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Timecodes:

3:45 - Headlines

6:35 - Parliamentary proceedings

40: 33 - Anti-conversion bill

1:17:12 - Punjab

1: 32: 40 - Duty to laugh

1: 35: 35 - Subscriber letters

2: 09: 46 - Recommendations

This week on NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal and Jayashree Arunachalam are joined by Apar Gupta, writer and Executive Director of Internet Freedom Foundation, and Nitin Pai, columnist and co-founder of Takshashila Institution.

The discussion starts with the parliamentary proceedings and how much attention goes into passing a bill in India. Nitin comments that the only way parliament should decide on passing bills is by some sort of “feat of force like wrestling or tug of war because it has come to that”. “Do people meet up in state legislatures before clearing any bill? No, they are not voicing the concerns,” he says.

Apar points to facts. “Only one out of five bills is sent to the standing committee for approval. It’s inefficient and can be made better by all means.” Abhinandan compares the legislative procedure with precedents and opens the discussion with the “unhealthy process” that exists.

Jayashree adds, “All institutional checks and balances are just for show, when they (BJP) got tired with the show; they got it adjourned.”

The discussion then shifts to the anti-conversion bill passed by the Karnataka government and its implications, along with references to the recent attacks on churches, which Abhinandan calls “dog whistles for the cultural agenda of BJP, because this is all they have”. The panel sifts through the governance style and gains made through the same in south India.

The conversation moves to the issue of sacrilege in Punjab, the lynching cases and the recent blast in Ludhiana. The panel also talks about a statement by a Madras high court judge on the “duty to laugh”.

This and a lot more, only on NL Hafta.

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