Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee | 2.6.19
New Innings Begins
On 30 May, the day Narendra Modi took oath with 57 ministers I was in Delhi. No, I was not invited to the swearing-in ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan. But like tens of millions of people I was interested in knowing who will be our ministers and as a former working journalist I was interested to know how people reacted to the brand new ministry.
As Ram Bilash Paswan took oath somebody said: Government kisika vi ho, ye saks ministry me jaroor rahega (No matter who forms the government this man will be there). The Janata Dal (United), a constituent of the NDA kept away.
As the swearing in ceremony got to a close- some of my friends said, why Suresh Prabhu and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore were not included, both performed well in the last ministry. There were other prominent exclusions too including Arun Jaitley, Sushama Swaraj, Maneka Gandhi, Radha Mohan Singh and J.P. Nadda. Nadda, some journalist friends on BJP beat told, would probably be the BJP president, since Amit Shah has joined the government.
Modi took oath with 57 ministers. The council of Ministers saw representations from 22 states. Here is wishing the new government and new ministers all the very best. May they fulfill their promise of: Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikash- Inclusive development of all.
Increasing Women Power in the Loksabha
For the first time as many as 78 women members have been elected to the Loksabha. That comes out to 14 per cent of the total strength of the house. In the first ever election, only 5 per cent of the House consisted of women. In the last Loksabha (2014) the number of women member was 61 (11.23%) an increase of 2 members from the 2009 Loksabha.
The global participation rate of women in national level parliaments is 24.1 per cent as of December 2018. Bolivia has 47.2 per cent. African country Rwanda has 38.5 per cent.
Odisha is the first state in India to send 33% of women MPs in the 17th Lok Sabha. Odisha has 21 MP seats and it has elected 7 women members (2 from BJP and 5 from BJD) including the youngest MP to be elected- 25 years and 11 months old Chandrani Murmu. Chandrani, a tribal woman and an Engineering graduate won the Keonjhar Loksabha seat. She represents Biju Janata Dal (BJD). BJD has fielded 33 per cent women candidates in Loksabha seats. In fact it was one of their election strategies to field more women candidates to attract more women vote- which proved successful.
Mamta Banerjee led TMC from West Bengal went one step ahead and fielded 42 per cent women candidates. But unlike in Odisha, this strategy did not work as Modi wave swept through West Bengal.
The growing number of women in the Loksabha definitely looks empowering the women. It creates a condusive social atmosphere for the women to take part in public affairs. Hopefully the increased number of women in the Loksabha will translate into better women-friendly legislation and better governance of the country.
A gentle reminder
I got this from a social media posting:
After you are done with Congress’s obituary and Rahul Gandhi fail memes, do remember INC (Indian National Congress) is the only real pan-India opposition party. The rest are either regional rajas or caste groupings masquerading as political parties.
The country needs a strong opposition for a functioning democracy.
Tail piece 1: Strange Misery of the Kerala Voter
Those Keralites who voted for Congress are sad and depressed because their party and leader got drubbed at the national level.
Those Keralites who voted for Communists are shattered with the near total decimation of their party as well as Left Democratic Front, in Kerala and in India.
Those Keralites who voted for BJP are disillusioned because their party drew a blank in Kerala once again. They cannot whole heartedly celebrate the magnificent BJP win at national level.
In essence, entire Kerala is unhappy today.
Only the Beverages Corporation ought to be happy.
Tail piece 2: Modi’s recent conversation with Trump!
Trump: “Congratulations Mr Modi on your election victory. Please be careful about sanctions against Iran”.
Modi: “Hi Donald, we have already stopped dealing with Iran. Anything that bothers you?”
Trump: “CIA just informed me that you used some Irani to defeat Rahul Gandhi”
Tail piece 3: India’s Condition Today
Northeast: Give me some sunshine.
Delhi: Give me some rain
Kejriwal: Give me another chance
Rahul: I wanna grow up once again
Modi: na na nana na na na nana
Tail piece 4: It’s a changed world…
It’s a changed world…
Indians are ‘MODIfied’
Brits are ‘disMAYed’
Americans are ‘TRUMPed’
The French are ‘Macarooned’
and Canadian are ‘Justified’
While Russians just stay ‘Put in’..!!
(Courtesy: Social Media)
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This column is published every Sunday in Gangtok based English daily Sikkim Express and www.orissadiary.com
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