The Indian Parliament: Performance and Challenges

  • Central legislative body.
  • Affects all aspects of lives of citizens.
  • Helps in managing internal tension.
  • Has led down many social reforms and economic progress.
  • Four main roles:
    • It makes laws
    • It holds the executive to account for its actions
    • It allocates government finances.
    • Represents the interests and aspirations of citizens
  • One third of the scheduled time was lost to disruptions.
  • The lost time due to disruptions is often managed through the lunch hour.
  • The time lost in Question Hour is never made up as a result only a few questions listed for oral answers are actually answered on the floor, and the rest get a written reply.
  • The Parliament rarely discusses any bill at the first or third reading.
  • During the period of the 15th Lok Sabha, one third of the scheduled time was lost to disruptions.
  • Most of the bills are not discussed at the consideration stage either.
Bills Discussed in Lok Sabha

Areas of Reform

  • Need of structural issues to be addressed to improve the effectiveness of Parliament.
  • These include the repeal of the anti-defection law, recording all votes on bills and major debates, referring all bills to committees and strengthening the support system for committees.

The Ant-Defection Law

  • Through the 52nd amendment, the 10th Schedule of the Constitution was added in 1985.
  • It provides for the disqualification of an MP if he defects from his party or if he does not vote in accordance with the whip issued by his party.
  • Any member who disobeys the party command would lose his seat and there would be by-elections.
  • This law has weakened the role of Parliament as a body that scrutinizes legislative proposals and that oversees the functioning of the executive.
  • This law reduces the role of the member to follow the instructions given by the party leader.
  • In our representative system, every Member of Parliament is elected by citizens from a constituency.
  • In our Parliament, most Bills and motions are passed by voice votes:
  • The Speaker asks the members supporting a motion to say “aye” .
  • Those opposing to say “no” , and then the chair judges which side has more voices i.e.. the voters cannot question their MPs on their voting behaviour.
  • The member is accountable to his constituents for his actions, and the periodic electoral process helps maintain this accountability.
  • The votes of individual members are recorded called a division only if any MP demands so.
  • As per Ambedkar:
    • Presidential form of govt. provides greater stability while the later provided parliamentary form provided more accountability.
    • Accountability was done on a daily basis through questions, resolutions, no-confidence motions, adjournment motions and debates on addresses.
    • The key role of every member of the Parliament is to exercise their judgment, deliberate on issues, ask questions of the Government, and hold the Government to account.

Committee System

  • Parliament has constituted several committees.
  • Each committee is having 20 - 35 members, to scrutinize various issues and make recommendations to the full House.

Financial Committees

  • The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) examines the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the working of various Ministries.
  • The PAC also considers the responses of the officials, and makes its recommendations.
  • It helps ensure post-facto scrutiny of use of public funds.
  • The Committee on Public Undertakings (CoPU) performs a similar role with respect to public sector enterprises.
  • The Estimates Committee looks at whether funds were allocated efficiently for various priorities.
  • The PAC is chaired by a senior member of the opposition.

Departmentally Related Standing Committees

  • The Parliament has constituted 24 such committees.
  • Each of the committees examines the functioning of a set of Ministries and departments.
  • These committees examine bills that are referred to them, demand for grants of the departments, and various subjects that fall within the jurisdiction of the respective ministry. For example, the committee on home affairs may examine the working of CRPF.
  • The reports of the committees are tabled in the House.
  • The Government also responds to its recommendation and the final report is prepared.
  • The decision is made by the Speaker of Lok Sabha or Chairman of Rajya Sabha in consultation with the Government.

Committee on Subordinate Legislation

  • The Parliament often delegates details to be laid out by the Government through rules or statutory bodies through regulations whenever it passes a bill into an act. For example, the RBI Act allows RBI to determine the statutory liquidity ratio subject to a maximum level.
  • The committee on subordinate legislation examines rules and regulations to ensure that they follow the legislative intent in letter and spirit.

Effectiveness of the Parliament Can Be Improved

  • By revocation of the anti-defection law.
  • Making revocation of the anti-defection law.
  • Strengthening the committee system.

Examrace Team at Aug 20, 2021