The Hindu – India for impartial probe in Sri Lanka

K. Balchand

New Delhi, 15 March 2013. Amid the diplomatic parleys to chalk out India’s stand at the United Nations Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva on the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has categorically said the stress will be on an impartial and transparent enquiry into allegations of atrocities against them.

Making a statement in the Rajya Sabha on Friday in response to the anguish of the DMK and the AIADMK that the students’ agitation in Tamil Nadu protesting the alleged genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka might get out of control, Mr. Khurshid said India was in the process of deciding on the resolution to be adopted at the UNHRC meeting.

Enunciating the process undertaken to finalise the resolution, the Minister pointed out the efforts at engaging all member-countries in pursuit of the government’s commitment for a life of dignity and equality to Tamils in Sri Lanka. That had been the objective of the resolution last year, he pointed out, adding the government would do whatever was needed.

“The government is committed and whatever steps are needed will be taken,” Mr. Khurshid asserted.

He promised to get back to the House and inform the members of the government‘s stand as and when finalised.

Apart from a life of dignity and equality for Tamils, New Delhi would also insist on accountability and fair participation.

Both the DMK and the AIADMK insisted that the government move its own resolution at the UNHRC meeting.

Emphasising that the students were on the streets in Tamil Nadu, DMK leader Tiruchi Siva demanded that the government at least support the U.N. resolution and condemn the war crimes and institute an impartial international inquiry into the instances of human rights violations.

AIADMK apprehensive

AIADMK leader V. Maitreyan expressed apprehension that efforts were on to dilute the resolution. He warned that such an action would be unacceptable to the people of Tamil Nadu.

The issue was also raised in the Lok Sabha by T.R. Baalu (DMK) and M. Thambi Durai (AIADMK).

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-for-impartial-probe-in-sri-lanka/article4512299.ece

The Asian Age – All thunder, no rain: PM to BJP

Asian Age Correspondent

New Delhi, 7 March 2013. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was in his element in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday as he hit out at the BJP for belittling the achievements of the UPA government, saying that party would meet the same fate in the 2014 elections that it did in 2004 and 2009.

In an apparent rejoinder to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s description of the Congress as “termites” and calling him a “night watchman” at the BJP’s recent national council meeting here, Dr Singh said while it hurled the “choicest abuse” against the Congress leadership, he would not reply in “that language”, saying “our performance is the best judge”.

But he added: “Jo garajte hain wo baraste nahi hain (thunderous clouds do not bring rain)” Replying to the debate on the motion of thanks on the President’s address, the Prime Minister spoke at length on several issues: the economy, on keeping India’s options open on the United States resolution against Sri Lanka at UNHCR, ties with Pakistan and the Maldives situation.

Dr Singh exuded confidence that the slowdown in the economy will not last and the country will return to 7-8 per cent growth in next two years.

Deftly using Urdu and Hindi couplets and proverbs, the soft-spoken Dr Singh took potshots at L.K. Advani, saying the BJP lost in 2004 after its “India Shining” campaign and faced defeat again in 2009 when it pitted the “iron man” against “the lamb that Manmohan Singh is”.

“I am confident the people will again elect us in the next election based on our performance,” the Prime Minister said amid repeated thunderous applause from the treasury benches.

http://www.asianage.com/india/all-thunder-no-rain-pm-bjp-016

The Asian Age – Women’s laws top priority in budget session

Mukesh Ranjan, Asian Age Correspondent

New Delhi, 13 January 2013. The first legislative business of the Budget Session, which is likely to begin either on February 21 or 22, is set to be the enactment of a law to provide stringent punishment for crimes against women.

The Criminal (Amendment) Bill, 2012, which proposes to expand the definition of rape to sexual assault and increase the quantum of punishment to life imprisonment and is pending with the Lok Sabha, will be taken up as the first legislative business of the House, sources said.

They added that in the meantime the government is expected to receive the recommendations of the Justice J S Verma Committee and, if the need arises, “some changes may also be brought in the existing bill or a complete overhaul could be done”.

Sources said the government is preparing to take up the law in the Lok Sabha on February 25 and will try and get the political parties to agree to a discussion and passage of the bill on the same day.

With the ongoing outcry to ensure speedy justice and enhanced punishment in cases of aggravated sexual assault there is always a likelihood that the bill, which is pending in the Lok Sabha, will not be passed as it is. Justice Verma’s report would certainly weigh on the current bill, which envisages a gender-neutral law against sexual assault.

http://www.asianage.com/india/women-s-laws-top-priority-budget-session-486

The Asian Age – Cabinet nod to bill on land acquisition

Asian Age Correspondent

Delhi, 14 December 2012. The Union Cabinet, to fast-track the passage of the Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill of 2011 in Parliament, on Thursday cleared the legislative proposal to replace the archaic Land Acquisition Act of 1894.

The government, in an attempt to buy peace with industries, has lowered the mandatory consent requirement to 70 per cent from the stakeholders in case of PPP projects, while it would be 80 per cent for private land acquisition.

The government is set to go to Parliament with the amended bill as Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh had earlier stated that a new law for land acquisition was a political commitment of the Congress.

While the amended bill would not be applicable with retrospective effect, it would apply in cases where an award has not been declared for those losing their land or where possession has not been taken. Thus, the recent violent protests in western UP and Greater Noida, too, could come within the ambit of the new law if it is passed.

The bill makes a provision for the first time for reversal of acquired land to the state government’s land bank if it is not utilised for the expressed purpose in 10 years’ time.

http://www.asianage.com/india/cabinet-nod-bill-land-acquisition-451

The Tribune – 20th Anniversary of Demolition; LS paralysed over Babri

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 6. Twenty years after the Babri Masjid was demolished in Ayodhya, the issue reverberated in Lok Sabha on Thursday and paralysed its functioning for the day. It all started at 11 am during Question Hour when BSP member Shafiqur Rahman Barq waved a black flag to protest the demolition of the mosque.

Left parties joined in and demanded action on the report of Liberhan Commission that had probed the mosque’s demolition as well as against those responsible for the incident. The panel had blamed Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Advani and Uma Bharti among others for the incident.

Barq was joined by Asaduddin Owaisi of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) in storming the well of the house.

Several others, including Basudeb Acharia of the CPI-M, also demanded action on the Liberhan Commission’s report.

The BJP and Shiv Sena retaliated with sloganeering, saying the temple will be constructed at the same spot. Ananth Kumar of the BJP cited Rule 373 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business states and demanded that Braq be asked to withdraw from the House immediately for his “misconduct”.

As all this happened, Syed Nayyer Hussain Bokhari, chairman of the Senate of Pakistan, and members of the Parliamentary delegation from Pakistan were seated in the visitors’ gallery. Speaker Miera Kumar ticked off Barq: “Do not insult Parliament. Showing black flags is an insult to the Parliament. What do you mean by showing this in Parliament? What is this?”

After two adjournments, when the House reassembled at 2 pm, BJP and Shiv Sena members again came into the well raising slogans seeking construction of a temple at the disputed site. The Samajwadi Party protested and also came into the well, forcing the House to be adjourned for the day.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20121207/nation.htm#2

The Tribune – CAG’s coal observations disputable: PM; Says report flawed, based on selective reading of opinions; Opposition stalls PM’s 32-point response

K V Prasad, Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 27. Seeking to set the record straight on the coal block allocation issue, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today rejected the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) reports saying “allegations of impropriety are without basis and unsupported by facts”.

Responding to CAG’s 2004-09 coal block allocation report that said the opaque screening process, absence of bidding system and delay in introduction of competitive bidding resulted in financial gain of Rs 1.86 lakh crore to private parties, the PM said these observations were “clearly disputable”.

He took complete responsibility for the decisions taken by him as the minister in-charge. His attempt to read the 32-point response in Parliament was halted by a vociferous Opposition. The statement was, however, tabled in both Houses.

He said, “It has been my general practice not to respond to motivated criticism directed personally at me. To personal criticism my general attitude has been: Hazaaron jawaabon se acchi hai meri khaamoshi, na jaane kitne sawaalon ki aabroo rakhi (My silence is better than a thousand answers, it keeps intact the honour of innumerable questions).”

In this case, he said he wanted to respond, but was not allowed to. This was his first reaction to a series of charges being levelled against him by the BJP-led Opposition. The government would respond to these in the Public Accounts Committee meeting, the PM said.

Through the chronological narrative, the PM emphasised that the policy switch to competitive bidding from allocation system was mooted by his government in 2004, but it faced opposition from major coal and lignite bearings states — Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Rajasthan and West Bengal — all ruled by Opposition parties.

Through a letter in April 2005, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje had opposed competitive bidding. In June the same year, Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh sought continuation of the existing policy and suggested the change should be effected only after a consensus was reached between the Centre and the states. West Bengal and Orissa also opposed the new system, with the Power Ministry claiming that auctioning would lead to enhanced cost of producing energy.

He termed as “flawed” the CAG observation that competitive bidding could have been introduced in 2006 by amending the existing administrative instructions. He said the observation was “based on a selective reading” of opinions given by the Department of Legal Affairs (DLA).

In August 2006, the DLA said competitive bidding could be introduced through administrative instructions, but it also expressed the opinion that legislative amendments would be needed to place it on sound legal footing. Later, it categorically stated that amending the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act would be the way out, the PM said.

He said the Coal Mines Nationalisation (Amendment) Bill to facilitate commercial mining by private companies was still pending in Parliament due to stiff opposition from stakeholders.

On the CAG’s suggestion that the government should have circumvented the legislative process through administrative instructions, he said, if implemented, it would have been “undemocratic and contrary to the spirit of the functioning of our federal polity”.

On the criticism that competitive bidding decision was not implemented swiftly, he said: “In a world where things can be done by fiat, we could have done it faster. But, given the complexities of the process of consensus-building in our parliamentary system, this is easier said than done.”

He asserted that aggregating the “purported gains” to private parties “merely on the basis of the average production costs and sale price of CIL (Coal India Limited) could be highly misleading”.

He also said that the government had already initiated the process to cancel coal block allocations to the private parties that did not take adequate follow-up action to commence production. “Moreover, the CBI is separately investigating the allegations of malpractices, on the basis of which due action will be taken against wrongdoers, if any,” he said.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120828/main1.htm

The Tribune – Akali MPs seek discussion on Sikh killings

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 8. The Lok Sabha was disrupted at the start of the monsoon session this morning after the BJP and Akali Dal members created a ruckus, seeking discussions on Assam violence and the Sikh killings in the US.

Speaker Meira Kumar had to adjourn the House at 11 am after the MPs demanded that question hour be suspended to discuss these issues. Akali Dal MPs held up the proceedings briefly when the House was re-convened at 12 noon.

Bathinda MP Harsimrat Badal, who had given a notice for adjournment of question hour, asked the Speaker about the fate of the notice. She was supported by Ratan Singh Ajnala and Paramjit Kaur Gulshan. They wanted to discuss the safety of Sikhs in the US. “I have not received any notice of adjournment from your side. I only received a notice of suspension of question hour and question hour is over,” the Speaker told the Akali MPs.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120809/punjab.htm#4

The Asian Age – In LS, PC strikes Bhojpuri chord

Asian Age Corresponden

tNew Delhi, 18 May 2012. For a minister who is hesitant to speak in Hindi since it is not a language he is comfortable with, Union home minister P. Chidambaram sprung a surprise on Lok Sabha MPs on Thursday when he uttered a sentence in Bhojpuri. It was a gesture that won the home minister, whose mother tongue is Tamil, applause from both fellow MPs and Speaker Meira Kumar.

“Hum rauwa sabke bhavna samjhatani (I understand everyone’s sentiments)” is what Mr Chidambaram told a number of agitated MPs in the House who were demanding inclusion of the Bhojpuri language in the VIII Schedule of the Constitution.

The sentence had reportedly been penned in English for the home minister by fellow Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam. It is a sentence he uttered twice to the delight of other MPs.

Though spoken with an anglicised accent, just the fact that the minister had attempted to speak a few words in Bhojpuri appeared to disarm the MPs, many of whom had stood in the aisle next to the front row to push for the cause of Bhojpuri. It is a language spoken in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand.

Speaker Meira Kumar, herself an advocate of the Bhojpuri cause, remarked: “I have never seen him speaking in Hindi but he has spoken in Bhojpuri. He has expressed the hope that he will come back with good news. I hope he will come back soon.” The issue of Bhojpuri’s inclusion in the VIII Schedule came up during a calling attention moved by three MPs — Jagdambika Pal (Congress), Shailendra Kumar (SP) and Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (RJD). All three made a feisty cause for the inclusion of Bhojpuri in the VIII Schedule.

In his response to the strong espousal of Bhojpuri, Mr Chidambaram said that the MPs had “made out a very strong and powerful case for inclusion of Bhojpuri language in the VIII Schedule”. He added, “I am at a disadvantage. I wish I could have replied, at least, in Hindi. Now, let me say in Bhojpuri that ‘hum rauwa sabke bhavna samjhatani’”.

http://www.asianage.com/india/ls-pc-strikes-bhojpuri-chord-789

The Asian Age – Coalition making life difficult, says PM

New Delhi. 20 March 2012. Signalling that ‘coalition compulsions’ had made things difficult for his government, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday appealed to key UPA allies and other political parties to rise above narrow partisan ends and stand united as a nation to achieve national goals.

Replying to the Lok Sabha debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address, Dr Singh said: “The difficult decisions we have to take are made more difficult by the fact that we are a coalition government and have to evolve policies keeping in mind the need to maintain a consensus.”

The PM said the challenges came to the fore after the Railway Budget. Railway minister Dinesh Trivedi was forced to resign as his party, Trinamul, was not happy with the Railway Budget, he said. Dr Singh regretted Mr Trivedi’s departure, saying that his budget had “promised to carry out the Vision 2020 was outlined by his predecessor.”

Dr Singh, noting the country was charting its course through waters that were choppy for the entire world, said India still can revert to high growth (nine per cent) if “we can agree on a number of difficult decisions”.

http://www.asianage.com/india/coalition-making-life-difficult-says-pm-511

The Hindu – Support on streets drives up Lokpal Bill in the House

With polls round the corner, Congress wants to pass the Bill to get Team Anna off its back

Smita Gupta

New Delhi, 24 December 2011. Most MPs are opposed to the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, just as they were opposed to the Women’s Reservation Bill.

But the Lokpal Bill stands a better chance of being enacted. Unlike the Women’s Reservation Bill, which had no support on the streets, the anti-corruption law has a powerful driver outside Parliament — the fear of Team Anna and its capacity to mobilise public opinion, especially among the middle classes, the covert political backing it is getting from the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Sangh Parivar — and finally, the 24X7 media coverage, especially by the television channels.

Even the non-Congress parties — including the Left, which made fiery speeches on the importance of maintaining the sovereignty of Parliament on Thursday and which have used various forums to attack Team Anna obliquely or directly — were lured by the promise of full television coverage into joining the public debate at Jantar Mantar on December 11.

Many MPs got so carried away by the heady atmosphere at the venue that they deviated from the stand they have been taking otherwise to be in tune with Team Anna. But in the sobering environs of the Lok Sabha on Thursday, they all stood as one, asserting the primacy of Parliament and the Constitution.

If Team Anna has been the driver for MPs across political parties, there is also a difference in the Congress leadership’s attitude to the two Bills. In the case of the Women’s Reservation Bill, while the Congress pulled out all the stops to push it through the Rajya Sabha in March 2010 to please its president Sonia Gandhi, it wasn’t willing to do so in the Lok Sabha, repeating the magic phrase — “the need for consensus.”

But in the case of the Lokpal Bill, the Congress’ stand is very different. Not passing the Women’s Reservation Bill was not going to be a vote loser, as it did not appear to have much resonance outside Parliament, or even in the media.

But if the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance is seen as not doing enough to tackle corruption, it could adversely affect the Congress’ prospects not just in the five Assembly elections due next year, but also in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Its aim, therefore, is to get Team Anna off its back as quickly as possible, and the government is willing to do whatever it takes.

There is political will at the highest level in the Congress to get the Lokpal Bill through. Indeed, when the Opposition parties initially said they were not keen on extending the Lok Sabha session for three days, to December 27, 28 and 29, the government was firm, saying it was its prerogative to decide on such matters. It did not use the cover of the Opposition to push the passage of the Bill to a later date.

The UPA government, sources said, will strain every sinew next week to first push it through the Lok Sabha and then the Rajya Sabha. Of course, in the Rajya Sabha, it does not enjoy a majority, and could face amendments moved by the Opposition. If the Bill is passed with those amendments, it will have to return to the Lok Sabha for endorsement. If need be, the government is even considering a joint session to enact the law.

In the corridors of Parliament, the Lokpal Bill is being compared with the Women’s Reservation Bill — a Bill that most MPs, cutting across political lines, would be happier without, but are currently supporting, for fear of being labelled corrupt. Only the Shiv Sena has unequivocally opposed it, saying the enactment of the Lokpal Bill will lead to an authoritarian regime. The fact that the Sena’s Anant Geete was cheered from all corners of the House — unprecedented, perhaps, for the party — was indicative of the mood in the House .

Indeed, this underlying hostility to the Bill was underscored when the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Lalu Prasad challenged the ruling coalition not to issue a whip to its constituents.

But a powerful external driver in the shape of Team Anna and the support it has whipped up on the streets are pushing up the Bill inexorably. The Women’s Reservation Bill, by contrast, has been hanging fire since 1996, though a majority in Parliament — the Congress, the BJP and the Left parties — are officially in favour of it. When it got through the Rajya Sabha in March 2010, it was after two days of high drama, the suspension of seven members — and some strong arm tactics by the UPA. It is yet to get through the Lok Sabha.

It would appear that the women’s groups need to take a few lessons from Team Anna in running a campaign.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2742023.ece