ROBUST DISCUSSION ON DELIMITATION AND NORTH-SOUTH BALANCE

The Legally Speaking: 3rd Law and Constitutional Dialogue, an event organised by iTV Network, prominent parliamentarians Kalanidhi Veeraswamy (DMK), Sasmit Patra (BJD), and P.P. Chaudhary (BJP) engaged in a robust discussion on the potential implications of delimitation on the North-South balance in India's Parliament.

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The dialogue delved into demographic disparities, representation concerns, and the necessity for equitable governance. Kalanidhi Veeraswamy highlighted Tamil Nadu's demographic evolution, noting that the state's fertility rate has declined from over 3 to 1.7, a trend common among southern states. In contrast, states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh maintain higher fertility rates around 2.7. He emphasized that the postponement of delimitation since the Emergency era has led to imbalances in representation, underscoring the need for a census to inform the delimitation process.

"The point about the delimitation since emergency, it has been postponed for like 25 years. Census should have been conducted in 2021, 2002. Delimitation commission that after 2026 the census should be done and only after that the delimitation process should be exercised." He added.

Sasmit Patra said, "No, any government, whether in the center from whichever party can really afford to neglect a state in federal form of government we have." He underscored the importance of equality as enshrined in Articles 14, 15, and 16 of the Constitution. He advocated for a caste census to accurately identify reservation proportions and inform welfare measures, noting that current programs rely on outdated data from the 2011 Socio-Economic Caste Census.