Heena Sharma Blog

A Rajya Sabha panel has recommended that law enforcement agencies should be permitted to break end-to-end encryption to trace the distributior of child pornography on social media. The ad hoc committee of the Rajya Sabha formed to look into pornography on social media and its effect on children and society has also recommended that apps that help in monitoring children's access to pornographic content be made mandatory on all devices sold in India, and such apps or similar solutions be developed and made freely available to internet service providers (ISPs), schools and parents. The 14-member committee, chaired by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, has made 40 recommendations in all, including changes to the Protection of Children From Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. The recommendations assume significance in view of the ongoing battle between the government and WhatsApp over encryption. The government has been looking for a way to trace messages to curb spread of rumours ...

On Monday, the Lok Sabha passed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016. In the eyes of transgender and gender non-binary activists, this is an act of doublespeak because the Bill, if it goes through the Rajya Sabha, will not only fail to protect the rights of transgender people in India, it will actively violate these rights. Activists from the community have condemned the passing of the Bill in its current form, and are calling on the government to withdraw it from consideration in the Rajya Sabha and instead pass the private member’s bill drafted by Tiruchi Siva in the Lok Sabha. Why should a community so vociferously oppose a Bill that is drafted in the name of the protection of its rights ? For those who celebrated the passing of the 2014 Supreme Court judgement affirming the rights of transgender people (colloquially called the NALSA Bill), the answer is obvious. Although the NALSA judgment was flawed in its own ways, it made some incredible str...

The only time he lost a Lok Sabha election was against Madhavrao Scindia of Congress from Gwalior in 1984, when he lost by a margin of close to 2 lakh votes Current Affairs News : Atal Bihari Vajpayye had a unique distinction of being a member of Parliament for 12 terms -- a 10-time Lok Sabha member and twice of Rajya Sabha. The only time he lost a Lok Sabha election was against Madhavrao Scindia of Congress from Gwalior in 1984, when he lost by a margin of close to 2 lakh votes. Vajpayee represented Lucknow in the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th Lok Sabha from 1991 to 2009. He represented Balrampur in the second and fourth Lok Sabha, Gwalior in the fifth and New Delhi in the sixth and the seventh LS. In 1962 and 1986, he was elected to Rajya Sabha. In December, 2005, Vajpayee had announced his retirement from electoral politics at a party gathering in Mumbai. He was a parliamentarian for nearly 47 years. Vajpayee served as the prime minister between ...

The monsoon session of Parliament has seen the first no-trust motion faced by the Modi govt in its 4-year rule. PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi will speak in Friday's debate. Catch all the live updates here Politics News : The Lok Sabha on Friday took up a no-confidence motion against the government for debate and voting, two days after the start of the monsoon session. Top guns of the Opposition and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took part in the debate, which will conclude with a reply from Prime Minister Narendra Modi . Congress President Rahul Gandhi also gave a fiery speech during the debate.    Seven hours have been set aside for the debate, which began shortly after 11 am and will continue without any lunch break.  The Modi government is expected to have a smooth sailing. In the 545-member (including the Speaker) Lok Sabha, the BJP-led NDA can bank on around 311 members, including the 273 of the BJP, Shiromani Akali Dal's (SAD's) 4, Shiv Sena's 18, ...