shri vinod sharma - Rajya Sabha

Sometimes, legislators make their mistake. And I know a Speaker in the Tamil Nadu
Assembly, who claims "Sky High Powers" literally, the doctrine of "Sky High
Powers". In Tamil, it is called "Van Alavia Adhikaram". Sky is the limit of my
power. And this kind of delusion does appear on the scheme, but, by and large, I
think it is recognised that Parliament is not supreme but pre-eminent. In an elective
democracy, even if, in practice, States are grown prominent and assertive over time
and the Centre has become weaker over time, States have got empowered through
the political process. That is the first point to note and, I think, the media should
appreciate and reflect this in full measure, in earnest measure. That is my first
point.
Traditionally, the Press, in India, has covered parliamentary proceedings
extensively and factually. Just have got a look at old newspaper files, your archives
of old newspapers, to see how much space and attention was given to reporting
parliamentary proceedings. Even at a time when Parliament was not the Parliament
we know today, when India was not a democracy but under alien rule, to the extent
legislative proceedings were relevant and issues were raised, there was, I would
say, superb coverage, extensive factual coverage. Of course, some of us used to
say that is 'stenography' and you just took down 'verbatim' what happened and so
on. But I have a great deal of respect and affection for our Parliamentary Reporters
and Correspondents of the old days. Some of them I knew when I entered the
field. This tradition, I think, is a very valuable tradition, and I was very pleased to
hear the hon. Chairman and Vice-President of India saying that the Media has done
pretty well, based on his own experience, because he knows journalism. In fact, he
is a very fine columnist, and I am proud to say for "The Frontline" and "The Hindu"
for many years. And today, unfortunately, he feels imprisoned! These are the
words he used, jokingly, when he can't write on this, but he knows the Media feel
better than most statesmen and most functionaries in our system. When he says