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Education schemes hit a fund hurdle

Rajat AsthanaDeccan Herald, April 4, 2022
The Ministry of Education has been allocated Rs 1.04 lakh crore in this year’s budget. This allocation constitutes 3% of the central government’s estimated expenditure for 2022-23. The allocation to the National Education Mission is the fifth-largest among all major schemes at Rs 39,553 ...
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Governors must be fair in inviting CMs

Chakshu RoyHindustan Times, March 9, 2022
You are about to start hearing the name of justice Ranjit Singh Sarkaria. He retired as a judge of the Supreme Court (SC) in 1981 after serving for seven years. His profile on the SC’s website records that early on in his career, he was part of a two-member committee to translate the Constitut...
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Outgoing Punjab Assembly met for less than 20 days each year, passed all bills on day of introduction

Payoja Ahluwalia and Manas GubbiNews9live, March 1, 2022
The number of days that the Punjab Assembly is in session each year has been a persistent downward slope, the lowest being during the term of the 15th Assembly in 2021 (11 days) Highlights Days in session hit record-low in 2021, yearly average at a mere 14-days All these Bills were passed on the sam...
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Outgoing UP Assembly passed all 146 Bills in the same session, none were referred for further examination

Payoja Ahluwalia and Manas GubbiNews9live, Feb 25, 2022
The Assembly met for only 21 days a year, on average. The Deputy Speaker of the Assembly was elected after more than four years of constitution of the Assembly. The Assembly met only five times for 10 or more days. Each of these were budget sessions. https://www.news9live.com/india/up-assembly-al...
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Faceoff-II: Why simultaneous polls won't work for India

MR Madhavan, Times of India, Feb 25, 2022
Faceoff-II: Why simultaneous polls won't work for India ...
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Outgoing Goa Assembly passed 25% Bills within a day, concluded 70% sessions within 5 days

Payoja Ahluwalia and Manas GubbiNews9live, Feb 23, 2022
Highlights The Assembly passed 92 Bills in its term. Of these, 91 were introduced and passed in the same session. Only four Bills were referred to Committees for further examination. The tenure of the 7th Assembly marks the lowest number of sitting days in a year since 1989. The 7th Goa ...
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Local job laws that raise constitutional questions

MR Madhavan, The Hindu, Feb 11, 2022
The Supreme Court of India will soon hear a petition to remove the stay on the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act, or the Haryana Act, that reserves 75% of jobs in the private sector in the State for local residents. The Act applies to jobs that pay up to ₹30,000 per month, and employe...
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The Faults in India’s Law-Making Process

Chakshu RoyThe india Forum, Jan 28, 2022
Halfway through its five-year term, the current Lok Sabha has passed more than 100 laws. To put that number in context, its predecessor, the 16th Lok Sabha, had during its entire term passed 133 laws, which itself was 15% more than the number passed by the 15th Lok Sabha. While this scorching legisl...
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Republic Day : In the 73rd year of our Constitution, how many of the concerns in it will we rectify?

Chakshu Roy, Jayraj PandyaIndian Express, Jan 26, 2022
The framers of the Constitution and members of Parliament had highlighted the concerns in our founding document, many of which were rejected during its framing, that took almost three years, and it came into effect on January 26, 1950. Space entrepreneur Elon Musk would have loved Const...
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President, DNA, data & MPs shifting office

Chakshu RoyTimes of India, Dec 28, 2021
The winter session of Parliament ended bitterly with political parties accusing each other of stifling debate. The national legislature passed legal proposals on surrogacy, assisted reproductive technology and dam safety during the session. And towards its end, the government pushed through a conten...
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How Parliament must deal with disruptions

Chakshu RoyHindustan Times, Dec 25, 2021
There is one word that describes Parliament in 2021: Disrupted. Last year, the national legislature was missing during the coronavirus pandemic, and only met for 33 days. This year, people hoped it would make up for lost time. The expectation was that the institution would devote itself to addressin...
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From vowing support to diplomatic offensive, how Parliament kept pressure on Indira govt to liberate East Bengal

Chakshu RoyFirst Post, Dec 16, 2021
On 16 December, 1971, Members of Parliament (MPs) were anxiously waiting for news from Dacca (now Dhaka). The liberation of Bangladesh with the support of Indian armed forces was imminent. MPs took different approaches, waiting for more information to come in. Some were in the Lok Sabha chamber d...
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These bills are about your data and DNA, know them well

Chakshu Roy, Times of India, Dec 1, 2021
The DNA Technology (Use and Application) Bill and the Personal Data Protection Bill, likely to come up in the ongoing winter session of Parliament, provide a framework and safeguards for using our data by businesses and the government. Laws are blunt instruments. Changes brought by them reverbera...
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Explained: How and when MPs are suspended

Chakshu Roy, Indian ExpressNov 30, 2021,
The Winter Session of Parliament began on a stormy note on Monday. Both Houses saw disruptions as Lok Sabha passed the Bill repealing the three farm laws without any discussion, and Rajya Sabha passed it after a brief intervention by Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge. After that, ...
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Rethink the functioning of India’s Parliament

Chakshu RoyHindustan Times, Nov 27, 2021,
There is a simple test to judge a parliamentary session. Former Lok Sabha Speaker GMC Balayogi came up with it. At 46, he was the youngest Speaker, and according to him, “All’s well if it doesn’t end in Well.” He was referring to the well of the House. It is the area before t...
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Your Handbook to the Winter Session of Parliament

Chakshu Roy Bloombergquint, Nov 25, 2021,
Legislative business in Parliament has suffered in the last two years. Last year, the government did not convene the winter session due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This year the budget session was cut short due to assembly elections. Then in the monsoon session, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha passed multip...
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When Nehru had Disagreements with First Lok Sabha Speaker GV Mavalankar over Ordinances

Chakshu RoyNews 18 , November 14, 2021,
In December of 1958, a Member of Parliament (MP) questioned the Finance Minister about a valuable gift received by Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru. Earlier that year, Indians in Hong Kong had gifted the Prime Minister his weight in gold (64 kg) on his 70th birthday. Nehru must have been aware of th...
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India’s first woman lawmaker had to make her mark in a sea of men

Chakshu RoyTimes of India, October 18, 2021,
In January 1930, the Madras Legislative Council was discussing a law on prostitution. A fundamental point of contention was how the law should define a prostitute. The definition before the council was: “Prostitute means a woman who offers her body for indiscriminate sexual intercourse for hir...
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How Gandhi portrait ended up in Parliament

Chakshu RoyIndian Express, October 4, 2021,
The Royal Academy of Arts has held a summer exhibition in London for the last 250 years. Art enthusiasts eagerly await the exhibition’s opening every year to see works by established and aspiring artists. Such is its draw that the Academy displayed Lutyen’s and Baker’s design of th...
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Explained: Anti-defection law, for independent legislators

Chakshu Roy Indian Express, September 30, 2021,
Jignesh Mewani, an independent MLA from Gujarat, has said he has joined the Congress “in spirit” as he could not formally do so, having been elected as an independent. The Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, popularly known as the anti-defection law, specifies the circumstan...
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Understanding tribunal reforms and challenges

Aditya Kumar, cnbctv18, Sept 7, 2021,
Tribunals function as a parallel mechanism to the traditional court system. In India, some tribunals are at the level of subordinate courts with appeals lying with the High Court, while some others are at the level of High Courts with appeals lying with the Supreme Court. Tribunals were established ...
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The men who shaped independent India’s parliamentary secretariat

Chakshu Roy, Times of India, August 29, 2021,
The visible part of a vibrant legislature is members of Parliament (MPs) passionately debating critical national issues that shape the country. But a secretariat independent of the government, working tirelessly in the background supporting legislative functioning, is the backbone of Parliament. Two...
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What Indian lawmaking needs: More scrutiny, less speed

Chakshu Roy, Indian Express, August 25, 2021,
The recent Monsoon Session of Parliament is proof that the speed of passing laws trumps their rigorous scrutiny in our legislative process. These pages have been replete with statistics about the two Houses passing laws in the din in a matter of minutes. Our national legislature has similarly enacte...
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The only man whose photo hangs inside the Lok Sabha

Chakshu Roy, Times of India, August 15, 2021,
Vithalbhai Jhaverbhai Patel's presence should constantly remind our parliamentarians about their responsibility to the Constitution and people In August of 1925, there was excitement in Simla. Members of the legislative assembly were in town to participate in the session of the national leg...
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Lung power, with acoustics on the House

Chakshu Roy, Indian Express, August 15, 2021,
Parliament is a venue for passionate debate and often slogan-shouting, as was evident in the recently curtailed Monsoon Session. In its debating chambers, every Member of Parliament is audible while making an argument or silencing an opponent. Being heard here is not simply a function of lung power ...
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Monsoon Session broadened divide between Oppn, govt

Mridhula Raghavan, Chakshu Roy, Deccan Herald, Aug 15, 2021,
Parliament is a forum for politics and discussion. Its sessions have a dual purpose. Members of Parliament across the aisle use this national forum to draw attention to problems faced by the people. They use different parliamentary mechanisms to keep... Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/...
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Parliament is abdicating its oversight role

MR Madhavan, The Hindu, August 13, 2021,
The monsoon session which has ended is another example of Parliament being quite ineffective in all its functions (Read More) ...
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Monsoon session: India’s parliamentary democracy is in crisis

Chakshu Roy, Hindustan Times, August 12, 2021,
Parliament can change its rules to give MPs more teeth in questioning the government and empower its committees to become critical stakeholders in the law-making process. This will increase the stake that MPs have in the effective functioning of the institution, and disincentivise them from disrupti...
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Why ruling parties seek refuge in disrupting Parliament

Chakshu Roy, Times of India, August 10, 2021,
The disruption of the proceedings over the years means that the debate happens everywhere other than in the House, which is undermining the institution Have you heard of Rufus E Miles? If yes, then you know that in the late 1940s, he described what is currently happening in our Parliament. If you...
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Solution for disruption of Parliament: More working days

Chakshu Roy, Indian Express, August 3, 2021,
Disruption is replacing discussion as the foundation of our legislative functioning. The passionate debate that should inform the country is taking place everywhere other than in Parliament. Last week, this newspaper reported that the government is considering curtailing the monsoon session of Parli...
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Regular Parliament Disruption Has Become Opposition’s Favoured Tool—At the Cost of Citizen

Chakshu Roy News18, July 30, 2021,
The political deadlock on the repealing of farm laws and the Pegasus phone-hacking controversy has washed out the first two weeks of the monsoon session. Slogan-shouting has become the background sound for parliamentary debate, and the Parliament television crew are locked in a contest of camera ang...
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Deliberate laws before passing them

Chakshu Roy Financial Express, July 28, 2021,
Parliament did not pass any laws in the first week of the ongoing monsoon session. Continuous slogan-shouting in the two houses on farm laws and the Pegasus hacking controversy washed out the first four days of the 19-day monsoon session of Parliament. The expectation was that in the second week, po...
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Why the monsoon session matters

Chakshu Roy Hindustan Times , July 25, 2021,
One of the earliest walkouts occurred more than a century ago in the Bombay Legislative Council. In 1901, when the British administration was passing a law harmful to farmers’ interests, Indian members of the council such as Pherozeshah Mehta and Gopal Krishna Gokhale vehemently opposed the la...
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Explained: Electing a Speaker, Deputy Speaker

Chakshu Roy, Indian Express, July 15, 2021
The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly has been without a Speaker for most of this year. Last week, it concluded its two-day Monsoon Session without electing a Speaker. The previous Speaker was Nana Patole of the Congress, elected to the post in 2019 following the Assembly elections. Since Patole&rs...
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Five years of IBC: Corporate insolvency resolution process in numbers

Saket Surya, June 21, 2021
Five years have passed since the enactment of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC). The code provides for time-bound resolution of insolvency among companies and individuals. The provisions relating to individual insolvency resolution, however, have not yet been operationalised, except ...
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Bengal wants Upper House back : how states have Councils

Chakshu Roy, May 20, 2021
Earlier this week, the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal approved the setting up of a Legislative Council in the state. It was a promise made by the party in its election manifesto. West Bengal’s Legislative Council was abolished 50 years ago by a coalition government of Left partie...
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Explained: Share of women, youth in new state Assemblies

Anoop Ramakrishnan, N R Akhil, Manish Kanadje, Mridhula Raghavan, May 05,2021
The newly elected West Bengal Assembly, with 294 seats, will have fewer political parties than last time, with its legislators representing 3 parties compared to 8 in 2016. In the Tamil Nadu and Kerala Assemblies, it is the opposite. In Tamil Nadu (234 seats), the number of parties represented in th...
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The ordinance route is bad, repromulgation worse

MR Madhavan, April 19, 2021
The central government has repromulgated the ordinance that establishes a commission for air quality management in the National Capital Region, or the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance, 2020 (https://bit.ly/3duZmHW). This raises questions ...
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How the budget session let down the spirit of parliamentary democracy

Chakshu RoyHindustantimes, March 28, 2021
The session saw Parliament doing a lot of work. But effective legislatures are measured by their outcomes and not by their output. It is time for the government and Opposition parties to prioritise their legislative responsibilities. Poor planning and check-marking of the law-making process are t...
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Dormant Parliament, fading business

M R MadhavanThe Hindu, March 27, 2021
The Budget session of Parliament ended on Thursday, two weeks ahead of the original plan, as many political leaders are busy with campaigning for the forthcoming State Assembly elections. This follows the trend of the last few sessions: the Budget session of 2020 was curtailed ahead of the lockdown ...
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Budget Session Review: Parliament In The Pandemic, Where Is The Scrutiny?

Chakshu RoyBloombergquint, March 27, 2021
A simple line in our Constitution lays the groundwork for the Budget Session of Parliament. This opening line in Article 112 states that for every financial year a statement of the estimated receipts and expenditure of the government shall be laid before the legislature. This statement, commonly ref...
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Explained: Parliamentary scrutiny of Union Budget 2021-22

Suyash TiwariCNBC TV 18, March 25, 2021
The 2021-22 budget process concluded on Wednesday in Parliament with Rajya Sabha debating the Finance Bill, 2021 before returning it to Lok Sabha for enactment. Finance Bills are not referred to Parliamentary Committees for detailed scrutiny. The 2021-22 budget process concluded on Wednesday i...
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The overall trends in railway finances

Prachee Mishra and Saket SuryaCNBC TV 18, March 22, 2021
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the railways' finances along with the Union Budget on February 1, 2021. Earlier this week, both Houses of Parliament discussed the working of the Railways Ministry and the budgetary allocations to the Ministry. In light of this, we discuss some issue...
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Anti-defection law: when a nominated MP loses Rajya Sabha membership

Chakshu RoyThe Indian Express, March 17, 2021
On Tuesday, nominated MP Swapan Dasgupta resigned from Rajya Sabha, a year before completion of his term. Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra had raised the issue of his disqualification from Rajya Sabha under the anti-defection law, after the BJP had fielded Dasgupta as...
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In India, the weakening of the institution of grand inquest

Chakshu RoyHindustan Times, March 14, 2021
Legislatures have been called the “grand inquest of the nation”. About 270 years ago, British parliamentarian, William Pitt used the expression to describe the House of Commons. The occasion was the proposed investigations into Sir Robert Walpole’s government. Pitt told his colleag...
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The absurdity of the anti-defection law

M R MadhavanThe Hindu, February 26, 2021
The events in Puducherry highlight, yet again, the absurdity of the anti-defection law. In what has now become the standard operating procedure, several MLAs from the treasury benches resigned, lowering the numbers required for a no-confidence motion to succeed. This formula has been ...
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Explained: The trust vote in Puducherry

Chakshu RoyIndian Express, Feb 24, 2021
Puducherry Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan has asked Chief Minister V Narayanasamy to prove his government’s majority in the Vidhan Sabha. According to her direction, the House will meet on Monday, and the only agenda before it will be the confidence vote. The L-G has also dir...
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The anti-defection law continues to damage Indian democracy

Chakshu RoyHindustan Times, Feb 22, 2021
With assembly elections three months away, the confidence motion’s outcome will be unimportant in Puducherry’s history. But the event will highlight the failure of the anti-defection law and raise an important question. How long will a law which continues to stifle debate in our legislat...
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Over the years, poets, students, and even a village have been booked under the sedition law

Chakshu RoyIndian Express, Feb 14, 2021
The Central Hall of Parliament doubles up as a portrait gallery. On its walls hang portraits of leaders who shaped the destiny of India. If a viceroy from British India were to walk into the hall today, his mind will find a different commonality between the portraits of M K Gandhi, Bal Gangadhar Til...
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Parliament must ask itself whether it rigorously scrutinises constitutionality of bills before it

Chakshu RoyIndian Express, Feb 10, 2021
The Supreme Court’s order on keeping the farm laws in abeyance crosses the line of separation between the legislature and judiciary. In these pages, Pratap Bhanu Mehta (‘A shapeshifting justice’, IE, January 13), wrote that the order is “terrible constitutional precedent...
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