A total impasse in India’s parliament is not only undermining the world’s biggest democracy, but also deepening its economic woes as long-awaited reforms fall by the wayside.
A now familiar chorus of recriminations echoed around the grandiose circular chamber on Friday as the second of the three annual sessions ended in paralysis.
Faced with members of parliament from the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) shouting and waving papers, the parliamentary speaker called an end to proceedings shortly after midday.
The BJP has been demanding the resignation of beleaguered Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over a scandal involving the awarding of coal mining concessions in his first term as prime minister, which has come to be dubbed “Coalgate.”
Auditors say the concessions were handed out too cheaply and in a process that lacked transparency — heaping more embarrassment on the main ruling Congress party and Singh in particular who was in charge of the coal ministry at the time.
Once widely admired as the architect of reforms in the 1990s that transformed the Indian economy, Singh now finds his latest legislative plans thwarted at every turn.
In the latest “monsoon” session, which began on Aug. 8, lawmakers spent just 25 out of a possible 120 hours considering legislation, according to PRS Legislative Research, a New Delhi-based independent study group.
Only four bills were cleared by both houses of parliament, despite as many as 30 being listed for consideration on issues such as pensions, land acquisition, tax reform and corruption.
“The coal scandal has changed the entire political and economic complexion of the country,” said Arun Kumar, chairman of the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning in New Delhi.
“The victim of this deadlock is the economy which has been stopped from getting back to growth,” Kumar said adding that lawmakers had unanimously ignored their “real business” which, is to “pass bills and introduce reforms.”
“They are holding back India’s economic growth story,” he said.
Singh, not normally known for his temper, made a rare outburst to reporters as he expressed his frustration on Friday.
“We take pride in the fact that since independence we are a practicing, functioning democracy. What we have seen in this session is a total negation of that,” said the 79-year-old Congress party veteran.
While few commentators believe the BJP really wants to force elections before the scheduled date in spring 2014, the Coalgate revelations have put further wind in their sails at a time when the economy is experiencing a sharp slowdown.
The BJP, a right-wing Hindu party that lost power in 2004, has been unapologetic about its wrecking tactics, saying the protests were necessary and that obstructing parliament was a legitimate measure.
Former Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro, who brought peace to Nicaragua after years of war and was the first woman elected president in the Americas, died on Saturday at the age of 95, her family said. Chamorro, who ruled the poor Central American country from 1990 to 1997, “died in peace, surrounded by the affection and love of her children,” said a statement issued by her four children. As president, Chamorro ended a civil war that had raged for much of the 1980s as US-backed rebels known as the “Contras” fought the leftist Sandinista government. That conflict made Nicaragua one of
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
RSS