Prime Minister Narendra Modi was greeted with black flags and protests over the contentious Citizenship Bill, which will be discussed in Rajya Sabha today.
Modi government’s gambit puts opposition parties in a bind, but upper caste quota bill clears Rajya Sabha test with a 165-7 margin.
New Delhi: The Rajya...
The hullaballoo over LinkedIn bot’s pronoun use comes on a day when CJI DY Chandrachud used the phrase ‘pregnant person’ in his judgment. It is a thing now. Get with the programme.
Air India’s new policy, effective from 2 May, introduces new weight limits for tickets in each of the different 'fare families' — Comfort, Comfort Plus, and Flex.
A theme has not yet emerged for BJP & people see lack of a contest, which makes it unexciting. For all these reasons, 2024 is turning out to be an unexpectedly theme-less election.
1. These views provoke readers like me to think about effectiveness of Parliament as a platform of people’s wishes. 2. We must endeavor to make Lok Sabha a platform for good governance, irrespective of party/parties in power. I think we need to consider a few reforms to make Lok Sabha more effective. 2. Our Parliament must introduce new rules of conducting business of both houses of Parliament; disrupting proceedings of Parliament must be punishable with immediate suspension for a day. Those who disrupt proceedings often and more than once should be barred from entering the House for an entire session. 3. As per our existing election law, First Past the Post (FPTP) is a rule under which a winner is declared. We know that the FPTP rule creates many distortions: a candidate securing as low as 25 % votes may be a winner in a Lok Sabha election. This is hardly a satisfactory situation. 4. Question is this: has time come to reconsider FPTP and think about having ‘System of Proportional Representation’ (SPR) at least for some 33% of total Sabha seats? I believe our political parties should debate having SPR, which I believe can be a major election system reform. 4. Lastly, we must restrict tenure of a MP to say 15 or 20 years.
The political capital that was expended on trying to amend the land acquisition law – giving rise to the Suit boot jibe that did so much harm – should instead have been used to get GST airborne very early in the term, allowing for a thoughtfully drafted scheme that would have been at fruit bearing stage today. The government should have reached out to Dr Singh and Shri P Chidambaram, told them, Bhai Saheb, yeh toh aapka idea tha, isse anjaam par laane mein sahkarya kijiye. Shri Kharge should have been conferred LoP status, no need to refer the issue to AG Mukul Rohatgi. The Speaker should have been less openly partisan, whether on classification of Money Bills or a hundred other things. Consensus building to get the people’s work done becomes impossible if the declared intent is a Congress mukt Bharat. One cannot the Rajya Sabha ever having been an implacable foe in the past, standing in the way of well drafted laws that are in the public interest. As the sun sets on the sixteenth Lok Sabha, one feels no nostalgia.
1. These views provoke readers like me to think about effectiveness of Parliament as a platform of people’s wishes. 2. We must endeavor to make Lok Sabha a platform for good governance, irrespective of party/parties in power. I think we need to consider a few reforms to make Lok Sabha more effective. 2. Our Parliament must introduce new rules of conducting business of both houses of Parliament; disrupting proceedings of Parliament must be punishable with immediate suspension for a day. Those who disrupt proceedings often and more than once should be barred from entering the House for an entire session. 3. As per our existing election law, First Past the Post (FPTP) is a rule under which a winner is declared. We know that the FPTP rule creates many distortions: a candidate securing as low as 25 % votes may be a winner in a Lok Sabha election. This is hardly a satisfactory situation. 4. Question is this: has time come to reconsider FPTP and think about having ‘System of Proportional Representation’ (SPR) at least for some 33% of total Sabha seats? I believe our political parties should debate having SPR, which I believe can be a major election system reform. 4. Lastly, we must restrict tenure of a MP to say 15 or 20 years.
One cannot recall the Rajya Sabha …
The political capital that was expended on trying to amend the land acquisition law – giving rise to the Suit boot jibe that did so much harm – should instead have been used to get GST airborne very early in the term, allowing for a thoughtfully drafted scheme that would have been at fruit bearing stage today. The government should have reached out to Dr Singh and Shri P Chidambaram, told them, Bhai Saheb, yeh toh aapka idea tha, isse anjaam par laane mein sahkarya kijiye. Shri Kharge should have been conferred LoP status, no need to refer the issue to AG Mukul Rohatgi. The Speaker should have been less openly partisan, whether on classification of Money Bills or a hundred other things. Consensus building to get the people’s work done becomes impossible if the declared intent is a Congress mukt Bharat. One cannot the Rajya Sabha ever having been an implacable foe in the past, standing in the way of well drafted laws that are in the public interest. As the sun sets on the sixteenth Lok Sabha, one feels no nostalgia.