the Bodos in 2003, which said that after the agreement the non-Bodos could not purchase land in the Bodo Territorial Area. But those who were living there prior to this agreement have every right to stay and possess land there. The intention behind all this was to increase the percentage of Bodo population from 27 per cent to 50 per cent so that the demand for a separate state could be strengthened. However, Acharia said, it was not a demand of the entire Bodo people. In fact, it is some groups among the Bodos and also the fundamentalist elements among the Muslims who are creating this problem. Lots of people are staying in the relief camps; not a single person has gone back to their villages.

As for the remedial measures, Acharia said first of all peace should be restored there. Secondly, all displaced persons belonging to the Bodo and the Muslim communities should be sent back to their villages. Rehabilitation of people should be done on war footing, but Rs 300 crore are not adequate to meet its requirements. The central government must provide enough funds, rather a special package, to the government of Assam so that rehabilitation work could be done and enough compensation paid to the affected families.

In Rajya Sabha, Jharna Das Baidya described the Assam violence as ethnic violence that involved a chain of murders of peasants and students; four Bodos were also been killed later. She said the Muslims of Assam are very much citizens of India. More than five lakh people were rendered homeless as their homes had been charred. They were starving but not getting proper relief. The government must pay attention and give compensation to the victims of violence. The violence needed to be dealt with politically.

OTHER

ISSUES

Next day, Sitaram Yechury raised in Rajya Sabha the serious matter of a mutiny in the army in Jammu and Kashmir where one of the army havildars had allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself with his service rifle due to continuous harassment by higher army officials. While asking for a statement in the house from the defence minister, Yechury said it was a matter of concern for the entire country. The matter was also raised by K N Balagopal in Rajya Sabha and P Karunakaran in Lok Sabha. The prime minister in the house, however, sought to brush this matter aside as a small incident which was being blown out of proportion, and that the subject did not deserve a discussion. It is not good for the morale of our armed forces if such matters are blown out of proportion, he added.

Prior to commencement of the monsoon session, an election to the post of vice president took place on August 7, in which members of both houses cast their votes. Shri Hamid Ansari, the UPA’s candidate, won the election with a thumping majority. On August 13, Rajya Sabha members felicitated him as their chairman once again. While congratulating him on behalf of the CPI(M), Prasanta Chatterjee expressed confidence that he would continue to work according to the principle of justice for the people.

LEGISLATIVE

BILLS

On the Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development Bill, 2012 in Rajya Sabha, K N Balagopal said it was unfortunate that there was no youth policy to date in the country, and demanded a comprehensive policy covering all aspects related to the Indian youth. But he also expressed fear that the said institute might end up like many other institutes in the country. Referring to the performance of persons like Mary Kom or Saina Nehwal, the member demanded that we must have targets in the area of sports but we must also give more facilities to the athletes. After referring to the plight of Sports Authority of India and Nehru Yuva Kendras, he said we must look into the educational and skill development aspects as far as the young generations of our country are concerned. 

In the same house, Dr T N Seema initiated the discussion on the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore Bill 2010. She said the NIMHANS had been playing an important role in the development of mental health education in the country and in offering advance clinical care for mental patients. As such, the proposal to make the NIMHANS an institute of national importance was most welcome. She urged the minister to give an assurance that NIMHNAS would not be converted into a profit-seeking venture and that the government would provide adequate funds for the growth of the institute. She also demanded inclusion of a specific provision in the bill about teaching and research in the areas of clinical psychology, psychiatric social work and psychiatric nursing.