Issue 57 Vol III, February 15, 2008

E D I T O R I A L

Wilted parliamentary democracy

DURING the months of February and March, it is obligatory for the assemblies of different states in India to meet and debate budgets. Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, the two wings of the Indian parliament also meet to debate and pass annual budgets. These budgets along with annual development plans are important as these have an impact on the lives of millions of people at various levels. These sessions of the parliament or state assemblies provide a chance for our MLAs and MPs to debate and decide the issues about governance, poverty alleviation or agriculture and industrial development.

But what happens in most of the assemblies and parliament is less and less of debate and more and more bedlam. At times, some rowdy members of parliament or state legislatures, hurl abuses at each other break furniture and even physically assault each other. Serious issues are thrown into dustbins and what the people, who elect these worthy members of parliament or assemblies at huge cost to the country, are left to guess whether there is any use of these assemblies and parliament. Those who indulge in rowdy behaviour and cause pandemonium, only waste public money that runs into crores of rupees and are a shame on democracy and should have no place in these temples of democracy. Tragically more and more of these ruffians and some of them known criminals adore our parliament and state assemblies.

Recently Vice-President Hamid Ansari offered sane advice. He wanted the legislators to reflect carefully on the erosion of parliamentary credibility. Whether this advice will be heeded is anybody’s guess, considering the sad track record and the habitual disregard of many previous suggestions and warnings. The Lok Sabha Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee had been pleading for the past some years. Parliamentary connotes civility but rudeness has become the norm and every moment is seized to disrupt any meaningful discourse. Sensible and informed debate is not the area of these worthy members who come begging for votes during elections. In fact, increasingly the elections with money and muscle power are turning into a farce. Repeated attempts to bring some sense into the working of these houses of parliament or assemblies have been of little help. Some members were caught on camera accepting bribes for asking questions or helping some government contacts. We all remember that sad spectacle.

Judging from the hours lost since the 14th Lok Sabha was constituted between June 2004 and December 2007, the lower house lost a total of 370 hours on account of interruptions and adjournments. During one-month-long monsoon session of 2007, it forfeited 42 hours; and in just 17 days this winter session, it lost 20 hours.  Ansari, who is the chairman  of the Rajya Sabha, has suggested increasing the number of sittings from the current 81 days to 130 days in a year and sitting extra hours to compensate for time lost to disruptions. This is a sensible idea. It should be accepted forthwith. Lok Sabha speaker had made similar suggestions. His idea of Lok Sabha television channel on the air is doing a good job and might help to tame the waywardness of these members as people would be watching them in parliament. State assemblies should also go live on television.

The British and Canadian Parliaments are a lot more industrious, working more for than 140 days annually. The typical Indian legislator’s penchant for bedlam has left fewer and fewer hours for any serious business of debating and enacting legislation. How many bills keep knocking the doors of the parliament and assemblies? But there is little time left after shouts, slogans and bedlam. And, when these bills are pushed to the debate level, either these are not debated and still passed or at times they go to committees or just kept pending. Any study would reveal a huge wastage of time and money and the apathy has hit hard the credibility of our democracy. It is more and more becoming a sham.

People in Punjab can easily recall what has been happening in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha. Two ministers, Master Jagir Singh and Maninderjit Singh Bitta in the Beant Singh government had one time rushed to the opposition benches and physically assaulted the MLAs. This assembly had brute majority of the Congress that had come to power through dubious means in 1992. There was no action against these two leaders. We wonder how the Punjab government spends over a crore of rupees every year on the security and transport of Mr. Bitta. What good he has done to Punjab and its people.

This is not an isolated incident. Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and many other assemblies have witnessed repeated bedlams. Perhaps, Himachal and Kerala could be two major exceptions.

Consider this evidence; between 1952-61 and 1992-2001, the number of Bills adopted by the Indian parliament annually declined by 18 percentage points, from 68 to 49.9. It is indeed a paradox of democratic India that people want a genuine democracy with intelligent and civilized members to represent them, yet it is the very behaviour of these worthy representatives which is now causing complete frustration.

Unlike in the West, where the prosperous and the educated tend to vote in greater numbers, in India the poor and the underprivileged feel empowered by the act of voting. It is their day of celebration when they come out to vote.  However, sadly that day their participation in the democratic process is also over. Regrettably, as surveys have shown, this engagement does not extend to the bulk of MPs and MLAs. Should this disengagement persist, it will not be long before democracy itself is questioned by common folks.  Are these MPs and MLAs not cutting the branches of the trees on which they sit and enjoy all kinds of privileges.

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