Anand Sharma attacks Opposition for stalling Parliament

Kurukshetra: Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma today lambasted the Opposition for stalling Parliament in the second half of the Budget Session due to which many important bills could not be passed. “Due to the Opposition’s irresponsible attitude, several other bills of national importance including the Food Security Bill could not be discussed in the Parliament,” Sharma said while inaugurating the National Institute of Design (NID) in Kurushetra.[caption id=“attachment_806683” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Union Minister Anand Sharma. Image courtesy PIB[/caption] The minister said that NID has been declared as a Centre of Excellence, but regretted that a bill in this regard could not be passed in the Parliament because Opposition parties hindered its smooth functioning. Sharma hoped that the Opposition would realise its responsibility and play a constructive role in the next session of Parliament. The Bill is expected to be passed in the next session of Parliament, Sharma said after laying the foundation stone of NID at Umri village in Kurukshetra district, which would be the country’s second after NID, Ahmedabad. Japan would provide technological assistance to bring NID, Kurukshetra on the global map, he said. Haryana has now become the first state in the northern region to have such an institute, he said in presence of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. NID at Kurukshetra would be spread over an area of about 20 acres and would entail an investment of Rs 160 crore. The land for this institute has been provided free by the Haryana government. Different disciplines of design would be offered in the institute and it would provide world class design education and training to professionals in the field of animation, film, exhibition, graphics, product, ceramic and glass, lifestyle and furniture and interior design. Sharma said, Japan has also assured collaboration and investment in the main industrial townships of Manesar-Bawal being developed under the Delhi-Mumbai Corridor. Eight new Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), seven Indian Institute of Management (IIM), five new Institute of Science were being set up in the country, Sharma said. Similarly, 30 institutes related to Information Technology would be set up and 30 central Universities have already been set up, he said. Sharma said, “It was due to the persistent efforts of Chief Minister Hooda that the only NID of northern region has been sanctioned in Haryana.” Besides, a National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) would also be set up in Panchkula, he said adding that it would further boost up industries related to fashion and textile. Speaking on the occasion, Hooda said that the NID campus will provide education to 500 students of under-graduate and post-graduate programmes with a teaching faculty of about 100 and supporting technical staff of 150. During the past about eight years, inclusive development of all areas and welfare of every section of the society has been ensured, he said. Separate policies have been prepared for the welfare of every section be it farmer, poor, labourer, scheduled castes, backward classes and imparting qualitative education to the children, he said adding, in the coming four to five years Haryana would become an educational hub of international level. A Nuclear Science Institute would come up in Bahadurgarh, the foundation stone of which would be laid by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh soon, Hooda said. Taking a dig at Narendra Modi, Hooda said that though Modi claimed that the entire milk to Delhi was being supplied from Gujarat, the reality is, per capita milk production in Gujarat is just 400 gm whereas, it is 750 gm in Haryana. PTI