BJP MP asks govt to look into demands of Manipur protesters

A BJP member in Rajya Sabha today urged the government to look into the demands of the protesting relatives of nine persons killed in police firing in Manipur three months ago.
Raising the issue in during Zero Hour, Tarun Vijay (BJP) said the Centre should look into the demands of these relatives who have been protesting here at Jantar Mantar for more than 90 days.
He said the tribal youths, who were killed in police firing on August 31 in Manipur's Churachandpur district, were protesting the passage of three bills by Manipur assembly which they felt would lead to losing of tribal land.

The youth were unarmed and "live bullets were fired on them and nine youth of Manipur were killed. There is dissatisfaction and anger and they (families) have not cremated the bodies of the nine youth," he said.
"They have said that state's response to the agitation is deplorable...Live bullets were freely used for tribal protesters without warning," Vijay said.
"They are sitting at Jantar Mantar and more than 92 days have passed. They have not performed the last rites for the nine unfortunately dead children of Manipur. I demand that the government should look into it. The central governemnt must look into it and help them," he said.

K K Rajesh (CPI-M) spoke on the plight of rubber farmers and said they were on the verge of committing suicide as prices have dropped drastically from Rs 248 per kg in 2011 to less than Rs 100 a kg now.

He said due to the government policies there has been "unprecedented" import of the natural rubber which has led the prices of domestic rubber to fall.
(Reopens PAR3)
A U Singh Deo (BJD) demanded parity in ranks of defence personnel with civil servants, saying a Brigadier who has served in the army for 27 years, was equivalent to a Director- level IAS officer who has put in 12 years of service, while , a Major General with 34 years of service was equivalent to a Joint Secretary with 18 years service.

Successive wars since independence have seen the rank of Commander-in-Chief being lowered, he claimed, adding that the Defence Ministry in US and other western countries was manned by uniformed officers while in India it was run by civil servants. "This has to be rectified," he said.
While an MP or an MLA gets pension after 2-3 years of being in the legislature, a jawan gets it only after putting in 15 years of service.
Singh Deo demanded that retired sepoys of army should be absorbed in paramilitary and police forces after they retired at the age of 35 years.
Anand Sharma (Cong) joined him to say that the issue should be resolved. "It is not fair."

He also raised the 'Warrant of Precedence' issued by the BJP government has brought down the MPs in rank to below PS to Prime Minister.
Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said MPs are getting pension after 2-3 years but jawans do not get it if he has put in 14 years and 364 days. "Is it fair? I am posing this question," he said urging that the feeling of the House be conveyed to the Defence Minister.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affiars Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said he will convey the feeling to the ministry.
Rajani Patil (Cong) raised the issue of problems cropping up in transfer of Mumbai's Indu Mill for building a memorial to Bhimrao Ambedkar.

The union Textile Ministry has objected to Maharashtra government's offer of Rs 1,413.48 crore for the land while the National Textile Corp (NTC) was seeking a higher price of about Rs 2,800 crore.
She said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had performed the 'bhoomi pujan' for the memorial in November last yer but the transfer of the 12-acre Indu Mill land, in possession of the National Textile Corporation, to the Maharashtra government has still not taken place.
(Reopens PAR4)
In his Zero Hour mention, Ripun Bora (Cong) raised the issue of NEET (National Eligibility Enterance Test) for admission to medical colleges. He said lakhs of regional languague aspirants for MBBS and BDS would not be able to compete is the enterance test is held on CBEC syllabus.

He asked the government to approach the Supreme Court for modification of its order on NEET.
Bora also said there was shortage of doctors in Assam.
Husain Dalwai (Cong) raised the issue of custodial deaths in differnt parts of the country. He said Bombay High Court had asked for installation of close circuit cameras in the all the police station, but till now only tenders have been floated for the cameras.
He also said a large number of victims of custodial death belongs to minority community.
Raising the issue of dowry deaths, Satyanarayan Jatiya (BJP) stressed on the need for a new law to tackle the menace.

(Reopens PAR6)
Dilip Kumar Tirkey (BJD) demanded higher rice allocation to Odisha under the Food Security Act saying rice was staple diet of the people in the state.
He said every state has its own "food habit" and people of Odisha, especially poor and tribal, prefer rice. He said 86 per cent people have preferred rice in their ration cards and only 14 per cent have opted for wheat. Hence, accordingly the state should be given 86 per cent rice and 14 per cent wheat.
However, under the Food Security Act, the Centre allocates 79 per cent rice and 21 per cent wheat, he said.

Odisha has a shortfall of 27,115 tonne of rice, he said, adding that the Centre could take back about 25,000 tonne of wheat lying with the state.
Hanumantha Rao (Cong) expressed concern about the low representation of people belonging to OBC even after 23 years of implementation of 27 per cent reservation policy for them.
Maintaining that the representation of OBCs among top executives of banks was only about one per cent, he said "this is mainly due to lack of monitoring mechanism" towards implementation of the reservation.
He said through a parliamentary forum, about 50 MPs had met the Prime Minister and demanded constitutional powers to the National Commission for Backward Classes. But "even after one year, there is no progress on this issue. This is the pathetic condition of OBCs," he said.

"Reservation policy is not a poverty alleviation scheme," Rao said, adding that forward community people can be given concession on fees and scholarship, but not reservation.
Another Congress member Sanjay Sinh raised the issue of delay in payment of MNREGA wages in Uttar Pradesh and demanded adequate compensation to laburers for delayed payments.