Meeting of presiding officers to discuss anti-defection law next month
The Hindu
Participants will also discuss the falling quality of debates in Parliament: Om Birla
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Saturday said a presiding officers’ conference would be held for three days from October 26 at Shimla in Himachal Pradesh and it would see discussions on a report on the anti-defection law prepared by a committee headed by C.P. Joshi, Speaker of Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, and the diminishing quality of debates in Parliament and in the State legislatures.
“We are also concerned about the diminishing standard of discipline, decorum and decency in our legislatures...We are organising a conference of presiding officers on this subject, to which the Chief Ministers and other stakeholders of the States will also be invited,” Mr. Birla said. The Speaker had also flagged these issues during his address to members of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Friday.

The municipal bus stand auditorium in Malappuram was packed. But nobody quite knew what to expect. After all, a new event was making its debut at the State School Arts Festival. The moment V.G. Harikrishnan started his rendition of Pyar bhare do sharmile nain..., everyone was convinced that Ghazal was here to stay. The student from GVHSS, Atholi (Kozhikode), was applauded loudly for his rendering of the timeless ghazal sung originally by Mehdi Hassan.

For the last few weeks, several wards in Madurai city have been getting piped drinking water through a new drinking water scheme. The sweetness of the generously supplied water has led to loss of business to several suppliers of canned drinking water in the city. But, not many know that the water supplied to the houses in Madurai is directly drawn from Lower Dam of Mullaperiyar Dam in Idukki district of Kerala.











