Articles

Preserve parliamentary supremacy

Parliament’s Budget Session has resumed and will last a month. Usually, this phase is extremely productive in terms of deliberation and discussion, debate and legislation, and for the conclusion of the budgetary exercise. Unless there are exigencies, the government and the Opposition, and of course the Chair, approach the session with sobriety and purpose.

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A movement to save the Idea of India

If you asked my father Neil O’Brien, the pioneer who brought quizzing to India in 1967, what his favourite subjects were, pat would come the reply: heavyweight boxing and World War II. Our bedtime stories, oddly enough, were not about Hansel and Gretel.

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In 2019, Modi won’t deliver Red Fort address

When looking at the BJP’s election victory in Tripura, one needs to be mindful of the fine print. In football terms, this is a big victory by a struggling team in a football league – against a team going through even worse form and facing relegation to a lower division. This is not quite a World Cup victory.

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Nirav Modi escaped. Others could – at your expense

The Rs 20,000-crore plus Nirav Modi scam has led to the collapse of Punjab National Bank’s share value and also posed a big question mark on the accountability and regulatory systems that govern our government-owned banks. Common investors and depositors have suffered while Mr Modi is celebrating in his luxury hotel suite in New York.

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Modiji, bullet train corridor over aloo-sabzi corridor? Why?

In the days before the BJP-led government abruptly merged the Railway Budget with the General Budget, there used to be a separate debate in parliament on the Railway Budget and, thereby, the state of Indian Railways. This was a serious matter, in keeping with the important role that the Railways play in India’s economy and society. In the Rajya Sabha, 12 hours were devoted to discussion on the General Budget and 12 hours for the Railway Budget.

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‘Feku’ Federalism exposed. Check out these 6 questions

As a grandchild of Indian Railways – my maternal grandfather and several members of my mother’s extended family worked for the Railways – I have a special affection for this institution, and for trains in general. My political career has seen me observe and work with the Railways in more than one capacity, and I used to be a keen student of the Railway Budget till the BJP-led government went and derailed it. Since then I have listened to the Finance Minister’s Budget speech with extra care – both to try and make sense of the government’s financial and economic plans, as well as to pick up the appallingly few lines that are now devoted to the gigantic infrastructure of the Indian Railways.

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Modi’s regime of superheroes is a myth. Take a look

While finalising the themes and essays for my newly published book Inside Parliament, I considered an idea about how bogus numbers, rather than bogus ideas, were now the preferred propaganda tool. 

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PM knelt when entering Parliament. That respect gone

My first political book, “Inside Parliament: Views from the Front Row” – a compilation of essays on parliament, policy and contemporary political issues – will be in stores from November 24. The essay you are about to read didn’t make it to the book. Actually, the urgency of the matter is playing out before us in real time. If my book were to have come out in six months’ time, this essay would definitely have been included.

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Coalition of regional parties is what India needs

Watching Arvind Kejriwal’s speech at Delhi’s Ramlila Grounds shortly after he was sworn in as chief minister, I was glad he tempered the overenthusiasm and too-keen ambition of some of his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) colleagues. Running a government in Delhi was his priority, he said. He cautioned against any “arrogant” attempt to expand the party’s footprint and contest elections in several other states.

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