Congress MP raises concern over lack of toilets for girl students in govt schools
New Delhi (PTI): Congress MP Ranjeet Ranjan on Monday raised concern over the absence of separate toilets for girl students in government schools, urging the Centre to conduct an immediate survey of school infrastructure across the country.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha, the Congress leader from Chhattisgarh said the ground reality of the government's "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao" scheme was far from its promise.
"There are slogans from various platforms, but there is not even a toilet for girl students in schools," she said.
Ranjan cited a recent report stating that over 5,000 schools in Chhattisgarh do not have separate toilets for girl students, adding that the state High Court had termed the situation "shameful" and sought a response from the state government.
ALSO READ: Deeply distressed by loss of lives in Odisha hospital fire incident: President Murmu
Referring to national data, she said as per a 2014-15 survey of 14.72 lakh schools, a majority lacked basic infrastructure. In Bihar, only 23 per cent of schools have separate toilets for girls, while in Uttar Pradesh the figure is 69 per cent. In Jammu and Kashmir, 1,321 government schools have no toilets.
She said UNICEF data shows 22 per cent of schools lack basic infrastructure for girl students, and around 2.3 crore girls drop out of school due to absence of facilities such as clean water, soap and sanitary napkins.
"Is Beti Bachao Beti Padhao confined only to speeches and advertisements?" she asked.
Ranjan urged the government to survey school infrastructure on a war footing and ensure every government school has separate, clean toilets along with water, soap and sanitary napkins for girl students.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Congress leader Venugopal urges LS Speaker Birla to revoke suspension of 8 opposition MPs
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader K C Venugopal urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday to revoke the suspension of eight opposition members, saying they were suspended "unfairly".
Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, Venugopal said Parliament has seen countless protests but suspending MPs is a "disturbing new trend" that cannot be allowed to continue.
Birla said a decision of the Lok Sabha cannot be discussed on the floor of the House and disallowed Venugopal to speak further.
Later, in a post on X, the Congress leader said he had raised concern over the "unfair suspension of 8 Opposition MPs for this Session".
"Rose in the Lok Sabha to raise concern over the unfair suspension of 8 Opposition MPs for this Session. Parliament has seen countless protests but the suspension of MPs is a disturbing new trend, which cannot be allowed to continue. This suspension should be revoked immediately," he said.
The eight opposition members were suspended during the first part of the Budget Session for "unruly" behaviour. They were suspended for the entire session.
The suspended members are Gurjeet Singh Auja, Hibi Eden, C Kiran Kumar Reddy, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Manickam Tagore, Prashant Padole, Dean Kuriakose (all from the Congress) and S Ventakesan (CPI-M).
The suspended MPs have been protesting against the government on various issues while sitting on the steps of Parliament's Makar Dwar. Several opposition leaders, including Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, have joined them from time to time.
