THE winter session of Parliament began with discussions on ‘Commitment to India's Constitution’ as part of the 125th birth anniversary celebrations of B R Ambedkar. On the first day of the session on November 26, the Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day after making obituary reference on count of death of a sitting member, while the Lok Sabha witnessed uproarious scene after Union Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh, initiating the discussion, said ‘secularism’ was the most "misused" word. Leader of CPI(M) in Rajya Sabha Sitaram Yechury spoke on ‘Commitment to India's Constitution’. In Lok Sabha, Jitendra Chaudhury spoke on the subject.

In Lok Sabha, while initiating the discussion on “situation arising out of incidents of intolerance in the country”, Md. Salim spoke about the dangers of the rising intolerance.

In Rajya Sabha, K N Balagopal said that as we celebrate the 125th birth anniversary of Ambedkar we must look into the experiences of framing the Constitution and what kind of problems arose while implementing it. While initiating the discussion here, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley spoke some points about intolerance during the then Indira Gandhi regime in the 1970s. The CPI(M) MP said while that was a bad experience for our country, the present government is also following the same kind of intolerance, and we have to look into the experiences of the past days. This intolerance has to be curtailed and the government has to take steps to stop these intolerant activities. On the proposed GST Bill, he said that after the passage of this legislation, no state finance minister will have any power and no state government will charge any taxes. The union government is concentrating all the powers in its hands. Another point is about the power of making treaties. On international treaties, we have to look at our Constitution once again. We have to rectify this area in the Constitution.

During a discussion on the flood situation in Tamil Nadu in Rajya Sabha, Sitaram Yechury said on behalf of not only my Party but also the House, we extend all our sympathies, our concern and all the help. If the government so desires, we can allocate a part of our MPLAD funds for relief operations. We are prepared for that, as a Party and as MPs. The National Disaster Relief Force is also hamstrung in reaching the affected areas. They are ready to take off from Vishakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar and Bangalore but they are not able to reach the affected areas. It is necessary to press into service some helicopters to airdrop food packets in the affected areas. K N Balagopal, while joining in the discussion, said the tragedy is affecting Kerala also. Steps should be taken to save people and infrastructure. Budget earmarked for such disasters should be properly spent. Proper mechanism should be put in place to tackle natural disasters as these are unexpected; be it flood or drought, which badly affect infrastructure of the states. Something has to be done to drain out flood water and quality medicines should also be sent to Tamil Nadu.

In Lok Sabha, P K Sreemathi Teacher, while expressing solidarity with the suffering people of Tamil Nadu, said that the whole House is with Tamil Nadu. Keeping in view the devastation, I would urge upon the central government to extend all possible support and assistance to the state of Tamil Nadu. The state government has taken some steps. The central government has also taken some steps. But it is time to think about the after-effects of flood. For future, we want to take this thing very seriously. Medical team, food, drinking water and all the required facilities should be provided by the government. In Thiruvananthapuram, there was rain for two days and it flooded the whole city. What is the scientific method to tackle these floods? Whatever be the steps, we will support the state and central governments wholeheartedly. Adding to this, Leader of CPI(M) in Lok Sabha P Karunakaran said that this is time for all of us to rise as one nation to assist Tamil Nadu and other flood-affected states. Although we have all scientific methods, we could not predict this natural calamity in the initial stage. All assistance should be given to Tamil Nadu by the Centre. The precautionary measures have to be taken, especially to deal with the after-effects of the situation.

Legislative Bills

The Lok Sabha passed the Bureau of Indian Standard Bill, 2015. Speaking on this, P K Biju said the Bill includes goods, services and system and it also defines goods, services, processes and system. So far as certification of goods and services is concerned, the Bureau would be the licensing authority for quality standards. A lot of duplicate products are being marketed throughout the country. How can the government work out self-certification in the country? The Bureau can establish and maintain testing laboratories for quality assessment and conformity assessment for the goods, services and articles. I would like to know from the minister the condition of the existing laboratories in our country. We certify 25,000 goods and services every year. How can that be possible? Without sufficient instruments, how can it be possible to give certification to 25,000 goods and services every year? Hallmarking is used to certify precious metal articles like silver, gold, platinum and palladium. In our country, the annual consumption of gold is over 500 tonnes. How can the present offices and laboratories fulfil this requirement of our country? As regards to mandatory certification of goods, I would like to request the minister to include food items also. A serious look by the government is necessary as far as standardization of food items is concerned. A provision of Rs 5 lakh penalty is there in this Bill, I think it should be increased. How will the consumers get benefit from different agencies? I would like the minister to clarify this. Twenty per cent of the medicines which are produced in our country fall short of prescribed standards. Moreover, some of these medicines are banned in other countries. So, we have to look into this seriously as it would affect the health of our people.

Speaking on the Carriage by Air (Amendment) Bill, 2015 in Lok Sabha, Md. Baddrudoza Khan said this Bill has been placed before this House to amend the Carriage by Air Act, 1972. In Article 24 of the Montreal Convention, there is a provision for revision of liability limits for air carriers for damages in relation to passengers' baggage and cargo at a five-year interval. The current Bill seeks to empower the central government to revise the limits of liability of airlines and compensation as per the Montreal Convention. I would like to draw the attention of the minister concerned that some Air India flights get delayed. Therefore, such delays should be compensated and also be brought under the purview of this Bill. Later, the Bill was passed in Lok Sabha. (END)