As some MPs in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday expressed concern over rising number of atrocities against women and children, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu urged the media to refrain from glorifying and glamorising such incidents and perpetrators. He also said the need of the hour was to have a change of mindset amongst the masses on such cases.
The Chair made these observations after some MPs including Kumari Selja(Congress) flagged the issue of crimes against women and children in several states including her home state Haryana. She also expressed concern over the role of social media in glorifying such incidents and claimed this was also a reason for inciting youths to commit such crimes. The Congress leader also called for a check on social media.
Terming the matter as “important and serious,” Naidu said the media including social media and cinema had a great responsibility in not glorifying such incidents. “We have to think,” he remarked and called for a change in mindset in society.
Earlier, he sought a report from the Haryana Government on the killing of Ashok Kumar, a Rajya Sabha chamber attendant, in Bahadurgarh on December 30. He was reportedly shot at around 8 PM when he was returning home on his motorcycle in the Arya Nagar area after buying milk. Kumari Selja too mentioned the incident.
Among other issues that figured in the Rajya Sabha was a demand to frame a strict law to discourage begging was made by Shwait Malik (BJP). Ram Nath Thakur (JD-U) asked the Centre to give Bihar Rs 7,636 crore it had demanded for flood relief and also waive farm and cattle loans.
Raising the issue of the “disastrous” move to some Government of India Presses and all the Indian Railway printing presses, Tapan Kumar Sen (CPI-M) said the move ran contrary to the ‘Make in India’ campaign of the government as it destructs domestic manufacturing.
Rajeev Shukla (Congress) raised the issue of electoral reforms and said the Election Commission should come out with clear-cut guidelines on counting of paper slips of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail
(VVPAT) and the EVMs. S Muthukaruppan (AIAMDK) demanded that the Centre should raise the supply of subsidised sugar to Tamil Nadu, as a recent reduction had led the state to cough up Rs 1,300 crore annually to enable the supply of the sweetener at below market price levels.