Parliament LIVE | States' duty to supervise coaching centres: Dharmendra Pradhan
Rajya Sabha holds short duration discussion under rule 176 on death of three students in a Delhi coaching centre
The Rajya Sabha on Monday (July 29) held a short duration discussion under rule 176 on the deaths of three UPSC aspirants in a coaching centre in Delhi due to water logging.
Allowing the discussion, Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said the culture of coaching centres has become no less than a "gas chamber" and stressed on the need to examine the huge expenditure incurred on newspaper advertisements by them.
“I find that youth demographic dividend of the country has to be nurtured, I further find that coaching has become virtually commerce." He also pointed out the high sums earned by the coaching centres leading to commercialisation of education.
"Coachings have become a flourishing industry with high returns....every time we read a newspaper front one or two pages are by way of advertisements....Every penny spent on advertisement is coming from the students, every new building is coming from the students," he said.
Comparing the coaching culture to no less than "gas chambers", the chairman stated, "In a country where opportunities are getting enlarged this silo is turning out to be a problem...they are becoming no less than a gas chamber." He urged the members to tell the youths about the various other employment and skill opportunities available in the country.
Rahul's criticism of Budget
Earlier, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi strongly criticised the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha, saying India is trapped in a 'chakravyuh' represented by the lotus symbol that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wears on his chest.
Youth have been trapped in the Agnipath scheme, with no provisions in the Budget for pension for Agniveers, he said.
He further said there's an atmosphere of fear in India, and that fear has pervaded every part of our country. Legal guarantee for MSP in the Budget would have helped farmers get out of 'chakravyuh', but the government did nothing, he added.
The Budget has stabbed the middle-class, which enthusiastically banged thalis when asked to do so by Modi when the COVID pandemic began, he said.
Dalits, tribals, backwards account for 73 per cent population, but hardly get anything from the Union Budget, he further said. The Budget has not addressed the issue of tax terrorism that has hurt small businesses hard, he noted.
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- 29 July 2024 5:49 PM IST
Remove restrictions on media in Parliament: Rahul's request to LS Speaker
Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Monday requested Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to remove the restrictions imposed on the media within Parliament premises.
"Sir, I would request you to allow the media, who have been restricted to a cage, to move out," Rahul said in the Lok Sabha.
Media persons have been recording comments from members of Parliament on camera near the entry and exit points of the Parliament building but now they have been restricted to an enclosure made for them.
Birla reminded Rahul about the rules of procedures of Parliament and said such issues should be discussed with him in person and not be raised on the floor of the House.
Rahul and other opposition leaders such as Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien, Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, and Shiv Sena-UBT MP Priyanka Chaturvedi met media persons in the media enclosure.
"This is censorship. This is completely unacceptable. We are with you in this fight," O'Brien said.
Later, the Lok Sabha speaker met a group of journalists and assured them that all their grievances would be addressed and better facilities would be provided to them to discharge their duties.
- 29 July 2024 5:08 PM IST
Delhi govt's 'carelessness' led to students' death at coaching centre: Union Minister Khattar
Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday blamed the Delhi government for its "carelessness" that led to the death of three IAS aspirants at a coaching institute in the national capital.
Three IAS aspirants -- Shreya Yadav from Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni from Telangana, and Navin Dalwin from Kerala -- died after the basement of a building housing Rau's IAS Study Circle coaching institute was flooded following rain on Saturday evening.
“I understand the agencies responsible for this carelessness is either the MCD or the Delhi government for this sheer carelessness,” the minister said.
The minister was replying to a short discussion on the incident.
Khattar said that 1,120 institutes were issued notices in 2023 but no action was taken after the notices were issued. He said that timely action could have prevented such incidents.
The minister said that a fire NOC (no objection certificate) was issued to the coaching centres in July, after which some complaints were made in this regard, but allegedly no inspection was carried out.
He said that the names of all the entities found responsible for the tragic incident should be added in the FIR.
- 29 July 2024 5:01 PM IST
Govt considers Muslims as untouchables: Owaisi
Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday expressed dissatisfaction with the government's treatment of the Muslim community, highlighting the alleged lack of focus on Muslims in Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget speech.
During a discussion in the Lok Sabha on the Union Budget, Owaisi criticised the government's approach to inclusion and equity and accused it of treating Muslims as "untouchables".
"During the budget speech, the finance minister mentioned four communities, but I want to ask, are there no poor, young people, farmers, or women among the 17 crore Muslims in this country?" Owaisi said.
"Muslims are the poorest in this beloved nation with Muslim women facing the highest rate of deprivation," the president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen said.
Sharing data to back his claims, Owaisi said only 29 per cent of Muslims aged between 15 and 24 years have access to education, compared to 44 per cent of Scheduled Castes, 51 per cent of Hindu OBCs, and 59 per cent of Hindu upper castes.
"In higher education, Muslim enrolment is just 5 per cent," he noted, citing Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data from 2018-19 to 2022-23.
- 29 July 2024 4:57 PM IST
Congress demands law to regulate coaching institutes
During a discussion in Rajya Sabha on Monday, Congress MP Randeep Singh Surjewala demanded legislating a law to regulate fee structure, conditions of teachers as well as students and also their safety.
Participating in the discussion on the death of students in a coaching institute in Delhi due to alleged negligence of authorities, Surjewala said, "Why cannot coaching institutes be regulated? They may have a role to play. What would the government do to strengthen education?" He asked why cannot there be a law to regulate fee structure, condition of education, conditions of people who impart education as also those who receive education and safety conditions in the coaching institutes.
"I urge through you that the government should seriously have widespread deliberations with all stakeholders and bring a law to regulate coaching institutes in this country," he said.
- 29 July 2024 4:44 PM IST
Rahul misleading nation on Agnipath: Rajnath Singh
Defence Minister Rajanth Singh accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of misleading the country on the Agnipath scheme.
"Our jawans protect the country's borders, it is such a sensitive issue of our national security. There are attempts to mislead the nation on the Agniveer issue, I am ready to make a statement whenever you permit," Singh said.
- 29 July 2024 4:35 PM IST
India lost 528 elephants due to 'unnatural causes' in 5 yrs: Govt
India lost 528 elephants in the last five years due to unnatural causes, including poaching, poisoning, electrocution, and train accidents, the government informed Parliament on Monday.
In response to a question by BJP MPs Jayanta Kumar Roy and Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo, Union Minister of State for Environment Kirti Vardhan Singh told the Lok Sabha that 392 elephants died from electrocution and 73 were killed in train accidents during this period.
Fifty elephants were killed by poachers and 13 succumbed to poisoning, he said.
According to the government data tabled in the Lok Sabha, 71 elephants died due to electrocution in Odisha, 55 in Assam, 52 in Karnataka, 49 in Tamil Nadu, 32 in Chhattisgarh, 30 in Jharkhand, and 29 in Kerala.
Assam and Odisha recorded 22 and 16 elephant deaths in train accidents. Poachers killed 17 pachyderms in Odisha, 14 in Meghalaya, and 10 in Tamil Nadu. Ten elephants were poisoned in Assam, two in Chhattisgarh, and one in West Bengal.
According to the last elephant census conducted in 2017, India has 29,964 elephants, which is around 60 per cent of their global population.
