oppn parties Both The BJP And The Opposition Must Ensure Smooth Functioning Of Parliament

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  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
Stock markets on fire due to US results, Sensex gains 2008 points to reach its highest level in 8 months
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Both The BJP And The Opposition Must Ensure Smooth Functioning Of Parliament

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2022-07-29 06:17:46

About the Author

Sunil Garodia The India Commentary view

Although the presiding officers of both houses of Parliament have the power to eject members who wilfully obstruct the House proceedings, yet the recent decision of presiding officers of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in suspending 4 and 23 opposition MPs for various terms was unwarranted. Granted the MPs were wilfully obstructing the proceedings but they could have been suspended just for a day. The 'punishment' meted out to them was disproportionate to their actions. The suspended MPs have alleged that the government is afraid of criticism.

The BJP has to recognize that despite its brute majority in Parliament, democracy functions well and effectively only when discussions are held in Parliament on matters of national importance. But the party has been using its majority to pass important legislations without allowing meaningful debate and has been, in some cases like the farm bills, paying a huge political price for it. If nothing else that should make it realize that carrying the opposition with it is necessary to bring in urgent and necessary reforms.

In the instant case, the opposition MPs in Rajya Sabha were adamant to have a discussion on the price rise - a subject that is of importance to the people - and the government said that it will allow the same only after the finance minister recovered from illness. If the relations between the treasury and opposition benches were cordial, the matter would have ended there. But given its past record in avoiding prickly issues in the houses, the opposition thought that it was one more tactic to avoid discussion and pressed the issue, leading to the disruption and suspension.

As the ruling party, it is upon the BJP to ensure that the house functions smoothly. It has to build relations with the opposition and allow them to raise issues of national importance. It must allow debate on the same. The quality of business done in Parliament is definitely more important than judging productivity only by the number of bills passed. Even the Supreme Court has observed that poorly drafted laws lead to more court cases. The BJP has to be more accommodative for the sake of democracy and good governance. The people deserve a Parliament that passes bills after proper vetting and meaningful debate.

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