Parliament: India (general issues)
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content.
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This page deals with issues and factoids common to the two houses of Parliament, the Rajya Sabha as well as the Lok Sabha
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Non-political celebrities
Celebrities in the Indian parliament
Non-political celebrities in the Indian parliament belong to two main streams:
i) Those who win elections and enter the Lok Sabha, and
ii) Those who are nominated to the Rajya Sabha under the special dispensation allowed for such nomination.
There are two more categories:
iii) Those who get elected to the Rajya Sabha; and
iv) Those who, after initial nomination to the Rajya Sabha later feel confident enough to seek election to the Lok Sabha, and win.
Celebrity MPs' attendance in Parliament
Celebrity MPs are a rare sight in House Vishwa.Mohan@timesgroup.com New Delhi: The Times of India Jul 21 2014
Sachin Attended 3 Days, Rekha 7 Since April ’12
Celebrity MPs simply give a royal miss to Rajya Sabha, the upper House of Parliament, where they find place as ‘nominated’ members due to their outstanding performance in their respective professions.
Be it legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar or the late painter M F Husain in the past or cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and Bollywood actress Rekha now, the ‘nominated’ celebrity MP has not matched up to the other nominated members, who come from professions like academics, civil services, journalism, legal service or science.
Records show that Tendulkar has attended the House only thrice while Rekha has attended it on seven days since they were nominated as MPs in April 2012.
Though Tendulkar was expected to attend the House more often once he retired from international cricket, he did so only once after November last year. The upper House sat for 35 days during three sessions between December 2013 and July this year.
Neither Rekha nor Tendulkar attended any sittings during the ongoing session of Parliament under the new government. Their absence from the House was noted by other members. Last week, RJD member and former Union minister Premchand Gupta referred to it in the House and questioned such nominations.
Besides Rekha and Tendulkar, poet-lyricist Javed Akhtar is the other celebrity among the 12 nominated members. Though Akhtar's record is much better, he re mains a mute spectator during most of the proceedings. He was last heard during a debate on amending the Copyright Bill two years ago.
His wife Shabana Azmi was, in contrast, among the most vocal celebrities who raised many issues and actively participated in many debates during her tenure.
Records show that the other nine nominated members, including businesswoman and social activist Anu Aga, journalist H K Dua, theatre personality B Jayashree, jurist K Parasaran and lawyer K T S Tulsi, have been quite regular in Parliament.
Utilisation of MPLADS funds
Sachin Tendulkar, Rekha spent nothing from MP development fund
TNN | Feb 24, 2014 The Times of India
NEW DELHI: Cricket superstar Sachin Tendulkar and veteran actress Rekha who were nominated to Rajya Sabha around two years ago have spent "zero" rupee on development in their respective adopted areas.
Official reports published on the website of ministry of statistics and programme implementation reveal that the celebrity MPs did not spend anything from their members of the parliament local area development (MPLAD) fund.
The Upper House parliamentarians get to adopt a district of their choice for development. Each Rajya Sabha member is entitled to Rs 5 crore a year from their MPLAD fund. Sachin Tendulkar adopted district is Mumbai suburban, but Rekha has not bothered to even adopt a district.
Neither sent any development project proposal to the government. Both have accumulated Rs 10 crore each in their two year old accounts.
