The Eighth Session of the Lok Sabha began on 1 August 2011 and concluded on 8 September. The Session experienced heated moments on issues like price rise, corruption and Lokpal (Ombudsman). The House faced disruptions as the opposition parties insisted on discussing the price rise issue under a rule that entails voting. Later, it was decided to adopt a motion urging the government to take immediate and effective measures to curb inflation to give relief to the common man. The Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Smt. Meira Kumar, MP, admitted a motion under rule 189 as under: “That despite repeated discussions on price rise in the House, the burden of price rise on the common man is continuing. Expressing deep concern over price rise, this House calls upon the government to take immediate effective steps to check inflation that will give relief to the common man.”
On 3 August, the senior BJP member and former Finance Minister, Shri Yashwant Sinha moved the motion followed by Shri Gurudas Dasgupta (CPI) who moved an amendment to the motion. Initiating the debate, Shri Sinha alleged that the government took no concrete steps to prepare a comprehensive food pricing and management policy despite the recommendations
340 | The Parliamentarian | 2011: Issue Four Smt. Meira Kumar, MP
made by the Standing Committee in 2009. When the government godowns were full of food grains, the government should have used this stock to keep the prices under control but it was not done due to the fear that it might increase the fiscal deficit. He was against any such growth that would lead to price rise and asked the government to promote investment in order to produce goods and services and stop forward trading if it was responsible for price rises. Shri Sinha alleged that the government which was re- elected had allowed the profiteers and hoarders to make money from common man. Refuting the charges, the Minister of Law and Justice and Minister of Minority Affairs, Shri Salman Khurshid (INC), said that high inflation was a global phenomenon and referred to several government schemes like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, the National Rural Health
Mission, Health Insurance Scheme, Indira Awas Yojana, Right to Education Act, etc. He informed that the government had provided five million tonnes of food grains to people living above the poverty line, five million tonnes to those living below the poverty line, and a further five million tonnes in reserve. The government did not believe in the theory of growth at any rate but the fact remained that the country could not march forward without growth, asserted Shri Khurshid. The senior JD-U member, Shri Sharad Yadav advised the government to focus more on inclusive growth than on achieving high GDP. Referring to the various schemes launched by the government for the benefit of poor he said all these schemes had failed to make any major difference in the lives of the poor. He asked the government to concentrate on providing irrigation facilities to farmers. Shri Shailendra Kumar (SP) said the government still had not framed any clear cut policy to combat inflation. Demanding that the levies imposed by the centre and the state governments on the petroleum products be brought down, he voiced Shri Yadav’s opinion that the government provide irrigation facilities to the farmers for gratis, strengthen the public distribution system (PDS) and bring to an end the