The Parliament budget session 2020 resumes on Thursday. On Wednesday, some of the talking points were the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, the National Register of Citizens and the linking of social media profiles with Aadhaar.
In both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address is being discussed.
Here are the latest updates:
Lok Sabha | 5.00 p.m.
AITC MP Abhishek Banerjee from West Bengal says, “The centre owes a huge amount of money to the states. The bugdet 2020 murder was brutal, barbaric, harsh and heinous. There are failed flagship schemes like Khelo India, Fit India and so on. Now the govt’s new flagship scheme is ‘Becho India’ [Sell India].
“I appeal to every member of this House, you talk about Desh Bhakti, patriotism, country’s pride but if you have the spine, stand up for your country and save LIC from privatisation. You start with BSNL, Indian Railways, Air India, IDBI and now LIC. LIC has so many agents and full-time employees. The country that voted for the current ruling party voted with optimism in their hearts. LIC supported on your lows and look what you have done. Soon FCI will also be in line. The funding to FCI is not enough to feed Indians. What can be a bigger shame? The govt’s unfit bill for FCI is around ₹2 lakh crores. This will hurt the lower-income and the poor the most.
“Fertiliser subsidy has been down and BJP govt has failed to pay its farmers. The govt takes pride of raising the insurance cover to ₹5 lakh rupees. A lot of people save their life earning just to ensure their child gets a good education, marriage or their parents’ future medical expenses. Now, the govt says that you’ll get only ₹5 lakh. The govt can’t give safety or stability. There is a systematic murder of federalism.
“When Mamata Banerjee was Railway Minister, she launched many long-distance trains. But now West Bengal has got ₹1,000 in this budget when it comes to Railways in every scheme,” he says and shows two 500 rupee notes in the House.
“When MGNREGA is not in good shape, it is distressing that BJP govt is wasting money on policies like NPR and NRC.
He lists a number of achievements by Bengal and says that the state is performing better and investment in many sectors is up.
Rajya Sabha | 5.00 p.m.
Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar says that India has brought back even Maldivians from Wuhan along with Indians. “This is the reality of this country taking high steps for this world. I used to work in banks. When we took stock in 2014, when DBT was launched when Manmohan Singh was in power, there were no bank accounts only. Now PM Modi has let people open bank accounts and made sure there is a good financial inclusion.
Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi used to remark that only 15 paise of every rupee meant for welfare of downtrodden reaches them. Now PM Modi has ensured that when ₹100 is sent under the Direct Benefit Transfer, the poor get the entire ₹100.”
Lok Sabha | 4.00 p.m.
BJP MP Jayant Sinha from Jharkhand says that we have left the billionaire rule and have moved towards rule of the people. “This was a feel-good budget and I’d like to thank on behalf of the country. While driving a car, we need to look through the windshield, not through the rear view mirror. We need to see what has to be done in the way forward. Manufacturing, services are on the rise. These aren’t just told by the Economic Survey, but also mentioned by the IMF. GST’s collections tell us that the economy is becoming better.”
“Do we have the ability to finance the $5 trillion economy. We have to intermediate $1.5 trillion and equity financing. We are establishing long-term pillars with the budget. Many cases have been brought through the insolvency and bankruptcy code. The fear of hanging concentrates the mind wonderfully. When you see that, that forces creditors and everyone to resolve matters. Because of the code, the resolution is happening at a far faster pace than before. There’s a lot of global data on the haircut. Our recovery is absolutely in line with global experience in this matter. Now we’ve already got 3.6 lakh crores of recovery. The velocity of the resolution has gone up. This is a remarkable achievement and it is a crucial building block that can fund a $5 trillion economy.”
“Govt proposed ₹8,000 crore for quantum computing and we’d come up among the top players in this as well. We cared about globalisation and liberalisation, in future, we’ve to concentrate on competitiveness and sustainability and bring a green future.”
DMK MP K. Kanimozhi from Tamil Nadu requests the govt to increase minimum wages of MGNREGA workers atleast to ₹350. She mentions the centre is giving less funding to the state.
With regard to the protests in universities she asks, “How can we convince the world community that Indian universities are safe?” to which some MPs including Dayanidhi Maran say, “Shame!”
“You’re hacking the roots of social justice by disi