My Columns: Without Fear and Favour

Are the parliamentary sessions actually working towards what they are meant for? By  Deepak Parvatiyar March 21, 2015 On 20 March, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M.Venkaiah Naidu said that the first phase of the ongoing budget session of the Parliament (before the recess) has been “most significant and rewarding” of the four sessions of Parliament since the Government assumed office in May, 2014. The minister pointed out that Lok Sabha had passed 14 Bills while Rajya Sabha seven and both the Houses passed a set of seven Bills.  In terms of productivity, as the minister pointed out, Lok Sabha’s was impressive 123.45%. As for the Rajya Sabha, it was 106.79%. What was significant was that the Lok Sabha sat beyond the scheduled business hours on 11 days while the upper house did so on nine days. Indeed, the statistics are a revelation, especially at a time when our  Parliament has earned the dubious reputation of being a place for adjournments, disrupt...

Deferring of Land Bill in Rajya Sabha and amendments made to it by NDA By  Deepak Parvatiyar March 20, 2015 There is more than what meets the eye on the government’s decision to defer the controversial land acquisition bill – The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2015 – in Rajya Sabha and take it up only after 20 April, when the House reconvenes after the recess. The Government finds it difficult to keep its own allies together over the contentious bill. Even when the bill was passed in the  Lok Sabha  on 10 March with nine amendments, its key allies, the Shiv Sena and the Swabhimani Paksha had not supported the Bill. In fact, the Swabhimani Paksha member Raju Shetty even embarrassed the ruling coalition by moving an amendment on consent clause, which was negated. The Sena had abstained from voting then and will do so again in the Rajya Sabha where it has three members. What more? T...

Rahul Gandhi- Snoopgate story By  Deepak Parvatiyar March 19, 2015 So how does Rahul Gandhi look? The question may sound silly. Add yet another – What is the colour of his eyes? If this is not enough, then is there any clue for guessing what the colour of the Congress scion’s hair is? Why should the Delhi police go hunting for Rahul with such details at his residence? The government says it is not to meddle with the security agencies and that it is a routine affair. The Opposition is not amused when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley informs Parliament that Rajiv Gandhi’s body had been identified from his shoes? {"uid":1,"hostPeerName":"http://www.elections.in","initialGeometry":"{\"windowCoords_t\":0,\"windowCoords_r\":1366,\"windowCoords_b\":728,\"windowCoords_l\":0,\"frameCoords_t\":1144.515625,\"frameCoords_r\":528.046875,\"frameCoords_b\...