Battle lines are being drawn for the smooth passage of Delimitation Bill, Women’s Reservation Bill and Foreign Contributions Regulation Bill in Parliament.
Both BJP and Congress have issued whips to all MPs to remain present in the House on the last four days of this session. NDA allies have also been asked to ensure presence of all members.
The Congress expects, the government may come up with all these three bills on the last four days of monsoon session. Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has made up his mind not to allow these bills to be passed.
The Constitution Amendment Bill for delimitation could not be passed last time because the government could not muster two-third majority.
At that time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said, a time will come when the bills meant to provide 33 per cent seats in Parliament and state legislatures would be passed one day.
Modi’s confidantes had been toiling overtime since then to muster two-third majority. Trinamool Congress split, Shiv Sena split again, the numbers in favour of these bills rose, and fortunately, DMK broke ties with Congress.
Talks are presently on with the DMK for securing support for Delimitation Bill. Hopes have arisen about NCP (Sharad Pawar) and YSR Congress supporting the bill. Chances of Shiromani Akali Dal joining hands have also arisen.
All these permutations and combinations are being done to ensure smooth passage of the Delimitation Bill.
Women must get one-third seats in Parliament and state legislatures. The best option is to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816. This can be possible only when Delimitation Bill is passed. Both delimitation and women’s reservation bill are interlinked.
On the opposition side, there is no unity as was seen last year. Arvind Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi are at loggerheads, DMK is saying Rahul ditched it after the Tamil Nadu elections and Sharad Pawar is in two minds.
None can predict which other constituents may change sides. Nevertheless, government’s efforts continue.
Narendra Modi is waiting for the right moment. As soon as the moment comes, he will hit a sixer with the passage of Delimitation Bill and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats.
Modi had made up his mind about increasing Lok Sabha seats, when the new Parliament building was built to accommodate nearly 1,000 members. You can only marvel at his farsightedness.
Let us all promote Indian handloom
On Handloom Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a special video, appealed to all to promote Indian handloom products.
Millions of poor weaver families work at home to make handloom products. Promoting these products can provide employment to millions.
Handloom is not India’s heritage alone. Its threads connect society. Benarasi sarees, Phulkari from Punjab, Kanjeevaram sarees from Tamil Nadu – when we celebrate festivals or weddings, these products from our weavers find special place in our social life.
Modi’s slogan ‘vocal for local’ has promoted handloom products. Chanderi of Madhya Pradesh, Muga silk from Asssam and Kota Doria from Rajasthan have already secured their own identities in world market.
French and Italian fashion designers made Indian handloom clothes a part of world luxury fashion. These products became top brands but they could not provide Indian handloom products their due place in world market.
This does not mean that our handloom products lack good quality. It is only because of lack of proper marketing, designing and packaging that they could not find their place in world market. These shortcomings need to be addressed.
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