Rising population nullifying thereby all schemes to remove poverty, trafficking of poor tribal girls and misuse of Aadhar card were some of the issues that figured in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
While starting the proceedings for the day, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said since four days were left for the monsoon session to end and 24 bills to be passed, the house may sit til late in the evening every day to finish business.
Raising the issue of population, Ashok Bajpai(BJP) said 17.5 per cent of world’s population lived in India in land mass of 2.5 per cent of the world’s available habitable land. The fast rising numbers was a major challenge for the country and if not addressed in the right earnest will lead to nullifying all welfare schemes. He also said a social movement was the need of the hour to check rising population and several MPs from various parties associated themselves with his view point.
Expressing concern over the plight of poor women, mostly from Jharkhand, West Bengal and Assam, Motilal Vora(Congress) said unscrupulous persons were luring these poor girls to big cities promising them jobs. He urged the government to take immediate steps to stop this exploitation and come down heavily upon the traffickers. leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said the matter was very serious.
Derek O’Brien(TMC) flagged the issue of Aadhar cards and expressed concern over its likely misuse. He also quoted the recent flutter caused when an old helpline number of UIDAI was flashed in smartphones. He called for doing away with making Aadhar mandatory for availing benefits including small loans from banks for agriculture by poor farmers.