Dysfunctional Parliament

                                                                                                                                                              :Sandeepan

parliament-chaos

Need of a Parliament

Civil society in India has a large number of organisations- the media, social associations, neighbourhood groups, all kinds of professional lobbies, non-governmental and non-profit organisations, philanthropic bodies, social and political movements and trade unions where each claim to represent the interest of their members.

But political representatives are considered more influential as

They represent all the members of a territorially delimited constituency, as opposed to say trade unions.

They are accountable to their constituents via the route of election.

The party representative acquires legitimacy by the fact that she has been elected by the people whose interests she is charged with representing and furthering.

Though citizen is considered primary unit of political society, the definition of representative is derivative.

Voters authorise representatives to speak and act on their behalf. However, the representatives represent their constituency where it has to ensure that the opinions, interests and needs of its constituents are adequately, competently and effectively represented in forums of decision-making.

They have to perform their functions which include assisting in the production of appropriate policies.

Thus, a representative democracy will not work successfully if the relation between state and citizen is not working as desired in a democracy.

Parliament makes laws, ensures accountability of the government and scrutinises legislation through the committee system. But above all, Parliament provides a forum and establishes procedures for reflection on, and critical engagement with, what has been done, and what needs to be done in the light of popular expectations.

However, Parliament has been often reduced to a medium wherein important discussion are affected- delayed or discarded through disruptions, political theatrics rule over parliamentary etiquettes or petty topics gain momentum, thereby allotting less time for meaningful and critical issues.

Most Indians have found Parliament irrelevant to the needs of the day.

The Parliament meets and disburses. But there is hardly any impact of these meetings/non-meetings on the democratic discourse in the country.

The media highlights the wastage of time and taxpayer’s money.

Even the analysts regret that widening of the social base of the body has not resulted in meaningful legislation or responsible legislators.

Thus, the body which houses the representatives of 1.2 billion people, has not been able to represent the aspirations of the citizens and symbolically failed to enhance the relationship between the citizen and the state, which a representative democracy is expected to do.

A Data to Ponder upon:

Data with Indian think tank PRS Legislative shows that as of December 14, 2016, the Lok Sabha had made 14% progress during the Winter Session, while it was 20% in Rajya Sabha.

It also noted that in past 21 sittings, while the Lok Sabha had dedicated 4.3 hours on non-legislative issues, the Rajya Sabha had spent 11.8 hours.

The Rajya Sabha committed zero hours on questions, while the Lok Sabha spent 5.1 hours.

The deadlock created by Opposition and the ruling government has resulted in considerable losses as whenever a Parliamentary session is disrupted, it is estimated to cost Rs 2 crore per day.

 

Tactics:

The Opposition focusses on denigrating the government rather than engaging with policies.

Similarly, the government hardly bothers to reply and instead engage in attacks and counter-attacks, sometimes personal, with the opposition.

Instead of maintaining the institution’s decorum and dignity through a calm, reflective and reasoned debate, the members have been recently observed to resort to drama and actions on the floor of house.

Effects of session washout

The winter session of Parliament was among the most unproductive in 15 years.

Of the eight Bills introduced in this session, only two were passed. Such was the indifference to discuss matters of vital public interest that a critical legislation such as the Taxation Laws (Second Amendment) Bill, 2016 was passed within an hour of it being introduced.

The opposition, which is people’s watchdog in Parliament, was apparently content that only two of the total 330 listed questions in the Rajya Sabha were answered orally.

It lost the chance to pass bills critical to the April 1, 2017, deadline for the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax. It also failed to end the session on a note of federal cooperation to set up the shift to Budget day to February 1 from next year.

Precious time, money and business was lost in the Lok Sabha as the Government failed to organise a discussion around Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s sudden demonetisation decision.

The leader of the government chose to speak only where the on-the-spot debate was ruled out, such as rallies and radio show.

This presents a stark reality that the government was not seemingly serious about upholding the dignity of the house by engaging in frequent disruptions in discussions and transaction of business.

The opposition is also not totally immune to blame. It earlier insisted on adjournment and a debate with voting and then, as the session neared to a close, agreed to speak under any rule.

It is both the responsibility of the treasury and the opposition to see that the house runs reasonably in each session and the interest of the Parliament is safeguarded.

If this fails to take place, the political class can hardly complain of the people losing confidence in the institution of Parliament, if it is not allowed to discharge its Constitutional duties.

Democracy without workable Parliament?

Fortunately for the Indian political class, the generalised loss of confidence in representative institutions has not led to disenchantment with democracy with the citizens.

Surveys show that Indians value democracy as it is this form of government which enables them to realise the primordial desire of each human being to be treated as an equal, at least during election time.

The elections are marked by high voter turnouts where voters exercise freedom of choice and elect and dismiss governments in often unpredictable ways.

The making of the Indian constitution reflects the faith the Constituent Assembly had put in Indian citizens where adult suffrage was adopted, for both men and women, since its enactment.

 

An unproductive Parliamentary session is reflection of the institutional damage inflicted upon country’s democratic values and principles.

To Conclude:

If the President of India, Vice-President of India and a veteran Parliamentarian urge the members to let the houses function, it reminds the fact that all sections of house need to introspect.

As India’s first PM rightly embossed it in the ‘Tryst with Destiny’ speech: “Freedom and power bring responsibility. That responsibility rests upon this assembly, to work for their electorate in a dignified manner.

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