Above the Fold: Top stories of the day
1. Two express trains crossing the swollen Machak River near Harda in Madhya Pradesh were derailed on Tuesday night. Several passengers are feared dead.
2. The Union home ministry is set to amend the Citizenship Act of 1955, to grant citizenship to migrants who fled religious persecution in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
3. The government has backed down on the order to block 857 porn websites, but will continue to crack down on child porn.
The Big Story: Bringing down the House
With 25 of its members of Parliament suspended from the House, the Congress has made itself comfortable in the grounds outside. Touched by the unmistakeable glamour of rebels with a cause, Congress leaders, including party president Sonia Gandhi, vice president Rahul Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, shouted assorted slogans — "murder of democracy", get Sushma, no new land bills please, and what about Vyapam? After the protest, Rahul Gandhi reportedly asked Assam MP Gaurav Gogoi, "Don't you think it's a blessing in disguise?" And indeed it is for the Congress.
As with the agitation against the land bill, the Opposition parties are now banded together against the government. Congress allies, as well as the Trinamool Congress, the Janata Dal (United) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal joined the boycott of the House, while the Samajwadi Party and Left parties walked out after Question Hour. This was the break the Congress needed. After its devastating defeat in the Lok Sabha polls last year, the Congress has been struggling to find relevance in a changed political landscape. As dissensions from within came to the surface, the Congress blamed party structures and said it would focus on internal reform. Truth is, the Congress was a party without an idea, dishing out the old slogans about welfare and some sort of mysterious empowerment that didn't even convince itself, let alone voters. In the Lok Sabha, with a paltry 44 seats, it was denied the title of leader of the Opposition. Now, it finds itself at the head of a small but vocal minority, taking the battle outside Parliament, making a great show of standing up to government.
The BJP has really handed it to the Congress. The land ordinance had made it seem like the government had something to hide, and was anxious to push through a law that would benefit its friends in the business sector. This week, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan's school marmish suspension of the 25 MPs, for "persistently and wilfully obstructing the House", has shown the BJP to be a party that will brook no dissent and is impatient of democratic processes. Instead of addressing the charges made against it, the BJP chooses to dismiss the clamour as deliberate trouble making. It has already shown signs of climbing down on the land bill. This latest move won't come cheap: it has made the Congress a topic of conversation again.
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the top stories of the day
Anita Katyal on the Congress's new combative mood and how Oppostion parties have rallied around it.
Politicking & Policying
1. Leaving Islamabad red faced, Tariq Khosa, Pakistan's chief investigator in the 26/11 case, has confirmed that it was planned and launched from that country, and directed from an ops room in Karachi.
2. The Centre has palmed off the responsibility of repairing masjids damaged in the 2002 Gujarat riots. That's the state's job, it told the Supreme Court.
3. Could this mean the return of Maggi? The Central Food Technological Research Institute has found Maggi Noodles to be in compliance with food safety norms.
Punditry
1. Writing in the Hindu, Sanjay Hegde calls capital punishment a "lethal lottery", determined by the personal inclinations of judges and the political environment.
2. In the Indian Express, Frederic Grare explains why the confirmation of the death of Mullah Omar, the last unifying figure of the Taliban, could spell trouble for peace in the region.
3. Is the NDA any different from the UPA, asks AK Bhattacharya in the Business Standard. It's spending plans would suggest not.
Don't Miss
Anil Varghese spoke to the Dalit face of Nepal's constituent assembly, who said some of the key provisions for Bahujans in the country had been dropped, soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed the need for "consensus" in the drafting of the constitution.
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1. Two express trains crossing the swollen Machak River near Harda in Madhya Pradesh were derailed on Tuesday night. Several passengers are feared dead.
2. The Union home ministry is set to amend the Citizenship Act of 1955, to grant citizenship to migrants who fled religious persecution in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
3. The government has backed down on the order to block 857 porn websites, but will continue to crack down on child porn.
The Big Story: Bringing down the House
With 25 of its members of Parliament suspended from the House, the Congress has made itself comfortable in the grounds outside. Touched by the unmistakeable glamour of rebels with a cause, Congress leaders, including party president Sonia Gandhi, vice president Rahul Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, shouted assorted slogans — "murder of democracy", get Sushma, no new land bills please, and what about Vyapam? After the protest, Rahul Gandhi reportedly asked Assam MP Gaurav Gogoi, "Don't you think it's a blessing in disguise?" And indeed it is for the Congress.
As with the agitation against the land bill, the Opposition parties are now banded together against the government. Congress allies, as well as the Trinamool Congress, the Janata Dal (United) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal joined the boycott of the House, while the Samajwadi Party and Left parties walked out after Question Hour. This was the break the Congress needed. After its devastating defeat in the Lok Sabha polls last year, the Congress has been struggling to find relevance in a changed political landscape. As dissensions from within came to the surface, the Congress blamed party structures and said it would focus on internal reform. Truth is, the Congress was a party without an idea, dishing out the old slogans about welfare and some sort of mysterious empowerment that didn't even convince itself, let alone voters. In the Lok Sabha, with a paltry 44 seats, it was denied the title of leader of the Opposition. Now, it finds itself at the head of a small but vocal minority, taking the battle outside Parliament, making a great show of standing up to government.
The BJP has really handed it to the Congress. The land ordinance had made it seem like the government had something to hide, and was anxious to push through a law that would benefit its friends in the business sector. This week, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan's school marmish suspension of the 25 MPs, for "persistently and wilfully obstructing the House", has shown the BJP to be a party that will brook no dissent and is impatient of democratic processes. Instead of addressing the charges made against it, the BJP chooses to dismiss the clamour as deliberate trouble making. It has already shown signs of climbing down on the land bill. This latest move won't come cheap: it has made the Congress a topic of conversation again.
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the top stories of the day
Anita Katyal on the Congress's new combative mood and how Oppostion parties have rallied around it.
Politicking & Policying
1. Leaving Islamabad red faced, Tariq Khosa, Pakistan's chief investigator in the 26/11 case, has confirmed that it was planned and launched from that country, and directed from an ops room in Karachi.
2. The Centre has palmed off the responsibility of repairing masjids damaged in the 2002 Gujarat riots. That's the state's job, it told the Supreme Court.
3. Could this mean the return of Maggi? The Central Food Technological Research Institute has found Maggi Noodles to be in compliance with food safety norms.
Punditry
1. Writing in the Hindu, Sanjay Hegde calls capital punishment a "lethal lottery", determined by the personal inclinations of judges and the political environment.
2. In the Indian Express, Frederic Grare explains why the confirmation of the death of Mullah Omar, the last unifying figure of the Taliban, could spell trouble for peace in the region.
3. Is the NDA any different from the UPA, asks AK Bhattacharya in the Business Standard. It's spending plans would suggest not.
Don't Miss
Anil Varghese spoke to the Dalit face of Nepal's constituent assembly, who said some of the key provisions for Bahujans in the country had been dropped, soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed the need for "consensus" in the drafting of the constitution.
"Why do you say the constitution in this form will fail?
The most important reason is that this constitution goes against the sentiment of the Nepali people. It doesn’t look like it has taken into account the sentiments of all the sides and regions. It lacks the intent to fully arm the people with their rights. The existing forms of discrimination in the nation have been allowed to remain in the writing of the new constitution. Hence, it isn’t the nation’s obligation to stop the discrimination. This is what is most worrying. The nation can never be absolved of its obligation. The nation must fulfil its obligation. The government, politicians and parties have to fulfil theirs. But none of this is happening."