ChinmayC Blog

While the opposition political parties of India have been clueless about what to stand for and how to stand for, the ruling political party with its huge majority or a brute majority have been getting used to rushing through the bills in Parliament of which the prime example had been the Three Farm Laws in 2020 pandemic times (had to be repealed last month due to sustained opposition by the farmers) along with other examples, especially after the party’s second landslide in 2019. ‘Rushing through’ essentially means getting the bills passed in a hurry with mostly voice votes rendering ‘debate’ a mere formality. Yesterday, Monday the 20 th of December 2021, the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill-2021 was passed by the Lok Sabha without any debate despite strong opposition to the move. Today, the Bill has also been passed by the Rajya Sabha amid an opposition walkout, and with the Presidential assent being only a formality this move to link the Aadhaar Card to the Voter ID is set to become a...

In a huge relief for the whole of India, the Government and the farming community the year-long Farmers’ Movement has come to an end today after the Joint Farmers Front leaders announced in Delhi that the Government had accepted all their demands that prominently included the promulgation of a law guarantying Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for their crops and the withdrawal of all charges against the agitating farmers. The leaders described this as a historic victory against an arrogant government further saying that their peaceful movement was unprecedented in India as well as in the world. The farmers would start leaving the Delhi borders from the 11 th of this month, after the state funeral tomorrow of the CDS Gen. Bipin Rawat who died in a tragic chopper crash yesterday, with a victory march to their respective home states, they added. The leaders also said that the Joint Farmers Front which was formed with the constituents of all farm unions across the country to steer the movement...

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy today morning resigned from his post, his elected membership of the Congress (MLA or Member of Legislative Assembly) and general party membership expressing anguish at the division of Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and Seemandhra. Bandhs or closures have also been observed in various parts of the state and there are more protests scheduled for the days coming. Meanwhile the Telangana Bill could not be introduced in Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament, due to repeated disruptions, high drama and ugly scenes throughout the day. The Secretary General of the House got heckled by MPs most outrageously in the process. The last effort was made around 4 pm when the house resumed and four other bills were passed amid increasing din, but then the house had to be adjourned till Thursday tomorrow. The Bill is likely to be presented tomorrow with tight security in place and intense efforts will be made to get it passed. Most unfortun...

The Congress led UPA-2 approved the division of the Southern State of Andhra Pradesh into the long fought-after Telangana and the consequent Seemandhra after initiating the process over the last few months. As the draft Telangana Bill took shape in practically geographic terms the state Assembly of Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh rejected the Bill. Supporters and opposition groups emerged within the same political party and the fight for-and-against shifted to the capital as the last session of the 15 th Indian Parliament began on 5 th of February, 2014. The Union Cabinet approved the final Telangana Draft Bill on 7 th February clearing the way for its presentation in Parliament. It had been Telangana all the way then leading to early adjournments of both the houses every day—only with grudging concessions given to present the interim Railway Budget and the Vote-on-Account General Budget 2014-15. On 12 th February the interim Railway Budget was presented in Lok Sabha, the lower house...

After showing no urgency in the emergency meet yesterday in Chennai the BCCI seemed to have passed the buck over to the affected IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals (RR). Accordingly today the RR has distanced itself from the implicated players and is likely to file an FIR with the police against them. However, more promisingly, the BCCI has sent its officials to Delhi to meet Delhi Police in a supposed effort to get more information on the IPL Spot Fixing case. Yesterday, the BCCI President N Srinivasan had denied having enough information from the police. Meanwhile, Delhi police has arrested a former Ranji cricketer in the domestic circuit and two more bookies. At the moment the CCTV footage seems to hold the key for producing conclusive evidence in the courts. The Government of India, apparently shaken by this huge scam, is mulling to formulate a separate law to deal with match and spot fixing cases sternly. Indian Law Minister Kapil Sibal met the Sports Minister last night and discusse...

After a lot of differences and brainstorming over the past four days finally the Union Cabinet approved the Anti-Rape Bill last evening in New Delhi. The Government of India thus wants to replace the Criminal Offenses (Amendment) Ordinance promulgated in February 2013 with the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2013. Now the challenge before the government would be to make the Bill into a Law by getting it passed in the Indian Parliament by 22 nd March 2013, because Parliament goes into a recess for a month then and by the time it resumes the session the Ordinance would lapse, that is, on April 4. Before that the government will have to overcome the opposition storm in an all-party meet on Monday. The approved Bill recommends death penalty for rapist-murderers and also in cases where the rapist leaves the victim in a persistent vegetative state. The Bill also revises the earlier proposal of life imprisonment to rapists and mandates that the rapist will now have to spend the ‘rest of his ...

Just when the politics of terror seemed to have subsided allowing the Budget Session of the Indian Parliament that started on February 21 2012 with the President of India addressing the joint session maybe to work a little better than usual,   the terror struck back in full ferocity, venom and revenge. Two massive blasts ripped apart a prime market locality of Hyderabad, a major city of Southern India, around 7 pm yesterday. The victims caught unawares could hardly recover from shock and trauma of the first blast when another high-intensity bomb went off just 100 meters away. Fortunately a third bomb discovered in the same locality was defused in time. In a kind of a vicious circle of terror the city of Hyderabad got hit in 2002, 2007 and now 2013. The real face of the terror got exposed one more time. It did not discriminate while ripping apart the innocent victims—killing 14 and maiming over 120 so far. The Home Minister of India, Sushil Kumar Shinde, whose comment was utilized...

The Indian political forces that are only focused upon cornering and if possible ousting the ruling coalition from power have got another democracy-send opportunity to revel in what they are best at. What is the current economic status of the country, what are required for pushing up growth, what the citizens of the country want---are factors farthest removed from their agenda at the moment. They are hardly against corruption, because they cover it up within their house while attacking others. They can hardly be called opposition political parties, because their politics is rudderless at the moment. With the winter session of the Indian Parliament starting from today their ‘parliamentary’ behavior is rampantly visible as both houses get adjourned for the day. They had been preparing for the most wanted ‘democratic’ moment to garner their forces against the Government’s reform push in terms of allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Retail and diesel price hike. The modern-day ‘econ...

Article first published as The Other Side of Midnight on Technorati. War cries suddenly pierced the still and freezing midnight hour of December 29, 2011 in New Delhi—capital of India. The elected representatives of  the upper house of Indian Parliament  came out of the house shouting ‘Murder of democracy’ or ‘A black day’ or ‘The biggest fraud of the government’. Why? Not because the anti-corruption Bill could not get passed even after nearly 13 hours of debate, but because the Bill was not allowed to be defeated. Lok Sabha , the lower house of Indian Parliament, passed the  Lokpal Bill  (anti-corruption Ombudsmen Bill) just before 11 in the night of  December 27  after nearly 12 hours of debate. The coalition government had a working majority in the house and with a few gives and takes in terms of amendments suggested by opposition parties the Bill could be passed finally. But it had to be passed in  Rajya Sabha , the upper house of Indian Parliamen...

Article first published as Retail Politics! on Technorati.   The Indian parliament began its winter session on November 22, 2011 and so far it could not function even for one day. That is say the supreme constitutional body was not allowed to function by the opposition political parties. First was the issue of the continuous price rise despite the fact the inflation rate had been showing a declining trend for the last three weeks. Then there were issues of bringing back the black money deposited in foreign banks and other regional tangles. The first week was guillotined on these issues. Before the second week started the Indian Government announced a 51% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) package thus opening up the very attractive multi-brand Indian retail market for international players like Wal-Mart and others. The opposition parties including coalition allies of the government got another sought-after excuse to go on disrupting the Parliament. The opposition political p...