In Lok Sabha, Zero Hour mentions by members are decided on the basis of lottery and each day 20 lucky members get the opportunity to raise issues of public concern as per their priority. The system, which the present speaker Meira Kumar has initiated, intends to make the process of selection preference neutral. But many MPs have serious objections to it.
Expressing his unhappiness over it, recently elected member in a by-poll from Maharajganj in Bihar, Prabhunath Singh said, “We win election after a lot of real ground work with a lot of sweat, which include speeches and door-to-door campaign, but when we reach here we are asked to gamble to find a chance to speak in the House. It is painful. Therefore, instead of lottery, the system should be based on consultation and importance of an issue and the speaker should apply her mind to decide on the issue of allowing members to speak during Zero Hour.”

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Comic relief amid serious debate
Slips of the tongue are more often than not cause of much amusement though, of course, these happen at times because the one responsible for it may not be too articulate in the language in which he’s speaking.
Such was the case with senior CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta while speaking on the economic situation in the country. Dasgupta was alternating in Hindi and English after a fellow MP made a jibe about him speaking only in English while detailing the country’s poor economic condition. All was well until in the middle of his speech Dasgupta remarked, “Hindustan deewana ho gaya, Hindustan deewana ho gaya”.
Just as everyone was puzzling over his remark, some in the House piped up to correct him to say “diwala ho gaya”.
A chastened Dasgupta then clarified that what he had meant to say was that India has become insolvent.

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Sounding the battle horn
After realising that the ruling Trinamul Congress in West Bengal is going to give it a tough time in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections next year, the Left parties are pooling in their resources and energy to rejuvenate its presence in Kerala, which has traditionally been another stronghold for the Left parties.
A senior Left leader said that their hopes of getting a good number of seats in the LS elections in these two states isn’t very high till there is a leadership re-look and an organisational boost given to the party to counter the rival’s onslaught. It may be noted that the CPI(M) had readily blamed Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamul for its defeat in the recently concluded panchayat polls in West Bengal, accusing the ruling party of rigging polls.
With hopes low in West Bengal, insiders said it is Kerala now where the CPI(M) holds some chances of giving the Left front a decent number in the crucial polls which are fast approaching.

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Food for thought
Describing the UPA’s Food Security bill as ‘vote security bill’ ahead of crucial polls, senior BJP leader M.M. Joshi sought to know from the government the meaning of “adequate nutrition.” Speaking during the debate on the bill in Lok Sabha, Joshi asked: “The bill says ready to eat food, nutritional food and fortified food. Where will all of this come from? Where will you get protein from if you made no provision for dal? Will you give them chicken soup?”

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Praise for ex-ally
A debate on an amendment bill to include certain castes into the list of Schedule Tribe was taking place in the Lok Sabha last week. TMC member Prof. Saugata Roy was speaking on the subject and he was appreciating the government’s efforts relating to social welfare. On this BJP member Nishikat Thakur asked Prof. Roy if he has forgotten that TMC is no more part of the ruling UPA. Responding to this, Prof. Roy said he was conscious of the fact that his party has severed ties with the ruling alliance, but he could not criticise social justice minister Kumari Sailja who had introduced the Bill.

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Monkey menace
Quite literally, there seems to be monkey business on at the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The ministry has been gripped by a simian menace of such acute proportions that even service officers can often be seen scampering to safety in the corridors. The monkeys are breeding so fast that entire stretches of main corridors have been taken over by them. The monkeys have also turned so aggressive that they snarl and charge towards anybody who dares to cross their path. While security staff armed with lathis sometimes scare away the monkeys, no sooner do they turn their backs than the monkeys are back.

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Yatra factor
On the 26th of this month, when the Lok Sabha got adjourned over the controversial VHP yatra, many reporters were heard saying that for a change it’s the yatra that stopped proceedings. For once it was a different factor that halted work, as right from the start of the session it was the Telangana cause that led to adjournments everyday.

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Lalu’s advice
Till suspension, Andhra MPs in the Lok Sabha held their forte and disrupted the proceedings. But eventually 12 of them — eight from Congress and four from TDP — had to be suspended to ensure that the Parliament functioned to allow the passage of key legislations. The irrepressible RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav had an advice for them ready, while they were being evicted. “Now, that you all have become heroes, go to Andhra aur garda macha do (hit the ground for big campaign),” quipped Yadav.Yadav’s sympathy could be understood, as he had famously said that Bihar’s division would take place on his dead body. But Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar and Yadav is quite healthy and hearty.

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Party full of leaders
Despite many attempts by the top brass of the Saffron brigade to enthuse the workers and leaders of the Delhi BJP to work in the same direction, the situation does not seem to have changed much. A senior party leader says: “Problem with the Party in Delhi in that everybody is leader here. Nobody wants to remain a worker. Party is full of leaders without any ground level workers.” That probably does not augur well for the future because the Sangh’s top brass is also not happy with the state of affairs, added the leader.