Raghav Chadha (Photo Credit: social media)
New Delhi:
NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH : Known for his penchant for modernising politics and making it more accountable, Shri Raghav Chadha the young Member of Parliament from Punjab, who recorded a 100% attendance at the Winter Session, has released a ‘report card’ of his performance for the public. The 7-page report card, which summarises his legislative performance, enlists the questions raised, issues raised, debates participated in, and notices submitted under Rule 267 on matters concerning Punjab and India. During the Session that ran from 7th December to 23rd December, he asked a total of 25 questions on a range of issues, the majority of which concerned Punjab such as waiver of fees for pilgrims of Shri Kartarpur Sahib, strongest punishment for sacrilege, Heritage City status to Anandpur Sahib, modernisation of railway stations, promotion of leather manufacturing industry in Jalandhar, UDAN scheme, police modernisation, PMGSY, increase in SAI centres, etc. Moreover, championing the cause of farmers, Rajya Sabha MP Shri Raghav Chadha questioned the government on agricultural issues including promoting alternatives to stubble burning, the difference between market price and MSP, groundwater level in Punjab, shortage of DAP, doubling farmers' income, and others. He also sat for a protest at the Gandhi statue demanding the strongest punishment for sacrilege. Shri Chadha also gave his maiden speech in this session making headlines for his well-researched and witty takes on the Supplementary Demand for Grants and proposed that discussion on budgets should happen twice. His 10 big questions to the Finance Minister went viral on social media. Among the ten big questions he asked were based on the weakening rupee, government’s inability to control employment and provide jobs, tax burden, start-up ‘meltdown’, falling exports and reluctance of the private sector to invest. He also asked the Finance Minister if she knew the price of a kilo of wheat and rice among other essential commodities. Shri Chadha also asked questions on several other issues including surging inflation, increase in prices of steel, smuggling of counterfeit currency across the border, pensions to ex-servicemen, the growth rate of the manufacturing sector, import of essential food items, internet shutdowns, vacancies and pendencies in quasi-judicial bodies, among others. He also defended the independence of the judiciary by raising strong objections against a Private Member’s Bill on the National Judicial Appointment Commission to regulate appointment of judges. Besides, he also participated in major debates and spoke on the repatriation of gangsters operating from abroad, AIIMS data breach, provocative news debates, etc. and moved several ‘Points of Order’ to regulate the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha. Moving several notices under Rule 267 of Rajya Sabha (Suspension of Business), Shri Chadha demanded the House to take up urgent issues of public importance including rising Covid cases in China and the impact on India, the Central government’s attempt to interfere in judicial appointments, and Sino-Indian conflict along the LAC. In comparison to other prominent parliamentarians from Punjab, it was found that others were way behind Shri Raghav Chadha in terms of respective performances in the Parliament. As compared to the 100% attendance of Raghav Chadha, MPs Sukhbir Badal, Sunny Deol, and Simranjit Mann marked an attendance of respectively 18%, 0%, and 45%. Similarly, against 11 debates of the AAP MP, the above three MPs respectively participated in 0, 0, and 3 debates. Most importantly, as compared to the 25 questions asked by Raghav Chadha, none of the three MPs could ask a single question during the entire Winter Session.
