Panel to include legal experts, says Speaker
The ongoing talks among legislative presiding officers to amend the anti-defection law will now include legal experts, as several assembly speakers have opposed curbing their power in deciding anti-defection cases, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla said on Friday.
“We have been holding discussions on how to strengthen the anti-defection law. We received many suggestions. All the presiding officers believe that the law must be strengthened. We had formed a panel to review the Tenth Schedule. The panel has proposed to further discuss it and get opinion from legal experts too,” Birla, who chaired a meeting of presiding officers, said.
“All presiding officers want to work in an unbiased way. It is now felt that more discussions with legal experts are required,” he added. The anti-defection law or the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution has frequently come under scrutiny, following defection of lawmakers that led to toppling of elected governments. The law provides for disqualification of legislators for anti-party activities.
There were two divergent views among the members of the committee formed to examine the anti-defection law, as a majority (two out of three) maintained that the Speaker should continue to decide such cases, according to a panel member who did not wish to be named.
Zia Haq
The Union government has built a record reserve of 250,000 tonnes of onions for 2022-23 to deal with potential spikes in prices during an oncoming lean season that starts around August and lasts till December. The move is aimed at thwarting the vegetable’s volatility and keeping prices stable -- critical at a time when inflation is already in excess of 7%.
The onion buffer is being maintained by the department of consumer affairs under a price stabilization fund, which aims at effective market intervention to cool prices when availability plunges.
Vegetables have a weightage
Rates of onions often soar, knocking household budgets.
of 6.04% in the consumer price index. The government purchased the onions from this year’s winter- sown crop through the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India from farmers in major producing states, such as Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, an official statement said.
“The price stabilisation buffer serves the twin objectives of providing remunerative prices to onion farmers and augmenting the availability of onions at affordable prices to the consumers,” the statement said.
An official said open-market releases will be targeted towards states/cities where prices show an increase over the previous month and also in key agricultural markets to boost supplies after August. Onion prices in Maharashtra’s Lasalgaon, which sets the prices around the country, averaged at ₹1,225 a quintal across varieties and have been holding steady so far, data from commodityinsightsx.com showed on Friday.