Opposition MPs in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday raised concerns over the rising inflation in the country that is impacting the common people and asked the government to provide relief to the poor by reducing duties.
Members of the ruling BJP, however, said the inflation rate was only at 7 per cent and this was mainly on account of external factors such as the Russia-Ukraine war and global disruptions. They also hailed the government for navigating the economy in the right direction in such a troublesome time.
Participating in a short-duration discussion on rising prices of essential items, Raghav Chadha of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said this time rural India is also facing the inflationary impact — both as a producer of food and as a consumer of goods. “The cost of food production for farmers in the past year has gone up by around 21 per cent. But his income has not gone up despite the assurances to double the farm income,” he said.
Here are the updates on parliament monsoon session:
• The government is not planning to introduce any bill to make amendments to facilitate the privatisation of public sector banks in the ongoing monsoon session, Parliament was informed on Tuesday. As per list of business for monsoon session 2022 of the Parliament, no such bill has been listed for introduction, consideration and passing, minister of state for finance Bhagwat K Karad said in a written reply.
• Sudhanshu Trivedi of the BJP said India’s current inflation is around 7 per cent, which is one of the lowest in the world. “The rate of inflation of India in August is 7.01 per cent,” he said, adding that developed countries like Italy have an inflation rate of 7.9 per cent, Germany 7.5 per cent, Canada 8.1 per cent, the USA 9.1 per cent and the UK 9.4 per cent.
• A total of 14,077 dengue cases have been reported in the country till June this year against 13,580 cases in the corresponding period of 2021, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar informed Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. In 2021, a total of 2,05,243 cases of dengue were reported in India, she said in a written reply, adding that the number of cases stood at 44,585 in 2020 and 1,93,245 in 2019.
• Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill-2021, with Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav asserting that development and environment protection can go hand in hand and are not in conflict with each other. The bill was passed by voice vote after several amendments moved by opposition members were rejected by the House.
• BJP MP Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirahua’ Tuesday made a strong pitch in the Lok Sabha for the inclusion of Bhojpuri in the list of official languages mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. In his maiden speech in the Lok Sabha, Yadav said Bhojpuri was spoken in 16 countries and the ‘Geet Gawai’ tradition has been recognised by the UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage at the request of Mauritius.
• Jayant Chaudhary of the RLD pointed out that the cost of doing farming has gone up significantly over the past few years.
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