The Big Story: Profit and dross

In Delhi, the fate of 21 legislators from the Aam Aadmi Party hangs in the balance as the president refused assent to the dual office of profit bill passed by the state assembly last year. Opposition parties raised a storm of protest after AAP passed the bill and appointed the 21 MLAs as parliamentary secretaries to the chief minister. Now, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal protests that the withholding of presidential assent is a dark plot by the Centre to stall the functioning of his government. The Delhi government's bill may have had admirable intentions but was it strictly necessary? AAP seems to prefer the long route to better governance, changing legislative structures to get work done.

The Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) (Amendment) Bill, 2015, seeks to introduce new exemptions to the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act,1991, which disqualifies individuals from being legislators if they hold an office of profit under the government of India. A raft of exemptions was introduced in 1997. The new bill recommends that the post of parliamentary secretary should not be considered as an office of profit. In its submission to the Election Commission, AAP argued that the MLAs appointed as parliamentary secretaries had not used any "office space or transport facility". Kejriwal has asserted that they drew no salaries for their additional responsibilities. Point taken. But were the contentious appointments the only means to draw the required efficiencies from government?

Ever since it came into being, the AAP has favoured big ticket legislation that would alter fundamental structures: the Lokpal bill, for instance, created the office of an ombudsman to watch over elected representatives and sniff out corruption. These proposals may be in keeping with the AAP's professed agenda of bringing radical change to government. But it might be better occupied in cleaning up existing systems, instead of introducing new systems that are vulnerable to the same rot.

Political pickings
1. At the Bharatiya Janata Party's national meet in Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tells his party workers the time for sloganeering is over, then pulls out the seven Ss of the BJP's new political mantra. One of them is "saiyam". Restraint.
2. Chinese soldiers reportedly entered Arunachal Pradesh last week.
3. In Karanataka, the Janata Dal (Secular) is split wide open as rebel members of the legislative assembly attack party chief HD Deve Gowda.

Punditry
1. In the Indian Express, Pratap Bhanu Mehta on how liberalism has grown intolerant in India.
2. In the Telegraph, Timothy Garton Ash on the looming Brexit and the fading of the European project.
3. In the Hindu, Rakesh Sood on how India needs a two-pronged strategy in its campaign to enter the Nuclear Suppliers Group: focus of countries sceptical of an "Indian exception" and work on China.

Giggles

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Madhav Gadgil on the jungle raj in Goa:

A good definition of the jungle raj is that it is a system in which the state victimises its citizens instead of protecting them.

The fate of Parab, Dias and Velip in recent months vividly brought to mind the operation of just such a jungle raj in Goa.

Parab, for instance, was attacked by smugglers who were trying to bring meat from unauthorised slaughter houses into Goa on the night of February 12, 2015. On November 6, 2015 Dias disappeared under mysterious circumstances. The next day, his partially decomposed body was discovered in the Mandovi river, with angry locals claiming he could have been killed because he was at loggerheads with certain sections of the society and the government over several issues such as the creation of a Special Economic Zone, the Regional Plan for Goa and the proposed Mopa airport.