Monsoon session washed away !

The monsoon session of Parliament this year has lived up to its name. Its been a wash out, and the rains which revived in the month of August has nothing to do with it. The coalgate scam, which has rocked the nation, has rocked the nation's top governing body as well. When the session started on August 8, there was some hope of major reforms coming through, such as a strong Lokpal, but what started with the violence in Assam just continued with the 1.86 lac crores coal scam, Sri Lankan Tamil's issue and ended up with SC/ST quota issue over promotions in government offices. As a result Parliament functioning continued to be stalled and never recovered from there.

 

The main issue of contention was the opposition's demand for the resignation of the ever silent prime minister. The PM had remarked that his silence was golden but the opposition demanded answers from him. The coal ministry which was under him when the coal block allocation was done for free , had cost the country's Exchequer thousands of crores, as alleged. Congress defended themselves saying there can be no loss when the coal still had not been mined out but it was very poorly received. They issued a challenge to the opposition to a debate in Parliament but all that people witnessed were shouting, huffing and puffing and even came to blows being exchanged. The government tried to wiggle out of a corner by introducing the SC/ST Quota Bill for job promotions and move the focus else where. This, however did not deter the opposition and they stood adamant at their earlier stand.

Out of the proposed 30 bills, only four bills where passed during this monsoon session, which included the Protection of Women Against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill and the AIIMS Amendment Bill. Of 15 bills listed for introduction, just five were actually inducted. The Lok Sabha functioned for just 24 hours out of the scheduled 108 hours and the Rajya Sabha was no better at 26 out of 90 hours. At a time when the country's economy is faltering and internal security has taken a beating, these types of actions by the country's MPs are completely uncalled for and shows their real intent of gaining political mileage. They do not seem to care for the nation and its people and have interest only in propagating their personal agenda. The general public must realise this and refrain from voting for these corrupt people in the next general elections.