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News: Parliament’s productivity was around 129% for the Lok Sabha in the last session in 2022. However, under the garb of enhanced productivity, a tradition of intense debate over bills has been lost.
What are the features of a parliamentary democracy?
In a parliamentary democracy, all the proposals or legislations must be put to deliberations and discussions. For example, India’s constituent assembly debates to frame the Constitution went on for 166 days.
In a parliamentary democracy, the MPs are allowed to take initiative. For example, private member bills.
What is the situation wrt parliamentary debates in India?
In the 2021 Session (particularly Monsoon Session), the Lok Sabha cleared over 18 bills. Around 34 minutes were taken for discussion on each bill. For example, the Farm Laws Repeal Bill (2021) was passed in just eight minutes (three minutes in the Lok Sabha, five minutes in the Rajya Sabha).
In fact, not even a single bill was referred to a parliamentary committee in the last few sessions of the parliament.
The voice vote has become a norm. As a result, the MPs have rarely mustered in the House to record votes.
MPs rarely have adequate resources to conduct in-depth research. In India, MPs gets an allowance of Rs 40,000 per month to hire a legislative assistant
In India, long-term development plans are simply not subject to parliamentary scrutiny, with just annual outlays approved.
In India, MPs do not have freedom to take initiative. For example, In the UK, seven private member bills have been passed since 2019, and In Canada, six private member bills have been passed.
However, In India just 14 private member bills have been passed by both Houses since 1952. For example, the Parliamentary Proceedings (Protection of Publication) Act (1956) was a private member bill. In India, MPs have the limited ability to drive change in their constituencies.
India has institutional mechanisms to stifle debate and to limit initiative by MPs. For example, the anti-defection law punishes any errant MP or MLA. This law has disincentivise MPs. They go by the direction of the whip.
What steps should be taken?
India can adopt the Philippines model for India’s MPLAD programme. The Philippine’s Priority Development Assistance Fund provides funds to senators for small-scale infrastructure and community projects. Its usher’s constituency-specific development.
The anti-defection law has not served its purpose. It should simply be scrapped. If not, MPs will not be lawmakers who ideate and debate.
In comparison to other democracies like the US and the UK (92000 people), Indian MPs represent a large number of representatives i.e., over 25 lakh citizens. This number is larger than the population of countries like Botswana, Bhutan etc.
The time of parliamentary proceedings should be set aside separately for debates and discussion on legislation. It will improve the quality of legislation and improve consensus.
To revive deliberation, the government should raise funding for parliamentary research. The average allowance given to the MP for a legislative assistant in the UK is very high as compared to India.
In the future, after 2026, there is the possibility that the number of MPs in the Lok Sabha may increase up to 1,000 seats.
In Westminster, the British prime minister is required to answer questions from MPs in the House of Commons every Wednesday, from 12 pm to 12:30 pm. This was done even during Covid-19 induced lockdowns.
The accountability can be ensured through the parliamentary committees. For example, in the US, Senate and House Committees scrutinise laws, confirm government appointments, conduct investigations, and hold hearings.
In the UK, in 2013, the House of Commons allowed public to add comments to draft legislation via a web portal
It should be made compulsory to refer all bills to a select committee or Department Related Standing Committees (DRSCs) for scrutiny. For example, it is a compulsory phenomenon in New Zealand.
Ideally, we should set up mechanisms to enable private member bills to gain a hearing and even to be put to vote.
Source: The post is based on an article “Why is there no debate in Parliament?” published in the Indian Express on 20th April 2022.
