June 26, 2024 - Short Post

All Politics

NDA Speaker Elected By Voice Vote, Heals Bruised Egos

Om Birla, the NDA nominee, was elected as the Lok Sabha Speaker on June 26, through a motion moved by PM Narendra Modi, which was adopted via voice votes. The only redeeming feature of the election that happened after 50 years in the Parliament was that there was no counting of votes. Election was by voice vote –by ‘Ayes’ and ‘Noes’. In fact after pro-tem speaker Bhartruhari Mahtab declared Om Birla as the Speaker of the lower house, JD(U) leader Rajiv Ranjan even wondered why there was no headcount or division. Mahtab told him that “it was beyond division of votes”. The Opposition, which had filed K Suresh as the Speaker candidate of the INDIA bloc, did not press for a division vote. It was not keen to showcase how much behind NDA it was in terms of numbers. The best part of the Speaker’s election was that it brought together PM Modi and Rahul Gandhi, who in his new role as Leader of the Opposition. Both of them were spotted shaking hands as they escorted Birla to the Speaker’s chair. As PM Modi noted Birla’s “warm smile brightens up the entire House,” and how efficiently he ran the House in the last 5 years .Opposition leaders were quick to harp on how he had suspended 146 MPs in 2023. Rahul Gandhi in his speech hoped Birla would allow the Opposition to speak and said “The question is not how efficiently the House is run. The question is how much of India’s voice is being allowed to be heard.” Congress sources say there would have been no hype over the Speaker’s election if only KC Venugopal had not bargained about deputy speaker’s post in his initial meeting with Rajnath Singh.

Post By Lakshmi Iyer

All Politics

Naveen Patnaik’s New Mantra, Take BJP Head On

The big defeat of Biju Janata Dal both in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections has not put BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik on the back foot. On the contrary, there is now a new spring in his stride and he has decided to take the BJP head on both in his state and at the Centre. With his party losing all the Lok Sabha seats, Patnaik has asked his party’s nine Rajya Sabha MPs to work in a cohesive fashion and strongly raise Odisha issues in the Rajya Sabha. The most important issue for Naveen babu is the long-standing demand for Special Category status for Odisha as it is prone to natural disasters. BJD leader in Rajya Sabha Sasmit Patra said, “The BJD MPs this time will not be confined to speaking on issues only, but are determined to agitate if the BJP-led government at the Centre ignores Odisha’s interest”. BJD MPs will also raise the issues of poor mobile connectivity and low density of bank branches in the state, speedy completion of National and Coastal Highway projects, demand for revision of coal royalty which has been ignored by the Centre for the last 10 years. BJD seems to have a long laundry list: AIIMS in Sambalpur, Koraput and Balasore; IT parks, semiconductor, textile parks; 20 lakh houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana; Kendriya Vidyalayas in each block of Odisha; Eklavya schools in every scheduled (tribal) block.

Post By Sangram Mohanty

TRENDS & VIEWS

Editor’s Note: Big Punch In Small Pack

It is the Third Anniversary of Short Post and as a news media startup launched during the Covid-19 pandemic it certainly feels better than good to find ourselves where we are today. Here, I must cite the unstinted support of our seasoned contributors, all senior editors in the country, who brought a great degree of maturity and sagacity to the Short Post newsroom. But for them, our tagline “Authentic Gossip”, an Oxymoron, would not have matured viably. Our user numbers may be small but our stories have created the desired impact among people who matter — decision makers and influencers. We offer a big punch in a small pack and Short Post with its 225-word stories has been punching above its weight category. Having posted close to 3,000 stories in the last 36 months, Short Post, I feel, is an idea whose time has come.
And this is vindicated by our two marquee advertisers – IDFC FIRST Bank and ICICI Lombard. Both believed in our story and have supported us from Day one. A big thank you to both.
If you look at the media landscape – print, TV and digital — it is a mixed bag. There are job losses as some outfits have closed down while a lucky few were bailed out by large corporate houses. Yes, there is a lot of action in the digital space. However, the entry of corporate houses has raised the question of independence of news media outfits. Sadly, there are just a handful of independent media outfits in the country that are highly respected for their neutrality. At Short Post, our credo is not to take sides, prejudge issues or be biased but, informing readers of behind-the-scenes happenings. In essence, Short Post strives to be a neutral editorial platform — neither anti-establishment nor pro-establishment.
As I said last year, disruptions in the media world are moving at a fast and furious pace. Technology is playing a very big role in how content is generated and consumed. But, we are neither alarmed nor perturbed as it is all a part of the evolution process. What gives us comfort is that AI is unable to create original gossipy content. And that is the news arena where we have achieved a distinction.

TRENDS & VIEWS

Editor’s Note: Big Punch In Small Pack

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