Give Goa Assembly right to legislate on land transactions by amending
Art 371
Mr Shantaram Naik while participating in the budget debate in the Rajya
Sabha on Monday, strongly pleaded for amendment of article 371 to
provide special provisions for Goa (commonly called special status) to
empower Goa legislature to enact a law regulate land transactions in the
state. He said that Russians, Israelis and our own land mafias are
coming down to Goa with tons of money to buy villages after villages.
Goa Government did make an attempt in this regard by amending Land
Registration Act but the bill was not assented to by the President of
India in view of a Supreme Court decision which has categorized such a
legislations as unconstitutional. Therefore, it is only an amendment to
article 371 which can make a law on the subject as constitutional, he said.
Mr Naik suggested that Shipping companies, State Governments and Central
Government should create a common fund for the purpose of providing
appropriate pension to the families of seamen who suffer immensely for
earning their livelihood living away from their families.
Refering to the speech of the Leader of Opposition Shri Arun Jetley, Mr
Naik said if Congress can get votes by misusing CBI, as alleged by
Leader of Opposition, then he would advise his party to go ahead and
get the votes, said Mr Naik. He pleaded with Shri Jetley not to indulge
in such baseless allegations.
Participating further Mr Naik said that since coalition governments have
become inevitable in this country, Constitution of India needs to be
amended to include a special chapter on the governance under coalition
regimes which will lay down the responsibilities of coalition partners
and other related issues.
Mr Naik urged upon the Finance Minister to introduce Direct Tax Code
Bill and the Goods and Services Tax Bill at the earliest.
Mr Naik said that budgetary allocations can be meaningful only if
quality of the projects being implemented is checked, delays are avoided
and corrupt practices involved therein are curbed.
Mr Naik welcomed the commitment made by the Finance Minister Shri Pranab
Mukherjee to lay on the table of the House a White paper on black money.
He said that the opposition parties who are not appreciating the efforts
made by the government in this regard, despite complicated international
laws and conventions, may perhaps get an idea regarding the efforts made
by the government.
Mr Naik suggested that the Central government should implement only
those Central Schemes and enact those Central legislations which they
can fund to the extent of 100% as, Mr Naik said, it is not fair to
presume that States would be able to share a portion of the burden of
these schemes and legislations.
Mr Naik pleaded for a strong legislation to take the State Government
which hijack Central schemes and project them as their own scheme
without mentioning to the people that funds for schemes are sent by
Central Government.
Mr Naik said that it is very difficult for the States to share 50%
burden of Right to Education Act, which is a Central legislation.
Mr Naik said that Goa’s development suffers as the State does not have a
separate cadre of All India Services, and that, the officers of present
AGMU ( Arunachal, Goa, Manipur and Union Territories) cadre cannot do
justice to Goa as, due to their short stint there is no commitment involved.
Mr Naik also pleaded for a legislation to regulate funds under Members
of Parliament Local Area Development and said that readily built
premises should be allowed, after proper valuation, to be allotted as
community halls, etc. in order to avoid delays. He also pleaded that a
small percentage of total funds should be permitted to be given in cash
to the needy during natural disasters.
SHANTARAM NAIK
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Protect Goa's natural beauty
Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve
Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
