President’s Message
Dear Friends,
Very warm greetings.
The Monsoon Session of our 17th Lok Sabha began on June 17th, 2019. Scheduled to end on July 26th, 2019, it was extended until August 7th, 2019 (and is probably the longest session in the past 14 years) in order to complete legislative business. During this session, Lok Sabha had sittings for 281 hours in 37 days. The Rajya Sabha had sittings for 35 days. This is termed as one of the most productive sessions of the Parliament in decades, with the passage of 32 Bills in 35 sittings in the Rajya Sabha in this session.
We saw the passage of several Bills, including The Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganisation) Bill, 2019, The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019, Jammu & Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2019, The Aadhar and Other Laws (Amendment), Bill 2019, etc. Many of these Bills, such as those relating to the areas of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, as also, debates in public on the state of the economy in India, have become hot topics of public and private discussions, views, comments and opinions. Several issues and questions have been raised and, hopefully, we shall avail of the benefit of experts at some our weekly meetings to be better informed.
The last two months have witnessed extreme weather conditions, from no rains initially to delayed rains and now, after much delay, a vigorous onset of monsoons and incessant rains, making some say – far too much rain. Many people in the earlier part of this year said that the ‘El Nino’ effect would have a severe and adverse effect on rains this year, and adversely impact agriculture and water levels, creating a crisis. But then such are the forces of nature and quite difficult to predict with any degree of certainty and accuracy!
While we, in Mumbai, are evidencing the various doings of nature, its complexities, intensity and crisis are truly felt by others in various parts of the country. I am more than certain that each one of us is extending their helping hand in whatever way possible to people in distress. I would urge all to pray for the well-being of everyone.
A polite reminder once again: we have our Club’s high voltage fund-raiser show – Sonu Nigam – Live in Concert on Tuesday, August 27th, 2019 at the Tata Theatre, NCPA, from 6 pm to 9.30 pm. Ticket sales have been brisk and only about 80 to 90 tickets remain to be sold. However, we certainly could do with much more in terms of sponsorship, advertisement and donation. All of these will help fund our Club’s projects, making them meaningful and more effective with a wider reach.
Preeti Mehta
President