Shri Ananth Kumar drew the attention of the House to the existing rampant illegal mining in the country and said this menace could be brought in check by two initiatives – both which have been implemented by the Shri  B S Yeddyurappa led BJP Government in Karnataka, namely

• Banning of the iron ore export from Karnataka from all the ports of Karnataka
• Recommendation of Mining Leases will be made by the State Government only for cases where there is Value Addition in the State

Shri B S Yeddyurappa has also requested the Hon’ble PM to ban all exports so as to preserve the mineral resources of the country.

Shri Ananth Kumar said that the proposed Amendment to the MMDR Act, to be considered by the Rajya Sabha, and after their passing, in the Lok Sabha, was only related to the mining of coal.

He mentioned that during his tenure as the Chairman of the Standing Committee of Coal & Steel, the Committee had examined the issue of Illegal Mining and had submitted the 19^th Report in August, 2006. While examining the Officers of the Ministry of Mines they had said that the framing of laws for prevention of illegal mining is the Jurisdiction of the Central Government. Hence the solution for this was to allocate mining leases only to value addition made within the country and to ban export.

He urged the Union Minister Shri B K Handique, to therefore, make this a Comprehensive Bill covering all minerals and assured the support of the BJP if it includes the Banning of Exports and the further Sanction of Mining Leases only for Value Addition purpose within the Country. He also requested the entire House to support such legislation.

Going to the core issue of the reasons for illegal mining, and subsequent transport and export of such minerals he said there is a process by which the Union Government accords sanctions to mining leases after due diligence by the Indian Bureau of Mines, and the Department of Mines. It is for the Union Government to approve the quantity and area of the mining activity to be undertaken and subsequently all activities are done under their supervision. The Ministry of Environment & Forests also has to give its clearance to the plan and also has to monitor the mining activities. After the ore is mined it is taken to any port and the Customs have to clear the consignments for export. Therefore the Union Government and its agencies have the sole responsibility to Sanction and monitor the mining activity and keep a check on the exports.

Shri Ananth Kumar also pointed out the statistics of illegal mining activity during the previous Governments in Karnataka and said that illegal mining had been in happening during the tenure of the Congress Chief Ministers Shri S M Krishna and later Shri Dharam Singh who were supported by the JD(S) headed by Shri Deve Gowda. The following table was read out to the House

Shri Ananth Kumar also pointed out to the recommendations made by the various Governments of Karnataka for mining leases as in the table below

The Hon’ble Lokayukta of Karnataka investigated and reported into the mining activity in the State of Karnataka for the period up to 2008 and recommended action against a number of cases – many of these were either Congress MLAs or Office Bearers or their relatives. Shri Rahul Gandhi on his visit to Karnataka two days ago had said that people involved in illegal mining should be taken action against – so would the Congress Party led by Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Shri Rahul Gandhi take action against their own MLAs in the state and elsewhere?

On 6^th October, 2007, the BJP withdrew support to the Shri H D Kumaraswamy Government in Karnataka. Shri Kumaraswamy Government recommended mining leases even after he came into a minority. On the other hand Shri B S Yeddyurappa Government requested the Hon’ble Lokayukta to enquire into the cases up to 2010 including his own tenure.

The BJP rejects the demand for a CBI investigation because the CBI has become the Congress Bureau of Investigation and the ruling UPA is using the CBI for political purposes only whether it is Gujarat, or with reference to Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav, Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav or Kum. Mayavati. They have also used the CBI against Dr. J Jayalalitha in Tamil Nadu.

Therefore BJP has more faith in the Karnataka Lokayukta Hon’ble Justice Santosh Hegde who is a righteous and retired Judge of the Hon’ble Supreme Court to conduct a fair and impartial enquiry than the CBI.

Reiterating once again the support of the BJP to the complete ban of exports of minerals and to value addition, Shri Ananth Kumar urged the Union Government to take necessary action in this matter.



“You Can’t Eat GDP” – said the great economist Simon Kuznets, who is supposed to be the Godfather of GDP. But the great Economists in the UPA – Dr.Manmohan Singh, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia do not seem to realize that.

For example

* Education – To implement the Right to Education Act, everybody in the field of education knows that, for the State Governments it is mammoth task – The proposed allocation of Rs. 3,675 crores is pittance compared to the needs which, at conservative estimates, is Rs.12,500 crores that the State Governments require.

* Health – the proposed increase in the allocation to the Health sector is actually negative if one factors the inflation, population growth and the incremental broad basing of the schemes.

* Housing – Most Indians have to pay for and build their own houses – the increase in the price of cement and transportation costs is going to cause huge increases in the cost of construction with no relief in the interest rates for housing loans. The decision to impose Service Tax on Rents will also impact the majority who live in rented accommodation.

* Women and Child Development – What was required was the impetus to Self Help Groups and Rural Credit for women and increase in allocation to the ICDS programme – there is no mention in this budget

The Congress led UPA Government of Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Dr. Manmohan Singh has once again shown its callous attitude and gross insensitivity to the problems of the poor, the lower income groups among the salaried class and the agriculturist, who are bearing the burden of both the downturn in the economy and the sky-rocketing price rise.

Given the tragic situation of sustained price rise this Budget presented by Shri Pranab Mukherjee will further increase inflation – While prices of all the essential commodities like rice, wheat, sugar, edible oil and vegetables are bound to increase as a cascading effect of the increase in petroleum products, no concrete steps have been provided to address the issues of employment and supply side issues relating to these essential commodities.

The Congress Party’s arrogant approach to the economic issues facing the country has led to even some of their own allies coming out openly against them. They have so far failed to control the runaway price rise and they are unwilling to take the advice of the majority – this was evident in their attitude on the floors of both Houses of Parliament.

The tragedy for the people is that the Congress, which came to power on the backs of the “AAM AADMI”, will increase the hardships of the poor and the deprived through this budget.

The BJP and the NDA has decided to wage a relentless war against this artificial price increase, which is also a mega scam, both inside the Parliament and throughout the country in the days to come, to try and get relief to the common man, poor sections of the society and the farmer.

The Rail Minister while presenting the Rail Budget today made a mockery of sanctity of the Budget Process in the Lok Sabha, by both her style of presentation and content of her oral speech. The actual speech made deviated from the written text of the speech and she continued to make political statements throughout the speech. It was an insult to the dignity and sensibility of the August House.

Karnataka is the only state which has continuously contributed and committed a major portion of funds required for new lines and infrastructure of Rail projects from the State Budget. The Rail Minister has, while appreciating the action of the Government of Karnataka, has made negligible allocation towards these projects e.g. Bagalkot – Kuduchi ( 4 crores out of 816 crores), .

No allocation at all has been made by the UPA government in this budget for Tumkur – Davangere, Shimoga – Harihar, Talguppa – Honnavar, Gadag – Haveri, Bijapur – Shahbad, Dharwad – Belgaum all of which have been grandly announced by Kum. Mamata Banerjee. The Government of Karnataka was the first to propose the PPP model on many of these routes and there is still no clear direction from the Rail Ministry as to how they propose to participate in these projects.

Karnataka needs huge investments in the form of new Rail Lines and Infrastructure to provide the basic connectivity necessary for Industrialization and Passenger movement and amenities. These will have to be taken up on a rapid time-bound manner. This Rail Budget like all other previous UPA Rail Budgets continues to be an eyewash.

Bangalore Division continues to give the maximum growth in Passenger and Freight Revenues compared to the rest of India but has always received the least attention.

No mention has been made about the Circular Railway for Bangalore which is very badly needed to ease the traffic congestion and provide all round development of the City.

The proposal of converting Bangalore into a World Class Station has been announced, but no major improvement has been effected on the ground.

Even in the new trains introduced, the needs of the people of the state have been overlooked – there has been a long pending demand for direct trains from Bangalore to destinations North of New Delhi, such as Amritsar, Jammu Tawi, Dehradun, Chandigarh an Varanasi – a large number of people from these states are today settled in Bangalore.

Also while the Budget has made a mention of Karwar as a Port requiring connectivity, no concrete proposal has been made. Konkan Railways is struggling with an acute lack of funds and this budget has also neglected this crucial lifeline for the people of coastal Karnataka.

The seriousness of the Hon. Railway Minister towards the Budget Process was very evident when she herself admitted that a large number of the proposals that she is announcing, still need the approval of the Planning Commission. By this presentation she has made this year, she has thrown all Parliamentary norms to the winds.

An adequate railway network across the city and nodes at Kengeri, Krishnarajapuram, Yelahanka and Yeshwanthpur had already been developed. Lines had been electrified and at some stretches, they needed to be doubled.

The State Government had earlier commissioned a survey through RITES for the circular railway, and on its basis, the South Western Railway could plan the operation of passenger trains with stops at every two km Ananth Kumar suggested.

Experts say the proposed suburban railway service in the city will reduce road congestion by 40 per cent.