The tragic landslide in Wayanad, where the death toll has now crossed 200, dominated proceedings in the Parliament. Besides this, the Houses continued their discussion on the Union Budget 2024-25, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman replying to the discussion on the budget in the Rajya Sabha.
Lok Sabha
Protests by members from the Opposition benches dominated proceedings in the early hours on Wednesday. The uproar was directed against BJP leader Anurag Thakur for his comments against Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday. Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju condemned the conduct of the Opposition benches, arguing that although Mr. Gandhi and the entire Opposition rallied about caste the whole time, they had objections when the matter of their caste was raised. In an allied matter, Lok Sabha MP Charanjit Singh Channi submitted a notice against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for breach of privilege, as he posted a part of Mr. Thakur’s speech on X yesterday, although the remarks in question had been expunged from the proceedings of the House.
The Bhartiya Vayuyan Vidheyak, 2024, which seeks to replace the British-era Aircraft Act (1934), was also introduced in the House. This Bill aims to enable ease of doing business in the civil aviation space. Union Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu said the motive of the Bill was to remove “redundancy” and “grey areas”, and noted that the previous Act had 21 amendments made to it since its enactment.
During a quick discussion on the Wayanad landslide tragedy, Congress MP K.C. Venugopal stressed on the need for early warning systems for such tragedies. “We can’t stop natural calamities, but several lives can be saved through warning systems,” the MP said. The House was adjourned for ten minutes after BJP MP Tejasvi Surya blamed Wayanad landslides on encroachment due to “vote bank politics,” causing a ruckus in the House. In his speech, Mr. Surya said that Kerala State Forest Minister K. Raju had, in 2021, said the Kerala Legislative Assembly “admitted” that encroachment from landslide-prone areas could not be removed because of “pressure from religious organisations”. He also blamed Rahul Gandhi, former Wayanad MP, for not raising the issue in Parliament. Responding to the discussion, Union Home Minister Amit Shah praised India’s early warning system and said that it could predict disasters more than seven days in advance. “Before 2014, there was only one way to respond to disasters – relief and rehabilitation. Modi government changed this in 2014 and brought advance preparation into it with a zero-casualty approach,” Mr. Shah said.
The House further saw discussion about the demands and grants for the Ministry of Railways under Budget 2024. Janasena Party MP Balashowry Vallabhaneni asked the railway minister to consider funds to setup new rail lines, railway station development and ROBs/RUBs (Road Over Bridge) in Amravati. AITC MP June Maliah said that between 2017 to 2022, a total of 244 train accidents occurred and 15 major accidents in 2023, most of them because of train derailments. She also said that over 50% of the compulsory train safety inspections are not done. MDMK MP Durai Vaiko asked that the 50% concession for elderly, media and the monthly seasonal concession for students should be provided again.
Speaker Om Birla noted that PM Narendra Modi will reply to the issue of rural rail projects, railway concession and more in tomorrow’s session. The discussion on the Rail Budget continued till almost 11 p.m, post which the House adjourned.
Rajya Sabha
Among the key discussions of the day in the Rajya Sabha was a calling to attention motion about the landslide in Wayanad. Calling to attention motions are used to discuss issues of national importance. BJP MP Arun Singh and Dr. John Brittas, CPI (M) MP from Kerala, called the attention of the Minister of Home Affairs to the issue.
Members spoke both about current relief measures and measures which could prevent a similar tragedy.
Mr. Singh shared that the Prime Minister has announced a compensation of Rs. 2 lakhs for the families of those who died in the Wayanad landslide. Rs. 50,000 compensation has also been announced for those who have been injured.
Dr. John Brittas, meanwhile, urged the House to understand the extent of tragedy, highlighting that the death toll had crossed 160 (as of writing, it has crossed 200) and many were missing. He requested that all forces be deployed to ensure that the rescue operation extends beyond the district, noting that the radius of the tragedy was great and that some dead bodies were even found in the neighbouring district. He said they had been pleading with the Centre to provide relief to the State of Kerala, noting that out of 3783 landslides In India over the last seven years, 2339 happened in Kerala - around 60% of the total. He urged the Home Minister to consider providing relief without charging the State.
AIADMK MP Dr. M Thambidurai and CPI (M) MP Dr. V Sivadasan sought that the tragedy be declared a national emergency. DMK MP Tiruchi Siva noted that afforestation should be increased and deforestation should be stopped, highlighting this is a reason for landslides and flash floods. He said that had the suggestions of Dr. Madhav Gadgil (a noted ecologist) been adopted, this disaster may have been avoided. Prof. Manoj Kumar Jha noted that the nation should broaden disaster preparedness, prevention, signals and mitigation using technology, while CPI (M) MP A. A Rahim noted that Kerala did not even have a properly functioning advanced radar weather forecasting system. NCP MP Praful Patel sought mapping of all ecologically sensitive zones, where heavy rainfall happens.
A brief uproar was caused by BJP MP Surendra Singh Nagar’s remarks that the previous MP from Wayanad (Rahul Gandhi) should have raised the issues of the local people in Parliament.
Responding to the discussion, Union Home Minister Amit Shah informed the Upper House that a timely warning was issued regarding a possible natural calamity in Kerala and NDRF teams were stationed in advance for relief measures. He said nine NDRF teams were rushed to the State on July 23, but the Kerala government did not pay heed to the early warning. He assured that the Centre would provide all support, saying that the Narendra Modi government was standing like a “rock” with the Kerala government and the people of the state. Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, who spoke next, informed the House that over a thousand people had been rescued and that rescue and search operations were ongoing.
Post this, the House returned to its discussion of the Union Budget. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman defended the Union Budget, saying that the Opposition’s charge that Bihar and Andhra Pradesh have been given special importance in the Budget was a “deliberate attempt” to mislead people. “The Budget 2024 strikes a fine balance among several overriding priorities. Growth, employment, welfare spending, capital investments and fiscal consolidation have been given an equal place,” she remarked. She said the government is complying with the fiscal deficit trajectory, and will bring down the deficit to below 4.5% by 2025-26 from the targeted 4.9% for the current fiscal.
Replying to remarks made earlier by former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, the Minister rejected criticism of the Agnipath scheme. She said recruiting people in the age group of 17-21 years would ensure India’s battle-readiness. She also replied to the discussion on the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, pledging “unflinching support to cooperative federalism.”
The House then took up a discussion on the working of Housing and Urban Affairs. BJP MP Ghanshyam Tiwari stated, “For a Viksit Bharat (Developed India) we must make developed cities,” urging the Centre to keep state government and corporations in tandem while changing infrastructure laws. Congress MP Ajay Maken highlighted the drawbacks of PM Awas Yojana, highlighting that 1.1 crore urban homes were vacant in cities. In response, BJP MP Sumitra Balmik claimed that the housing scheme gave dignity to the urban poor who were otherwise homeless.
The discussion was then paused and Rajya Sabha took up special mentions pertaining to global warming, scrapping of tax on assistive products for persons with disabilities, social security and health insurance, among other matters. The Upper House then adjourned for the day.
Both Houses will resume proccedings at 11 a.m. tomorrow.
(Compiled by Saptaparno Ghosh, Sruthi Darbhamulla, Suchitra Karthikeyan, Priyali Prakash, Sumeda and Yohaan Ashish Varghese)
