THE truncated monsoon session of parliament has been, in every sense, the worst session of parliament ever held, except probably the one during the emergency in 1976 that adopted the 42nd constitutional amendment meant to facilitate an authoritarian regime.What happened in the Rajya Sabha, when two of the bills related to agriculture were being considered, was a mockery of parliamentary democracy.  After a curtailed discussion, the deputy chairman railroaded through the two bills violating all parliamentary procedures and rules. The demand to put the statutory resolutions disapproving the o

THE way in which the Delhi Police has gone about the investigation into the communal violence in North East Delhi constitutes a brazen exercise in perverting the course of justice.From March onwards, the two special investigation teams entrusted to investigate the widespread violence which led to the deaths of 55 people, have worked in a biased manner with a pre-conceived narrative.The onus for the violence is being put on the anti-CAA protesters and those who played an active role in the peaceful protests which developed spontaneously in many places starting with Shaheen Bagh.

THE refusal by the central government to pay the Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation due to the states is patently illegal and violative of the constitutional scheme regarding relations between the centre and the states.

THE conviction of senior lawyer, Prashant Bhushan, of criminal contempt of court by a three-member bench of the Supreme Court has lowered the image of the institution. It shows the highest court of the land in a bad light as being intolerant of criticism and using the contempt law to punish dissent. The two tweets of Prashant Bhushan, which were found to be scandalising the court, do not warrant any such conclusion. There have been numerous criticisms and charges made by former judges of the Supreme Court on various judgments and aspects of the court’s functioning in recent times.

ON August 7, a virtual meeting was held between the foreign ministers of India, Brazil, Israel, South Korea, Australia and the United States. This meeting was, by all standards, a curious one.Foreign minister, Jaishankar tweeted, “Continued our conversation on the Corona challenge, always good to learn from each other”. But the composition of the meeting and the countries represented by the foreign ministers raises many questions.The lineup of the countries itself is inexplicable if the agenda was sharing experiences on tackling the Covid-19 crisis and the way forward.