Author: N D Sharma
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Bhopal Gas Leak survivors have particular reason to remember Motilal Vora
Motilal Vora who died on December 21, a day after he had turned 93, had a humanitarian quality not so common among the political class. Survivors of the 1984 Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster have a particular reason to remember him. According to the late Abdul Jabbar, Convener of Bhopal Gas Peedith Mahila Udyog Sangathan (BGPMUS),…
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Modi’s farm laws will mean death of fair price shops
An inevitable consequence of Modi’s farm laws will be the gradual death of public distribution system (PDS). Through PDS, an estimated 75 crore people, belonging to the economically weaker sections, are provided essential commodities such as wheat, rice, sugar and kerosene through a network of about five lakh fair price shops across the country. This…
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Kalidas Samaroh, once a pride of India, reduced to a minor government function by Shivraj Singh Chouhan
Annual Kalidas Samaroh (reduced from usual seven days to three days ‘because of coronavirus’) was jointly inaugurated by Usha Thakur and Mohan Yadav in Ujjain on Devotthayini Ekadashi (November 25). Usha Thakur is Madhya Pradesh Minister of Tourism, Culture and Spirituality (Adhyatma) and Mohan Yadav is Minister of Higher Education. Both have post-graduate degrees but…
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Need for a comprehensive review of law governing Election Commission of India
In an article in The Tribune, eminent journalist and author Rasheed Kidwai has focussed attention on the inadequacies of the Election Commission to hold elections with a modicum of fairness and deal appropriately with those violating its guidelines or the Model Code of Conduct. He has suggested, among other things, the induction of a retired…
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CBI, country’s premier crime investigation agency, losing trust of the people
Maharashtra’s is the latest non-BJP government to withdraw general consent to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for taking up investigation of a crime in the State on its own. Rajasthan, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Punjab have already done that. This shows the growing distrust of the people in the CBI. Under the relevant law,…
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Madhya Pradesh Assembly by-elections and disquiet within the ruling BJP
The 28 Assembly by-elections in Madhya Pradesh are becoming more problematic for the ruling BJP than for Congress. Of the BJP candidates, 22 are those who had quit Congress along with Jyotiraditya Scindia, to bring down the Congress government of Kamal Nath, resigned from the Assembly and joined BJP. They are at the root of…
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‘Temporary’ Chief Minister and mess in the government in Madhya Pradesh
Shivraj Singh Chouhan said at a Mandsaur function on September 20 that he is a temporary Chief Minister (of Madhya Pradesh). Chouhan is not known to be a person to say such things lightly; hence the speculation that he has probably received some adverse hint from the party’s Big Boss in Delhi. It may be…
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Slimy side of Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh
On September 20, the Rajya Sabha witnessed uproarious scenes as the opposition members created a bedlam demanding a division on farm bills. They were provoked by the cavalier attitude of Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh who practically behaved like Narendra Modi’s ‘ardali’ rather than a person holding a dignified constitutional post. He refused to allow…
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Congress lost the ‘will’ to survive in May 2014
Congress seemed to have lost the will to survive as an effectual political party on May 16, 2014 when the Lok Sabha election results were announced and Narendra Modi’s BJP bagged 282 seats out of 543 while Congress was reduced to a rump with 44 seats, not enough even to claim the post of Leader…
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BJP’s gamble on Scindia puts the party in a difficult situation in two states
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s central leadership gambled in Madhya Pradesh when it gave too much importance to Jyotiraditya Scindia by persuading the State unit to induct as many as 11 of his supporters (none of them a member of the Assembly) in the 34-strong Council of Ministers and allot all of them important portfolios…