Rising number of naxal related incidents in various States, plight of ad-hoc teachers in universities, menace caused by stray cattle and human trafficking in some border States were some of the issues flagged by the members in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.
Drawing the attention of the house during the zero hour to naxal problem, Ram Vichar etam(BJP)claimed that in the past few months violent incidents engineered by the Naxals had increased in some states like Chattisgarh and Jharkhand. Terming the trend as serious, he urged the Government to take note it adding the worst sufferers were poor tribal people. As per a report of the home ministry, only 10 districts were affected from Naxal activities in Chattisgarh, but now in the last six month it has spread to almost all districts, he said.
Roopa Ganguly(nominiated) sought to draw the attention of the Upper House to what she called rising number of cases of human trafficking and illegal activities in border states and urged the concerned state governments in tandem with the centre to address them at the earliest.
The Samajwadi Party(SP) demanded compensation for people killed by stray cattle and insurance cover for crops damage caused by them. Raising the issue, party member Ravi Prakash Verma (SP) said stray cattle has become a menace in Uttar Pradesh and other northern states because of lack of an appropriate policy. He said stray cattle was clogging highways, damaging standing crops and in many cases also killing/injuring people.
Prakash demanded that families of people killed by stray cattle should be given compensation of Rs 5 lakh like that given for those killed by wild animals. Further, crop damage caused by animals should be covered under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.
Manoj Kumar Jha(RJD) highlighted the plight of ad- hoc teachers in universities across the country. He rued that hundreds of ad-hoc teachers continue to teach for years on paltry salaries. Jha said teachers in private universities are made to sign on a higher amount but they get only Rs 15,000-Rs 16,000 monthly as remuneration.
In her mention, Shanta Chhetri (TMC) said about 8.5 per cent of the country’s population constitutes senior citizens. She suggested that their experience and knowledge should be used for the benefit of the country.
Another SP member Surendra Singh Nagar highlighted the incident of Bulandsahar in UP wherein two Dalit women were allegedly run over by a car after they protested a molestation attempt recently. Beside the two women, another person, who was injured in the incident, died in the hospital, he said, and alleged that police was giving protection to the accused, a powerful person.
Sanjay Sinh(Congress) raised the issue of Kargil war veteran Mohammad Sanaullah, who was declared a “foreigner”, arrested and sent to detention camp in Assam. He said authorities did not act promptly on documents provided by Sanaullah regarding his citizenship.
Stating that a fake case has been registered against Sanaullah, who has also been honoured with the President’s Medal, Singh demanded that responsibility be fixed.