The Government today faced fresh attacks from the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, with friendly BJD joining in raising a strong voice against it, while members from the North East commended Government policies that brought development in the region.
Participating in the discussion on the President’s address to Parliament, Jawhar Sircar (Trinamul Congress) said India is today at the crossroads, as it has never been before.
The Indian polity is shattered, the political framework has never been so threatened, the society is fractured, and the economy mauled, with much of the destruction due to deliberate policy, the former senior bureaucrat said.
Economic inequalities and joblessness are the main problems, he said. Out of the 100 crore population in the 15-64 age group, only 40 per cent are participating in labour, while 60 crore people have no job security. On the other hand, the bottom 50 per cent of the Indian population holds only 13 per cent of national wealth, and the worth of one business person shot up from $ 14 billion to $ 41 billion in a few years, he said.
Fifteen crore Indians were lifted out of poverty in the last 10 years, but 14 crores have been pushed back into poverty in the last two years. With such inequality, it would not matter if the economy grew to three billion dollars or 30 billion dollars, he said.
Allocations for education had come down over years and now States were contributing more, he said. On Covid deaths, the statistics were not reliable. The late entry of Indian vaccines in the market had cost the nation heavily, he said.
Sircar said Central forces sent to West Bengal during elections were larger than the State police strength.
Ripun Bora (Congress) said successive Governments since Independence started new PSUs but Modi Government was the only one that did not start a single PSU but privatized 23. He said women did not have money to buy another cooking cylinder after getting the first one under the Ujjwala scheme.
Crime against women was increasing, there was no empowerment of women, and data showed that suicides by young girls had increased, he said. Bora said the Government did not trust anyone and was keeping surveillance on everyone, including its own members.
Sasmit Patra of Odisha’s BJD, which has generally bailed out the Government in many important issues, said federalism was not even mentioned in the President’s address. Is it no longer relevant, he asked.
He said the PM’s Aawas Yojana portal has not opened for Odisha’s six lakh tribal population in the last two and a half years, while it opened for the 25 lakh tribal population of Karnataka.
Defending the Government, Kamakhya Prasad Tasa (BJP) said the Modi Government had brought peace to the North East, and it was being made a hub for Ayush medicines. Manipur and Tripura were like dead bodies but were alive now.
Manipur was a lawless State where petrol sold up to Rs 500 a litre. No one could see the order there. The Government efforts had brought back the Arunachal Pradesh boy from China. A Prime Minister from Gujarat had brought development to his State Assam and the NE region, he said. Birendra Prasad Baishya (AGP) said all State Capitals in the North East were connected with railways now.
Former Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (BJP) said India today had a strong Prime Minister and the country had undergone a transformation under his decisive policies.
K Keshava Rao (TRS) said the southern States were being ignored. Even in law-making, the Centre did not consult States like in the case of farm laws. Digvijaya Singh (Congress) the share of indirect taxes in the Central tax revenues had gone up, as compared to direct taxes. This meant the poor were being burdened as indirect taxes were paid by them mainly.
When Article 370 was brought by the Government in 1952, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, who later joined the Jan Sangh, the precursor to BJP, was a member of the Union Cabinet, Singh said.