Students Stage Mock Parliament to Debate Assam Flood Crisis

Guwahati: Students at a school in Tinsukia, Assam, held a mock parliament on Friday to grill officials on disaster management and illegal mining. Classes VIII to XII filled the auditorium to debate the state's recent floods. Speaker Abhijit Khataniar presided over the session. The Opposition moved an adjournment motion titled Recent Floods in Upper Assam: A Failure of Disaster Preparedness and Early Warning Systems.

Critics hammered the government for ineffective warning systems. They argued that poor planning worsened the impact of flooding across four Upper Assam districts. The group also called out illegal coal, stone, and sand mining in the nearby Nagaland hills. They claimed the state failed to act on pre-election promises to fix the flood cycle. Floods have killed over 100 people in the region over the last month.

The Treasury Bench pushed back hard. Members argued that natural disasters like floods and earthquakes defy precise prediction. They claimed no global technology can provide total advance warning for these events. The Speaker held a voice vote, and the chamber rejected the motion.

Khataniar closed the session by reflecting on the value of the exercise. He told the students, "The essence of democracy is not that everyone must agree; it is that everyone must have the right to be heard." He praised the participants for their composure and reminded them that finding solutions matters as much as asking the right questions.