KARACHI: The Pakistan Parliament yesterday [Jan 7] passed three Bills, including the Bill to amend the Agricultural Produce Cess Act. Four Bills, including the Karachi Secon­dary Education Bill, were introduced. The Ag­­ricultural Produce Cess (Amendment) Bill … provides for the setting up of the Pak­istan Food and Agriculture Committee for ag­­­ricultural research and for financing it from the agriculture produce cess. The Kara­chi Secondary Education Bill envisages a 21-man Board to “organise, regulate, dev­elop and control” secondary education in the Federal Capital and to look after the general “residence, health and discipline” of the students.

The … session of the Parliament appeared to be the anti-climax of the furore in the Constitution Hall during the Constituent Assembly session the day before. As the proceedings progressed the attendance thinned out to 25 members (13 on the Treasury Benches and 12 on the Opposition side), leaving a bare majority of one to the Government.

Mr D.N. Dutta’s “lessons on jute growing” set in a breeze at the fag end… . The speaker was overwhelmed with interruptions from the Members who showed … anxiety “to learn more”.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2025