Space cat
Sir — Cat videos have become ubiquitous in the age of the internet. But the popularity of cats now seems to have transcended earthly boundaries. In a recent experiment, Nasa beamed a video of an orange tabby cat from its Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California via a laser transceiver on its Psyche spacecraft, which is currently at a distance of 31 million kilometres from Earth. The fact that the video took more time for Nasa to download with superfast internet than it did for the video to complete a round trip from deep space illustrates the great strides that technology has taken in recent years.
Mrittika Chowdhury, Calcutta
Pushed through
Sir — Both Houses of Parliament recently passed three bills with little to no participation from the Opposition given the suspension of 146 members of Parliament (“One-sided LS clears law bills”, Dec 21). This is disconcerting because an informed debate about the provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita would have been beneficial. Moreover, concerns have been raised about the new laws providing significant powers to the government in matters of arrest. After coming to power democratically, the Bharatiya Janata Party seems to increasingly be acting autocratically.
S.S. Paul, Nadia
Sir — The passage of three important bills on India’s criminal law code in the absence of the majority of the Opposition is improper. It seems that the ruling dispensation was looking for a way to allow the controversial bills to sail through. It would also be unfair to say that the Indian Penal Code was not citizen-centric. It was a meticulous set of laws that needed no interference. The Union home minister, Amit Shah, should have solicited the opinions of experts and legal practitioners before modifying the law code.
Arun Gupta, Calcutta
Sir — Following the recent suspension spree by the ruling dispensation, three important bills regarding reforming criminal laws were passed through a voice vote in the Lok Sabha. The chairs of both Houses alleged that in the days following the security breach in Parliament, Opposition members misbehaved and carried placards into the chambers. This was just an excuse to issue large-scale suspension orders. The BJP has scant respect for parliamentary democracy.
Jayanthi Subramaniam, Mumbai
Sir — The three critical criminal law bills, which were passed by both Houses
in the absence of 146 parliamentarians, are further evidence of the saffron party’s unconstitutional approach to lawmaking. This shows that the BJP was not prepared for a detailed debate with the Opposition on the bills.
The former president, Pranab Mukherjee, had once stated that if Parliament passed laws without discussion, it only breached the trust of the people. Common citizens must be disheartened by the poor functioning of Parliament.
M.N. Gupta, Hooghly
Sir — At a time when both Houses of Parliament are in disarray and a large number of legislators from the Opposition have been thrown out owing to their ‘unruly’ behaviour, the Union home minister pushed the criminal law bills through. This is disconcerting.
Fakhrul Alam, Calcutta
Sir — The government’s refusal to entertain any debate on the issue of the security breach in Parliament and the subsequent suspension of an unprecedented number of Opposition legislators is evidence of the BJP’s disregard for deliberative democracy. The fact that this opportunity was used to pass important legislations without any discussion is further proof of how bad the backslide of Indian democracy is.
T.K.R. Noori, Mumbai
