Letters to The Editor: Bring order in Parliament

Bring order in Parliament

Most of the TV channels conduct intuitive talk shows for a few days prior to the start of each Parliamentary session and conclude that the coming session would be a stormy one. But it has been observed time and again that in the name of the stormy session a disparate group of opposition MPs begin to indulge in disruptions in the House with sloganeering, rushing to the Speaker's podium, snatching and tearing papers etc., from day one, throwing parliamentary decorum to the winds. This current winter session is no exception which is scheduled to continue for a period from November 29 to December 23 (25 days); as shockingly disruptions have been witnessed from the Congress-led opposition MPs in both the Houses in the first three days. The public eagerly waits for the periodical session to see productive debates on people-centric issues but they are upset and angry because they are unable to see anything of decent debates and deliberations. The legislators appear to forget that they are elected representatives of people and are under solemn oath to serve them to remain thankful and grateful to their respective electors. Sadly, the MPs' shameful conduct on the floors of Parliament is not different from what the stubborn peasants' leader Rakesh Tikait and his hordes have been crazily doing by blocking all routes to and fro the Delhi region by squatting on the outskirts of National Capital Territory. One hopes our MPs will very soon cast off their atrocious behaviour and constructively get down to the Parliamentary business.

It is also imperative that the Party in power has to come out of its sombre state to bring order in Parliament for justifying spending of huge taxpayers' money on the session. The ruling party cannot pretend that it is unaware of the tricky ploy of Congress and its allies to not allow Parliament to function and frustrate Government's initiatives to carry out its developmental programme by enacting relevant legislation in time. The present mess demands that the ruling party will strengthen its floor coordination mechanism in the Houses by keeping a channel of communication with the oppositions for resuming normal Parliamentary function.

Pannalal Dey,

Guwahati

Our existential crisis…

is really so!

"In our generation, digesting quick newsfeeds, among many other over-stimulated applications have transformed our lives, were stopping by, and looking for real and objective news sources are eclipsed by reels and shorts!" It has made us restless. We do not have the inspiration to fact-check. And we are all ready to start a revolution by "Armchair Activism!" I leave it to the wisdom of sane citizens to fathom what I mean by saying the previous line. In the context of an apparent controversy about the withdrawal of a compulsory language paper by the executive, I would like to highlight the fact that there are certain quarters of the Assamese society that has totally lost the power to comprehend holistically. This quarter would do all possible nonsensical things to make a mountain out of a molehill. Multiple quarters have questioned the executive about its decision on the APSC CCE examination. I have nothing to say against it or for it with regard to the examination procedure and conduct. It is up to the authorities concerned to decide. My concern is something different which I do believe needs to be highlighted too or at least get noted down for a discussion and let me allow my thought experiments too! I believe a particular examination "doesn't make any candidate a protector of a society and a civilization." The "crusaders for justice" are hypothetically assuming that by the withdrawal of the language paper, the entire existence of Assamese language and its civilizational ethos are at stake, and is venturing to a point of no-return where gloomy days are eclipsing the aspirations of Assamese soul and mind! And also there are many candidates in fantasy land who are in the belief that the language paper would assist one to crack UPSC examinations, etc. I do not understand the logic with regard to the two above-mentioned arguments put forward by the debaters. So in this context, I would like to raise one of my hypothetical concerns too with regard to an examination because everything is going in a hypothetical direction. Suppose 25% is the passing marks in a qualification paper. If someone gets 26% and qualifies the language paper, does it mean she/he is the only protector of Assamese identity and society? Does it mean she/he is a certified authority who is tasked with the job of protecting the civilization? And adding more variables. The candidate who qualified by 26% marks is only concerned with rote-learning the entire subject, and have no idea of how policy-making and governance play, etc. Also, if a candidate gets 26% in the UPSC CSE examination in the qualifying paper, will it help one to ace the rest of the remaining subjects! We all know by default, that 26% is extremely a poor percentage in any examination in the present context of grades, while no doubt it may help one qualify a standard set by an examination! On the other hand, if someone gets 24% and fails, does it mean she/he is the worst Assamese, who is non-eligible to carry forward the Assamese culture, and legacy! Adding further credentials to this candidate. Let us assume she/he has a strong background in public policymaking subjects in her/his academic years. Among these two candidates, I wonder if a qualification paper can holistically check one's aptitude and skill! I rest my case to the learned citizens of our society to answer. I personally believe a qualification exam doesn't really hold anything substantial when the actual game is played in other subjects of the concerned examination and where actual marks are taken for merit-based ranking. The civil services examination recruits candidates for delivering governance and its related aspects. Thus, I feel everyone who believes a qualification paper is a boon for the civilization ethos of a society, or it is helping one ace the exam of UPSC/APSC needs to revisit their ideas! And to be more practical, in a world where cutthroat competition has become a norm, a candidate if has an advantage of not appearing in one subject vis-à-vis a candidate who is appearing in an additional paper, it marks a big blow to the candidate who has to put extra efforts in an additional subject, and free riders get an undue advantage! This is just a competition where there will be victors and losers. Some will emerge as those who have passed, and others who have failed. Questions about cultural identity isn't a case to be linked with an examination procedure! The whole case reminded me of Plato who said, "Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something." I believe our thoughts and actions must always be objective and rational based on concrete facts, statistics, and other relevant things. Let us not attempt to link two different dimensions: of civilization and an examination!

Abhilash Borah,

Former 13th Indian Regional Ambassador to UNEP-Samsung Engineering's TUNZA-ECOGENERATION

Dirty dozen

The winter session of the parliament has started, bringing in hopes and aspirations to the common people about some fruitful decisions in the august house. But the picture presented by the lawmakers on the floor of the parliament has disappointed the commoners. They have started behaving like law-breakers in both houses of the parliament. We the tax-paying electorates of the nation are ashamed and helpless. Nowadays, our lawmakers do not debate on any vital issue but are busier in creating ruckus to draw media attention. Gone are those days when we saw healthy and constructive debates involving the parliamentarians of both ruling and opposition camps on issues vital to the nation's welfare of the public which made our parliament a temple of democracy. We still fondly remember the lively debates participated by the likes of greats like Hem Barooah, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Pandit Nehru, Dr Manmohan Singh, Dinesh Goswami, Sushma Swaraj, George Fernandez, EMS Namboodiripad, Somnath Chatterjee, Arun Jaitley, Pranab Mukherjee, Najma Heptulla, Dr Murali Manohar Joshi and others, to name a few which made the parliament session very lively.

But now the whole nation is ashamed and angry seeing the unruly behaviours of a few lawmakers who present themselves as street fighters. The 12 opposition lawmakers who were suspended for vandalism on the floor of the temple should be branded as 'Dirty Dozen' and should be paraded in the street for their treachery to the nation.

Dr Ashim Chowdhury,

Ambari.