Open Forum
New
Delhi, 21 February 2019
16th Lok Sabha
A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT
By Dr S. Saraswathi
(Former Director,
ICSSR, New Delhi)
The last session of
the 16th Lok Sabha came to an end on February 13 with a memorable speech of
Prime Minister Modi effectively making amends to the over-all failure of the
party in power. Instead, he chose to highlight its own people-oriented policies
and programmes and correct the lies of opponents freely circulating and called
euphemistically “fake news”. It is time to broadly assess the functioning of
this Lok Sabha in terms of its legislative record as well as the manner of
conducting business.
The Lok Sabha, which
is the legislative wing of governance, is not to be confused with the
executive. It comprises ruling and Opposition parties though conducting Parliament
is the job of the government. An assessment of its work is practically an
evaluation of the contributions of members of all parties and independents
represented in the House.
The 16th Lok Sabha
started with a large contingent of new members numbering 315, i.e. more than
half the House. It is the second highest number after 1977 election that
returned 376 new members. This, itself should have proved a great advantage by
bringing new talents and enthusiasm that it would have created normally.
However, expectations of lively debates and wider participation by new members,
turned out to be farce. For, it is also true that incumbent party members are
closer to their parties and have long-term aspirations and take Parliament work
seriously.
There is a view that
our legislatures are at the root of the problems faced in governance today and
that the present electoral system is the promoter of political corruption
rampant in the country. Still, there is no support for the idea to seek an
alternative to the parliamentary system of democracy. At present, we have to
refresh the system wherever it shows signs of decay. For every deficiency found
in the functioning of parliament, remedies also can be found.
Legislative and
representative roles of Parliament and State legislatures are similar, but not
identical. Parliament members must have a national perspective and interest
while safeguarding their home State interests. Unfortunately, the Indian Parliament
has often become the battle ground for pressing demands and aspirations of
States, which is mistaken as issues in federalism.
The 16th Lok Sabha,
especially in the final two years, despite giving an impression of an unruly gathering
shouting in the well of the House or outside Parliament when it is in session
enacted 151 Acts and repealed 1,428 as part of easing doing business. A total
of 189 bills were introduced and 299 bills were passed. Railway Budget has been
merged with the General Budget and the distinction as Plan and Non-Plan
expenditure has been given up.
Seven Constitutional
amendments have been carried out during 2014 and 2019. These include 100th amendment
in pursuance of the agreement entered into between Government of India and
Government of Bangladesh regarding border issues, 101st amendment introducing
Goods and Services Act (GST) 2016 which introduced “one nation, one tax”
regime, and 103rd amendment providing for Direct Benefit Transfer to citizens
by means of Aadhaar, and 124th amendment to provide for 10 per cent reservation
for economically weaker sections in jobs and educational institutions. Laws to
curb black money like the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill have been passed.
Important among
social legislations are the Juvenile Justice Act allowing prosecution of
juveniles apprehended for heinous crimes like adults and Acts relating to
treatment of mental health patients, and those affected by HIV/Aids, and rights
of persons with disabilities.
However, 16th Lok
Sabha was as bad as the previous one in the number of hours it worked. Its
record of 1,615 hours of work is second lowest after the 15th Lok Sabha, which
wasted one-third of its scheduled time. It sat for 331 days which is 137 days
less than the average number of days of Parliament sitting by previous
full-term Lok Sabhas. Contrary to general criticism, the 16th Lok Sabha spent
32 per cent of its time on legislative business, which was higher than the
average of other Lok Sabhas by 7 per cent. Legislative business has received
due importance, but the time given for discussion is eaten by disruptions.
Question Hour took 13 per cent of its time while 10 per cent went to Short Duration
Discussion, and 0.7 per cent to Calling Attention Motions.
Noteworthy is that
the Triple Talaq Bill and the Citizenship Bill actively promoted by the NDA
government are set to lapse with the end of the last session. It will bring
both gain and loss of votes to the BJP depending on its use as election
propaganda material.
With more and more TV
channels telecasting Parliament proceedings live and conducting political
debates, citizens get opportunities to watch the performance of their Parliamentarians. Interruptions in both Houses are so common that
the voters who have sent these members to the august body have started
murmuring whether elections are held to choose the best obstructers. Time lost
due to interruptions was 217 hours excluding the last session, according to Lok
Sabha data. The tendency to stall Bills at the stage of introduction seems to
have grown.
Absenteeism is
another problem that voters have to fight. BJP MPs had the highest attendance
whereas Shiv Sena MPs recorded highest participation in discussions and
questions.
Election speeches,
manifestos, and promises become meaningless if Parliament is converted from a
place for deliberations on legislations, functioning of the executive, and
other important public matters into a place for protests and demands. Salaries
of members are hiked so fast and other allowances and perks are enormous and
conducting elections are so expensive that voters have a right to expect full
return for the money spent. Unfortunately, even voters are ready to tolerate
and watch unruly scenes inside Parliament as an interesting scene in a TV
serial.
Disciplinary action
against unruly members is not likely to work, as in most cases all members of a
party or even groups of parties join together under one leader. Increasing
constituency pressure and preoccupation of Lok Sabha members especially from
regional parties with regional/local problems are caused by closer interaction
of voters with their MPs in coalition governments formed with a number of
regional parties. The social base of MPs has been widened with the entry of
more and more regional parties, but there is a danger of our democracy getting
stuck with sectarian and territorial ties. This may cause regionalisation of
the national Parliament compelling the government to take to the Ordinance
route for vital legislations.
A suggestion to
suspend members entering the well of the House for one week and inflict loss of
sitting allowance for the period was mooted by the Lok Sabha Speaker Balayogi
and leaders of some parties in 2001. This Speaker even evicted some members at
times for rushing to the well and creating disruptions. But, as all parties
were in the habit of disturbing the proceedings, disciplinary rules do not
work.
Despite a good record
of legislative work, what lingers in our mind is the unruly scenes in
Parliament. This may lead to voter apathy -- the worst enemy of representative
system of democracy. –INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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