Tactical Disruption; Judicial Flutter; EV Subsidy
Opinion Watch
Tactical Disruption
The Lok Sabha passed the motion of thanks on President Droupadi Murmu to the joint session of Parliament. Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi made headlines on one day by levelling several questions. A day later Prime Minister Narendra Modi made headlines by quoting Kaka Hathrisi and Dushyant Kumar. The Parliamentary convention of ‘Opposition has say and the government has way’ was in display.
The Asian Age in an Editorial has reflected on Parliamentary disruptions. The daily advised the Opposition to participate in the proceedings to raise their issues. It noted that the occasions when both the Opposition and the government were found to be obstinate had been too many in the recent years. The daily also rued that bills are passed in din, crippling the Parliamentary oversight over the functioning of the executive. The daily also opined that the “Constitutional bodies such Parliament and judiciary work within their limits, and they cannot stop the politics of the day”.
Yet, it may not be forgotten that the Parliamentary disruptions were glorified and legitimized by the titans of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitely. It may also not be forgotten that the conducts of the presiding officers of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha have been questioned by the Opposition on several occasions. All the references made by Rahul Gandhi to the alleged bonhomie between Modi and Gautam Adani were expunged from the records of the House. In future, if one seeks to research on what Rahul Gandhi spoke in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, it may prove puzzling for the record will make Congress leader look ghost-talking. Averting self-destruction isn’t an easy task.
Judicial Flutter
The champions of the judicial autonomy in appointments of judges are shell-shocked over the advocate L. Victoria Gowri becoming the judge of the Madras High Court. She is alleged to have indulged in minority bashing in her utterances in the past. There are insinuations that her elevation is part of a design. Tamil Nadu is riding high on sub-nationalism, and the media there too are infected.
The Hindu in an Editorial headlined ‘Bench and Bigotry’ has made scathing remarks on ‘opaque Collegium System’. The Chennai-based daily had previously been raining barbs on the government for attacking the collegium system, but the tone is changed with the Supreme Court trashing objection to the appointment of Gowri. The daily argued that the government acted fast to clear her appointment in the backdrop of petitions against the advocate. The daily opined that the scale of the slugfest over the collegium system is tilted in favour of the government now. The daily called for public scrutiny of the decisions of the collegium system.
EV Subsidy
Indian policy making is slave to the subsidy mindset. Subsidies fatten purses of frauds among the industries, politicians and the bureaucrats. The ongoing food and fertilizer subsidies are making several people millionaire, who oil the politicians. The same is seen in the subsidy programme for promoting adoption of electric vehicle (EV).
The Pioneer in an Editorial has given an account that the government has so far ticked off as many as 18 companies for wrongfully benefiting from the EV subsidy (Rs 1000 crores) programme. The government is getting the EY to audit the beneficiary firms. The Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India (FAME) aims to support rolling out 7090 e-buses, five lakh e-three wheelers, 55,000 e-fur wheelers and 10 lakh e-two wheelers. The daily advised the government to read own Economic Survey of 2018-19 and embrace nudge policy on EV policy, abandoning leaky subsidies.
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