People's Democracy(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) |
Vol. XXXVI
No. 33 August 19, 2012 |
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 SITUATION The session started with an uproar in
both
houses on the issue of recent communal violence in the
state of 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 In Rajya Sabha, Jharna Das Baidya
described
the OTHER
ISSUES Next day, Sitaram Yechury raised in Rajya
Sabha the serious matter of a mutiny in the army in 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.