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Derek O'Brien: 11/12/14

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November 12, 2014. FDI in Insurance Bill? No, not so easy. Few noticed but a remarkable and potentially far-reaching event happened late on Tuesday evening. A crucial meeting of the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Insurance Bill, scheduled for Wednesday, November 12, suddenly got called off. Somewhere, at some point, the government lost its nerve. On Sunday, Nadda and Naqvi were made members of the Union ministry. With this they ceased to be members of the select committee. Hence the panick...Two n...

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Derek O'Brien: 03/29/15

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March 29, 2015. We support progressive legislation, not the Land Bill which is draconian. In the case of the Mines and Minerals Bill, we were satisfied that suggestions made by Trinamool in the select committee were incorporated in the final draft. There were several parameters Trinamool used to judge the Bill. Trinamool will oppose this with all its might. Member of Parliament from Bengal. Trinamool Congress Parliamentary Party Leader (Rajya Sabha) and Chief National Spokesperson. Member of Parliament f...

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Derek O'Brien: 02/22/15

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February 22, 2015. By using ordinances the government is mocking Parliament. After President Pranab Mukherjee, it is now Speaker of the Lok Sabha Sumitra Mahajan who has cautioned against the repeated and knee-jerk use of ordinances. Speaking at a conference in Lucknow, she said, “Ordinances should be kept to the minimum as far as possible. They have a very limited life and need to be passed by Parliament to become a law.”. Law-making is not diktat; it is arrived at after a process of deliberation. I...

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Derek O'Brien: 11/03/14

http://quizderek.blogspot.com/2014_11_03_archive.html

November 03, 2014. Brand Equity Quiz being put to bed. Those were the days of telephone operators. So Binny Kapur, the charming lady with the husky voice and the loud lipstick, my colleague for many years at Ogilvy, Kolkata, put the call through. It was Jug Suraiya, journalist, friend and spouse of my former boss, who had recently moved to Delhi. Jug had figured The Statesman. Was a ship rapidly sinking into the Hooghly and had opted to board the cruise liner docked in Delhi, The Times of India. Life has...

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Derek O'Brien: 04/07/15

http://quizderek.blogspot.com/2015_04_07_archive.html

April 07, 2015. Trinamool doesn't want government meddling in land deals between industry and farmer. There's a delightful phrase of Persian origin called ' noora kushti. It denotes a fixed fight ­ two people pretending to wrestle and fool spectators. The so-called tussle between the BJP-led government and Congress over the bill seeking to amend the land acquisition law is a first-rate example of noora. Neither party is serious. Both are taking pro forma positions. What happened in 2006? Matters were com...

quizderek.blogspot.com

Derek O'Brien: Trinamool doesn't want government meddling in land deals between industry and farmer

http://quizderek.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-land-bill-trinamool.html

April 07, 2015. Trinamool doesn't want government meddling in land deals between industry and farmer. There's a delightful phrase of Persian origin called ' noora kushti. It denotes a fixed fight ­ two people pretending to wrestle and fool spectators. The so-called tussle between the BJP-led government and Congress over the bill seeking to amend the land acquisition law is a first-rate example of noora. Neither party is serious. Both are taking pro forma positions. What happened in 2006? Matters were com...

quizderek.blogspot.com

Derek O'Brien: 02/18/15

http://quizderek.blogspot.com/2015_02_18_archive.html

February 18, 2015. Women shakti and the big TMC bypoll win. For me the story of the by-elections was about women’s power in politics. This is not just a reference to Mamata Banerjee, our stalwart leader, who has fought the onslaught of two successive governments at the Centre now and emerged vindicated, but also of our party’s culture of empowering women down the line. Who would the Matua community back? The lady, a newcomer to politics but very aware of social and economic conditions and challenges amon...

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Derek O'Brien: 01/20/15

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January 20, 2015. Respite for 4000 soldiers. happy to have played a very small role. I was left stunned by the figures and by the sheer insensitivity of our bureaucracy. The following morning I phoned Barkha and got Navdeep’s number. After a series of chats with him, I decided on a Special Mention on the issue in the Rajya Sabha on August 11, 2014. In the Mention, I criticised the “ shallow pretexts. 8221; being used to deny disabled soldiers pensions. The Income Tax Department does not go to the Supreme...

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Derek O'Brien: 01/26/15

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January 26, 2015. Why Bengal was kept out of the Republic Day parade. All day several friends have called to ask why the West Bengal tableau was missing from the Republic Day parade in Delhi. The absence has particularly disappointed and hurt a lot of us because West Bengal had won the award for the best tableau in 2014. We had planned to make Kanyashree and the girl child the theme of the West Bengal tableau at the Republic Day. It would have fitted well with the overall national message of encourag...

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Derek O'Brien: 05/02/15

http://quizderek.blogspot.com/2015_05_02_archive.html

May 02, 2015. Coalition of regional parties is what India needs. Watching Arvind Kejriwal’s speech at Delhi’s Ramlila Grounds shortly after he was sworn in as chief minister, I was glad he tempered the overenthusiasm and too-keen ambition of some of his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) colleagues. Running a government in Delhi was his priority, he said. He cautioned against any “arrogant” attempt to expand the party’s footprint and contest elections in several other states. Member of Parliament from Bengal. View my...