My Columns: Without Fear and Favour

Why election manifestos are losing their value and importance in India? By  Deepak Parvatiyar March 11, 2015 Much ruckus is being made on the coming together of the two diametrically opposite parties, the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party and the  Bharatiya Janata Party , to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir. Inarguably they are two uncomfortable allies who in any given circumstances are considered ideologically misfit to join hands lest rule together. The initial jerks in the coalition have already surfaced after the J&K PDP’s mentor and new state chief minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed arbitrarily decided to release hard-line Kashmiri separatist Masarat Alam from detention, recently. This has put the BJP in the dock and it now cries foul over not being consulted on the issue. The Opposition has even forced adjournments in both the houses of Parliament over the issue demanding an explanation from the BJP-led Union Government. The BJP is ...

Impact of not having majority in Rajya Sabha By  Deepak Parvatiyar March 10, 2015 On 4 March, the Narendra Modi government faced its first embarrassment in the Rajya Sabha when the Opposition forced an amendment in the motion of thanks to the President’s address to the joint session of Parliament, criticising the government for its failure to curb ‘high-level of corruption’ and bring back black money stashed in foreign banks abroad. This was only the third instance of the Opposition forcing such amendments to the President’s address. The earlier instances were as follows: 1. In 1980 on grounds that the President’s address had not taken notice of the attempts to engineer large scale defections in the Legislative Assemblies in the States that were ruled by non-Congress (Indira) governments, and attempts to even arbitrarily dissolve such Assemblies You may also like to read Rajya Sabha Members State wise list of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Members 2....