Articles - Page 7 of 22 - Derek O'Brien

How laws are passed under NDA – in silence, without consultation

The release of the draft rules for the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act) for public consultation, more than 16 months after the Act was passed, has restarted discussions on the importance of public participation in lawmaking, particularly for pieces of legislation that significantly impact individual rights. Given its implications for privacy and… Continue reading How laws are passed under NDA – in silence, without consultation

To Pritish Da, The Poet Who Never Stopped Loving Calcutta

This is a tribute by a fanboy who would memorise and recite many poems of Pritish Nandy (Da) since the 1970s. Dada, travel well on your ‘Lonesong Street’. “When you’ve crossed the bustling mainstreets of everever landYou reach a lonesome sandstrip called the nevernever strandThen you take the turning leftAnd you take the turning rightAnd… Continue reading To Pritish Da, The Poet Who Never Stopped Loving Calcutta

Will the church please speak up?

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”— Alexei Navalny, Russian opposition leader In my two decades in public life, including three terms in Parliament, I have written columns on a range of subjects, but never one on the church in India. This is a first. It… Continue reading Will the church please speak up?

The Modi Government’s 25 Things-To-Do in 2025

When Julius Caesar’s Senate fixed January 1 as the ‘first day of the year’, the idea wasn’t only to ‘start afresh’. It was also when those in civil office were to set in motion their responsibilities. In that tradition, coming down from 45 BC, let the existing coalition government headed by Narendra Modi set out… Continue reading The Modi Government’s 25 Things-To-Do in 2025

In Parliament this winter

You are reading this on the concluding day of the Winter Session of Parliament. Thoughts on the 21-day session. Five proper nouns dominated: Common nouns like price rise, inflation, federalism, and unemployment were expected to dominate the debates in this session. But instead, only these proper nouns made headlines for all the right/wrong reasons: George Soros, Gautam… Continue reading In Parliament this winter

A list of laws that need to be repealed

When Parliament was reconstituted after the 2024 Lok Sabha election, your columnist had drawn up a list of eight laws that should be considered by the Union government and repealed to ensure justice, equality, liberty for all citizens. Now, with the Winter Session of Parliament halfway through, let us add four more items to that… Continue reading A list of laws that need to be repealed

Parliament Session: BJP Don’t Want To Answer Some Hard Questions

We are into the second week of the Winter Session of Parliament. The first week was washed out. MPs from Opposition parties, like the Trinamool Congress and the Samajwadi Party, are demanding ‘issues of national public importance’ be discussed on the floor of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha: price rise, unemployment, the situation in the… Continue reading Parliament Session: BJP Don’t Want To Answer Some Hard Questions

Indian cricket commentary on radio needn’t be mediocre

This column is not about the IPL, or fat cat pay cheques, or sons of politicians heading cricket bodies, or India being walloped by the Black Caps in a home series. Once a cricket buff, I have switched off the sport in the last few years. A colleague reminded me that the five Test match… Continue reading Indian cricket commentary on radio needn’t be mediocre

On rediscovering an old love and learning to enjoy the journey

We need to finalise the subject for this week’s column. Any ideas? The winter session of Parliament is still more than a fortnight away, so the piece we planned on pre-legislative consultation of bills is not entirely topical. Hold for now. Do one on Indo-Canada ties? Any issue on public policy which will make for… Continue reading On rediscovering an old love and learning to enjoy the journey

Big Poll Promises From Maharashtra To Michigan – But Where Are The Jobs?

Eight thousand miles away, across an ocean, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have desperately tried to woo youth and women before election day. Also in November, in the country of Kamala Devi Harris’s maternal ancestors, political parties are reaching out to 6 crore women voters and 2.5 crore youth in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. Raise your… Continue reading Big Poll Promises From Maharashtra To Michigan – But Where Are The Jobs?