Oppn forces RS to adjourn twice over demonetisation issue
22 Nov 2016 10:58 PM GMT
A united Opposition on Monday forced two adjournments in Rajya Sabha in the pre-noon session, asserting that no discussion on demonetisation would take place till the House mourns the nearly 70 deaths caused by hardships due to the withdrawal of higher denomination currency notes.
While Congress, BSP, TMC and CPI(M) among others wanted a resolution condoling the deaths to come from the Chair, Leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley charged the Opposition of running away from the demonetisation debate.
Slogan-shouting opposition members rushed into the well of the House, forcing Deputy Chairman P J Kurien to first adjourn the proceedings till 1130 hours and then again till noon.
“Why are they (opposition parties) running away from debate,” Jaitley asked. “This is clear now that the opposition is not ready for debate and is coming up with new excuses to disrupt the House.”
Stating that the notice for suspension of business under Rule 267 was accepted on first day of the winter session and a debate had started, he said the reported deaths could come up during the course of this debate and the reply to it.
No sooner that the House mourned the death of 130 persons in the derailment of Indore-Patna Express near Kanpur yesterday, Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) said an obituary reference condoling the death of 70 people due to hardships caused by the demonetisation should be moved by the Chair.
He was supported by Mayawati (BSP) who said people have died standing in queues because of hunger, want of medicines and waiting for currency for marriage.
Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad (Cong) said while condolences have been expressed for those killed in yesterday’s train accident, the same should be done for the 70 people who have lost their lives in last 15 days.
“They are also citizens of this country. We want such an obituary reference to come from the Chair,” he said, adding that Prime Minister Narenda Modi should also come to the House for the debate.
Kurien said if the members were ready, the discussion on demonetisation issue can resume immediately. “I would like to make it very clear that the Chair is ready for discussion if you are ready,” he said.
Stating that 11 bank employees were among the 70 who lost their lives, Yechury asked the Chair to take the opinion of the House on moving a resolution condoling their death. He said the debate could be held after the obituary reference is made by the Chair.
Kurien however virtually ruled it out saying “condolences are not done on demand. That has to come spontaneously. You can approach the Chairman (on that).”
To this, Yechury said “take consensus of the House”. At this point, opposition Congress, BSP and TMC members rushed into the Well shouting slogans.
“Narendra Modi sharam karo, sharam karo (shame on Narendra Modi)”, “Modi sadan mein jawab do (Modi please reply in the House)”, “poonjiwadio ki yeh sarkar nahi chalegi (this government of capitalists will not be tolerated)”, “Jan virodhi Narendra Modi sharma karo, sharam karo (shame on anti-people Narendra Modi),” they shouted.
TMC members carried placards with “Financial Emergency” written. Kurien then adjourned the proceedings till 1130 hours.
No sooner did Deputy Chairman Kurien occupy the Chair and called Dilip Tirkey (BJD) to start his Zero Hour mention, Congress members trooped into the Well.
Kurien suggested that members could continue the discussion on demonetisation of currency, but Congress members kept shouting slogans and other opposition members were seen standing on the aisles.
Amid din, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi too pitched for continuation of the debate. “Many members want to speak (on the demonetisation),” he said.
Yechury (CPI-M) again asked the Chair for an obituary reference for those who died while standing in queues outside banks due to the demonetisation move.
Prasad, Goyal discuss strategy to boost cashless transactions
Top ministers on Monday held deliberations to firm up a strategy to fast-track adoption of cashless transactions in the wake of the government withdrawing the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.
According to official sources, IT and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Power Minister Piyush Goyal today met to discuss a strategy to accelerate adoption of cashless transactions in the system to tide over the current crisis.
Others present at the meeting included IT secretary, CEO of Common Services Centre and DG NIC, and officials from Aadhaar.
In the days that followed the announcement of scrapping of the high-value notes, there have been
serpentine queues at ATMs and banks as people scrambled to exchange and withdraw cash, especially
Rs 100 notes.
“While the queue in urban India is reducing, there are concerns over measures that need to be taken to address the situation in rural India, especially in the wake of the sowing season... In this context, it was felt that CSCs can play a major role to address the needs in rural India. As many as 30,000 CSCs with banking correspondents status have expressed willingness to take on this responsibility,” they said.
Mobile wallet companies like Paytm and MobiKwik have seen manifold growth in transactions and even new users are coming on board to tide over the liquid cash crunch.
The government has been pushing for adoption of digital payment in the country that has low penetration of plastic money.
According to an Assocham-RNCOS joint study, the mobile payment transaction volume is now likely to register a compounded growth rate of over 90 per cent to reach 153 billion by 2021-22. This is against a meagre 3 billion transactions in 2015-16.
With over one billion mobile subscribers, India has a promising potential for Internet on mobile and the same is expected for payments and business transactions on mobile.
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