Parliament Live | Modi govt's policies are anti-farmer: Congress

Viksit Bharat is not a project but a vision document under preparation, outlining the growth trajectory for India to become a developed nation by 2047, the government said on Monday.

Replying to supplementary queries on whether financial assistance has been provided to states for Viksit Bharat projects during the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister for Planning Rao Inderjit Singh said, "It is not a project per se".

Viksit Bharat, Sing said, "It is a vision document that is under preparation...As Viksit Bharat is not a project, therefore, provision of financial assistance to states does not arise".

Replying to a question on the policy steps taken in the infrastructure and connectivity sector to boost growth and development, the minister stated that the government firmly believes that these sectors are going to be growth engines for Viksit Bharat.

"Infrastructure development is an ongoing priority of the government to boost growth and development," the minister added.

The government has collected Rs 8,263 crore towards GST on health insurance premium in 2023-24 fiscal year, Parliament was informed on Monday.

The Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said the government has received representations requesting for exemption or reduction in the rate of GST on life insurance and health insurance.

Since its inception, GST @18 per cent rate is levied on premium paid towards health insurance, the Minister of State said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

However, certain insurance schemes catering to poor sections of the society and differently-abled, such as Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), Universal Health Insurance Scheme, Jan Arogya Bima Policy and Niramaya Health Insurance Scheme are exempt from Goods and Services Tax (GST).

In 2023-24, the GST collection from health insurance premium stood at Rs 8,262.94 crore, while Rs 1,484.36 crore was collected on account of GST on health reinsurance premium.

In the 2022-23 fiscal, Rs 7,638 crore GST was mopped up from health insurance premium, and another Rs 963 crore from health reinsurance premium.

In the 2021-22 financial year, GST of Rs 5,354 crore was mobilised from health insurance premium, while Rs 826 crore came in from health reinsurance premium.

In reply to a separate question, Chaudhary said after the introduction of GST with effect from July 1, 2017, GST is leviable on life insurance and health insurance services.

To a question on whether there is a demand from the industry for withdrawal of service tax, Chaudhary said "representations have been received requesting for exemption or reduction in the rate of GST on life insurance and health insurance".

GST rates and exemptions are prescribed on the recommendations of the GST Council, which is a constitutional body comprising representatives from both the Centre and the States/UTs, he added.

Several opposition leaders on Monday alleged that the BJP-led government wants to bring a bill for amending the Wakf Act to create a divide in the society and asserted that they will strongly oppose such a legislation.

Several BJP leaders, however, strongly defended the imminent move, stressing that the Modi government has always worked with the intention of bringing transparency in every sphere.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said his party will oppose the Centre's move to bring a bill in Parliament to amend the 1995 law governing Waqf boards, and accused the BJP of trying to snatch the rights of Muslims.

"We will be against it (Wakf Act amendment bill)," Yadav told reporters when asked about the proposed amendment "BJP's only work is to divide Hindus and Muslims, snatch the rights of Muslim brothers and work on the manner in which to snatch the rights given to them in the Constitution," he said after paying tributes to late MP and party leader Janeshwar Mishra on his birth anniversary in Lucknow.

IUML's E T Mohammed Basheer said the move on the part of the government is ill-intentioned.

"A committee was appointed under K Rahman Khan and the BJP wanted to have a grip on the Waqf properties. They want to take custody of the Waqf properties.

"If such a legislation comes, we will very strongly oppose it. We will also speak with like-minded parties," he told reporters outside Parliament.

If the government goes ahead with the bill, it must be prepared for strong opposition, Basheer added.

Air fares to Gulf countries during the June to September holiday season have risen five-fold, causing financial hardships to poor labourers and the middle class migrants who want to visit India, a Rajya Sabha member said on Monday, asking the government to stop this "organised loot".

Raising the issue through a Zero Hour mention in the House, Jebi Mather Hisham (Congress) said June-September is normally a school holiday season in the Middle East countries but this has turned into a "horror season" due to the "exorbitant, exploitative and extortionist" airfares implemented by the airlines.

"We call it organised loot because it (the fare hike) has not doubled or tripled but has increased by more than five times," she said.

Against the one-way fare of Rs 8,000 from Gulf countries to Kerala, a poor labourer is now having to shell out Rs 46,000 one-way and about Rs 1 lakh for return fare.

"How will the poor labourer pay, sir," she said. "If a middle-class family of four has to travel, they have to ordinarily pay Rs 36,000 (but) now it will come up to Rs 3.64 lakh." The poor and the middle class who are toiling hard in the Middle East countries to bring in remittances are being put to such financial hardship by airlines jacking up fares in the months when they would normally visit India, she said.

Hisham, who has been elected to the Upper House from Kerala, said the airlines are invariably together coordinating the fare hike.

She went on to allege that the government is "a partner" in the "organised loot" when it washes its hands off saying airfare fixation is a market dynamic proposition.

Five students have dropped out of schools and no teacher has resigned due to violence in Manipur over the past year, the Ministry of Education told Lok Sabha on Monday.

The information was shared by Union Minister of State for Education Jayant Chaudhary in response to a written question in the Lower House asked by TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee.

"As reported by the state government of Manipur, five students have dropped out of schools and no teacher has resigned from job due to violence in Manipur since 2023 in the state," the MoS said.

More than 200 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic violence between Imphal Valley-based Meiteis and adjoining hills-based Kuki-Zo groups since May last year.

Trinamool Congress MP Saayoni Ghosh on Monday alleged that the BJP and its affiliates talk about cows, but they have been unable to provide them with enough fodder and or protect them from dying of the lumpy cow disease.

Participating in a debate on the demands for grants for the Ministry of Fishing, Animal Husbandry and Dairy, the lawmaker also thanked people of her constituency for her victory and defeating the politics of "hatred and betrayal." "I thank people of Jadavpur who sent me here and proved that politics of hatred and betrayal will not work in West Bengal," Ghosh said.

On animal husbandry, she said that 70 per cent of India's rural poor depend on livestock, but the sector hardly receives its just share. She raised concerns over rising price of cattle and poultry feed, and pointed out the nine-year high wholesale fodder inflation.

"What are the farmers going to eat and feed their families and the cattle? This forces farmers to sell their cattle, and pushes them eventually to suicide," she said.

"In the last 10 years, 1,12,000 farmers have committed suicide. In last 10 years, every day, 30 farmers have killed themselves.

"They talk about gau-raksha (protecting cows), people should know that there is a fodder crisis in India," she said, adding that the minister has admitted there is a fodder shortage in a written reply.

"It means cows are dying without food in government owned gaushalas (cowsheds), especially in the BJP-ruled states," she said.

Ghosh said 32.7 lakh cattle got infected with lumpy cow disease, and 2.4 lakh cattle heads died within months. "They say cow is their mother, but they can't protect it." Ghosh also raised concerns about rising milk prices.

"India is at the first position in milk production, but since the government has not been able to bridge the gaps, we have turned into an importer … Price of milk has gone up by 55 per cent in last ten years," she said.

She said India is at the second position in egg production, yet eggs are not being given in mid-day meals in a number of states.

"Children are malnourished yet BJP-ruled states don't give eggs in mid day meal," the lawmaker from Jadavpur Parliamentary constituency said.