Talk to jewellers, end strike: Sharad Yadav to Govt

New Delhi, March 14: The ongoing strike by bullion traders and jewellers to protest one per cent excise duty on jewellers found its echo in Rajya Sabha on Monday, March 14 with JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav asking the government to find a solution to end it.

During the Zero Hour, Yadav said the nationwide strike has affected over 35 lakh people associated in the trade.

"One per cent cess has been imposed, it is unfortunate," he said and asked the government to talk to the protesters and find a solution. He said due to the strike, poor workers are suffering. In his Budget Speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had proposed one per cent excise duty on jewellery without input credit or 12.5 per cent with input tax credit on jewellery, excluding silver.

The Ministry later clarified that jewellers only with turnover of more than Rs 12 crore will be liable to pay 1 per cent excise duty on non-silver jewellery items.

Raising another issue, Ali Anwar Ansari (JD-U) said there was inadequate representation of OBC category teachers in universities. "This is one of the reasons for the unrest in universities," he added.

Javed Ali Khan (SP) said since November 2015, funds have not been released in the accounts to students under Maulana Azad National Fellowship for Minority Students Scheme.

He said officially the scheme has not been closed but students of minority community were not getting fellowships.

The fellowship caters to the requirements of the minority community students pursuing research, leading to regular and full time M.Phil and Ph.D courses.

Naresh Agrawal of SP demanded a regulatory mechanism for airline fares. He said the airlines had raised the fares to as high as Rs 90,000 on Delhi-Chandigarh route during the Jat quota reservation while fares to Dehradun have now touched Rs 30,000. Deputy Chairman P J Kurien favoured a regulatory mechanism and said the government should look into it.

PTI