Naidu seeks unity among parliamentarians on issues of national importance
New Delhi, Sep 2: Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday expressed his "unhappiness" over disruptions in Parliament and sought unity among parliamentarians of all political parties over issues of national importance.
"I am a little unhappy that our Parliament is not functioning as it should be. I have not hesitated in recording in the book just now released my disappointment over the functioning of the Rajya Sabha during the first two sessions that I have presided over," Naidu said on the occasion of the release of his book "Moving on, Moving forward: A year in Office".
Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the book in the presence of former Prime Ministers H.D. Deve Gowda and Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Union Minister Arun Jaitley.
Referring to the recently concluded monsoon session, the Vice President said that new tidings were seen in the session raising hopes that the trend would continue in future.
"So, there is a hope but we need to stay on course. My earnest endeavour has been to facilitate informed and dignified debates befitting the stature of this hallowed institution. I sincerely feel that all the political parties should come together, transcending political considerations, on issues of national importance."
Naidu said the last session was "rightly called the session for social justice".
He advised the lawmakers to consider and pass important legislations reflecting their collective commitment to social justice, and stressed on the need to move towards ensuring proportional representation of all groups, especially those who have till now been under-represented, in order to build a more inclusive society.
He hoped political parties would consider dispassionately the issues related to women empowerment and legislate measures "through reservation in all spheres of public life including legislatures".
In an apparent reference to the pending triple talaq bill, Naidu said: "We must move towards ending discrimination against women on the basis of religion and other factors."
Outlining some reforms for the better functioning of Parliament and state legislatures, Naidu said: "Political parties must evolve a consensus on the code of conduct for their members both inside the legislature and out of it. Otherwise people might soon lose faith in our political processes and institutions.
"Related to this is the issue of political defections. If a member desires to change party, he must do so by resigning from the membership of the House. The anti-defection laws should be implemented in letter and spirit expeditiously, within three months."
Similarly, the Vice President said the election petitions and criminal cases against political leaders needed to be disposed of within a reasonable time frame by constituting, if required, special benches of High Courts and the Supreme Court.
He also emphasized on the need to consider and decide upon a national policy on the Upper House in the state legislatures, and that "all efforts should be geared towards creation of a cleaner polity and transparent people centred governance".
Describing the media as a close and invaluable partner in strengthening the democratic culture, Naidu said it would be useful if the temptation of giving more importance to disturbance and disruption than to constructive contribution made by the members in the House can be overcome.
Calling for greater focus on agriculture, he said that instead of depending on imported products people must adopt the culture of growing these in their land.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
