Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi then said the matter was “sub-judice”. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi then said the matter was “sub-judice”.

A CPI(M) member in the Rajya Sabha on Friday questioned why the Lokpal had not been appointed so far, responding to which the government said the matter was sub-judice. During the Zero Hour, Tapan Kumar Sen said the law to have a Lokpal had been enacted after a countrywide upsurge against corruption but the Centre has not appointed anyone to the post so far.

Sen said there could be practical problems as technically there is no Leader of Opposition but if the government could take the ordinance route to appoint the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, it could do something to appoint a Lokpal as well.

“Why the double standards,” he asked while claiming that appointment of a Lokpal was not being given due priority.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi then said the matter was “sub-judice”.

Another CPI(M) member Ritabrata Banerjee raised concerns over the safety of whistleblowers and their families.

He referred to the case of a Kerala-based person who had, in a social media post, said that there were attempts to intimidate him as he and his family members were being followed by unknown persons at different places.

The CPI(M) member said the person concerned was a prime witness in an important case.

BJP member Prabhat Jha raised the issue of missing girl children in Bihar. He said the data suggests that over 3,000 girls were missing and sought to know what was the reason.

Some opposition members raised objections after which Jha said that he had not named any party and was raising the issue going above political considerations.

Congress member Rajni Patil expressed concern over the effect of the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides.

Terming it as “slow poisoning”, she said a train from Bhatinda to Bikaner had been named ‘cancer train’ because of the increase in the spread of the disease.

Patil, who extended birthday wishes to Deputy Speaker P J Kurien, said the use of these chemicals was not good even for his health, evoking laughter among the members.

Another issue raised was about allocation of due resources to Andhra Pradesh.

Congress member K V P Ramchandra Rao said severe drought-like conditions prevailed in several parts Rayalseema in the state and drew the attention of the government to the matter.

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