Parliament Diary

Rajya Sabha reconvened today for its first sitting after it
was prorogued on March 28, 2015.  The
members in the Upper House decided to unanimously suspend the scheduled
business of the day and take up a discussion on farmers’ distress and agrarian crisis.
 This was decided in context of the
incident of the farmer’s suicide in Delhi yesterday.

Question Hour in Lok Sabha saw disruptions as opposition
members demanded the Prime Minister’s statement with regard to the same
incident. The issue was raised during Zero hour and several members
participated in the debate expressing their condolences. At the end of the
discussion the Minister of Home Affairs stated that he has asked for a probe by
the Crime Branch to be completed soon. The Prime Minister also made a brief
statement in the House seeking suggestions from the members to address this
issue.

The Lower House also discussed the Demand for
Grants of the
Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizers today. Mr. Ananth Kumar, the
Minister of
Chemicals and Fertilizers, replied at the end of the debate and the
Demand for Grants was passed by the House. The Minister reaffirmed the
government’s target
to produce 32 million tonne of urea and stated that the plan for
reviving urea
plants had begun. Further, the Minister stated that nine more fertilizer
plants
will be set up in the next five years to help India move towards
becoming a
urea exporting country. The Minister pointed out that the government
faced a
challenge with regard to fertilizer subsidies but in the coming years
direct
benefit transfers to farmers would be made possible.