Crucial Issues Ignored as Most Speakers Support Working of Union Environment Ministry During RS Discussion |
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Bengaluru: The Budget Session in the Rajya Sabha discussed the working of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on Monday (March 9). The overall tone was one of support, and agreement, regarding the efforts put in by the Ministry to tackle issues including air pollution under the leadership of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and union environment minister Bhupender Yadav. Most of the speakers chose to not raise crucial issues such as air pollution or developmental projects which are being opposed by indigenous communities.
Of the 16 Members of Parliament who spoke during the discussion, 10 belonged to political parties that are part of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA). All nine, along with MPs affiliated with the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) (Andhra Pradesh), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) (Tamil Nadu), Bharat Rashtra Samithi (Telangana) and nominated MP Ujjwal Deorao Nikam (who was nominated by the President into the Rajya Sabha) broadly supported the work of the Modi government and the Ministry in environmental protection for the past decade.
‘Only because of the Modi government’
We have environmental protection woven into our culture and religion, claimed Ghanshyam Tiwari, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Rajasthan, while adding that Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav was doing ‘everything possible’ to protect and conserve the environment.
He listed several ways that the Ministry, under the leadership of Modi and Yadav, was doing so. He gave figures of the budget for the Ministry under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in 2012-13 and contrasted this with the budget for the Ministry in the last financial year. He compared how the number of Ramsar wetlands in India went up from just 26 during the time of the UPA, to 98 at present under the Modi government. Indore and Udaipur have been pronounced as Ramsar wetland cities in a first, he said.
While there is talk about the air pollution in Delhi, the previous government did nothing to tackle this, Tiwari claimed. Now there are far more numbers of monitoring stations, he said.
He also listed out other ‘achievements’ of the Ministry under the current government such as 25 lakh title deeds under the Forest Rights Act being awarded to tribal people and communities, the........