Hindustan Times: New
Delhi: Wednesday, March 05, 2014.
Different
ministers in UPA II gave 7,456 assurances on the floor of the House, HT has
found under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Out of these, 2,812 assurances
are still pending and 299 have been dropped, the RTI revealed.
As
per ministry of parliamentary affairs, some of the important assurances pending
include strengthening laws to curb generation of black money, extradition of
Union Carbide chairman Warren Anderson, a white paper on disinvestment and
funds for implementation of right to education.
If
assurances had been met, eight hospitals on the line of All India Institute of
Medical Sciences would have been established. Farmers would have been
compensated for damaged crops, the Mangalore air crash victims’ families would
have been compensated and the country would have had guidelines for
pharmaceutical companies on clinical trial injuries and deaths.
Whenever
concerned ministers say they would consider a matter, take action or furnish
information later, it is counted as an assurance. A Lok Sabha committee
monitors time-bound implementation of such promises by ministers. Maneka
Gandhi, chairperson of the committee on government assurances in the Lok Sabha,
said, “We have been pushing ministries to fulfil their promises, but they are
just not bothered.”
Congress
MP and member of assurance committee Sukhdev Singh said, “The government is not
taking its assurances seriously, they just make excuses.”
All
pending assurances will now have to wait for the new government to be formed in
May.
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