After days of disruptions and adjournments, the Rajya Sabha functioned smoothly for the first time on Thursday since the ongoing Winter Session commenced on December 11 last year. Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, who had ordered the AIADMK and the DMK to leave the House on Wednesday for raising a ruckus, thanked all members for the orderly conduct.
However, he took strong objection to some MPs blaming him for not doing enough to bring the House in order and said he had several occasions spoken to agitating members to break the deadlock.
Making this point as soon as the Upper House met for the day, the Chair appealed to all sections to allow the House to function as only three working days were left and important Bills, Statutory resolution and ordinances are pending approval.
Without naming anyone, he read out from a copy of an interview in the media given by a member where it was said the Chair was not doing enough as only handful of members rush to the Well and hold the House to ransom. Naidu said he was sad about the Wednesday order when the AIADMK members were suspended for the day but they continued their protest in the Well, forcing adjournment of proceedings for the day. Members, he said, have to follow instructions of the Chair.
On efforts to restore order in the last few days and run the House, Naidu said he spoke to the agitating members individually more than ten times adding he had also taken up the matter with several leaders of the House. The Congress, he said, has stated that the party was blamed but it wants the House to function.
As the Zero Hour commenced, the AIADMK members staged walk out after they were disallowed from raising the issue of planned construction of Mekedatu dam on Cauvery river in Karnataka. Raising the issue, A Navaneethakrishnan (AIADMK) raised the issue of the party’s 24 members in Lok Sabha being barred from attending the lower house for five days. Naidu ruled that conduct in Lok Sabha cannot be discussed in the Upper House.
Demanding that the Central Government withdraw permission given for a detailed feasibility report (DFR) for Mekadatu dam project, the AIADMK leaders said people of Tamil Nadu are being adversely affected. The Chair said Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari came to the House on Wednesday to give a statement on the issue but could not do so due to disruptions by the party members.
The issues raised in the Rajya Sabha by members included suicides in Navodaya Vidyalayas, priority to regional languages in bank recruitment and Staff Selection Commission (SSC) and new pension scheme causing problems for retired Government employees.
On suicides in Navodaya Vidyalayas, the Government has constituted a committee to look into reasons for as many as 37 students committing suicide in last 10 years, Human Resources Development Minister Prakash Javadekar said.
The Government was also working on appointing counsellors in each of the schools, he said after the issue was raised through a Zero Hour mention by Viplove Thakur (Congress). She said no attempt was made to find out the reasons behind so many students committing suicide.
Replying to this, the Minister said Navodaya Vidyalaya is a highly successful model of residential school education with 98 per cent of students passing 12th standard, which was more than the Central Bureau of Secondary Education (CBSE) average of 82 per cent.