{"id":123120,"date":"2021-08-03T20:50:43","date_gmt":"2021-08-03T15:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=123120"},"modified":"2021-08-11T14:15:27","modified_gmt":"2021-08-11T08:45:27","slug":"setting-new-house-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/setting-new-house-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Setting new house rules"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/opinion\/columns\/parliament-disruption-monsoon-session-opposition-protest-7435216\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Indian Express<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>Synopsis<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The legislative body\u2019s role must be strengthened and deepened so that disruption of proceedings ceases to be an option.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>Background<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Disruption is replacing discussion as the foundation of our legislative functioning. In this regard, the government is considering curtailing the monsoon session of Parliament.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All sessions since last year have been cut short. The first two were because of Covid, this year\u2019s budget session because of campaigning in state elections, and the ongoing session on account of disruptions.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Reasons behind disorderly conduct by MPs<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>First<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>dissatisfaction <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in MPs because of inadequate time for airing their grievances.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Second<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, an<\/span><b> unresponsive attitude <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of the government and the retaliatory posture of the treasury benches.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Third<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, political parties<\/span><b> not adhering to parliamentary norms <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and disciplining their members.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Lastly<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the absence of prompt action against disrupting MPs under the legislature\u2019s rules.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Steps to ensure disciplinary conduct:<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Lok Sabha has had a simple code of conduct for its MPs since 1952. Earlier, the rules required MPs not to interrupt the speech of others, maintain silence and not obstruct proceedings by hissing or by making commentaries during debates.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Newer forms of protest led to the updating of these rules in 1989. Accordingly, members should not shout slogans, display placards, tear away documents in protest, play cassettes or tape recorders in the House.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A new rule empowers the Lok Sabha Speaker to suspend MPs obstructing the Houses\u2019 business automatically.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, these rules are not duly implemented.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>Why are such steps not duly implemented<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">?<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>government exercises considerable control over the legislature<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It decides when Parliament should meet, for how long, and plays a significant role in determining what issues the House should discuss.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Successive governments have shied away from increasing the working days of Parliament. When a contentious issue crops up, the government dithers on debating it.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This induces <\/span><b>opposition <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">MPs to violate the conduct rules and disrupt the proceedings of Parliament. Since they have <\/span><b>the support of their parties<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in breaking the rules, the threat of suspension from the House does not deter them.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Suggestions<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The two suggestions of the 2001 All-party conference &#8211; enforcement of a code of conduct for MPs and MLAs and an increase in the sitting days of legislatures, should be duly implemented.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The conference deduced that Parliament should meet for <\/span><b>at least 110 days every year and larger state legislative assemblies for 90 days<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Further, opposition parties should have the opportunity to debate and highlight important issues. Currently, government business takes priority, and private members discuss their topics post-lunch on a Friday.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The country can <\/span><b>introduce the concept of opposition days, as done in the U.K and Canada.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the United Kingdom, where Parliament meets over 100 days a year, opposition parties get 20 days. On these days, they decide the agenda for discussion in Parliament.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Usually, decisions of the House passed on opposition days are not binding on the government and are an opportunity for the opposing parties to focus national attention on issues that it deems crucial.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: Indian Express\u00a0 Synopsis: The legislative body\u2019s role must be strengthened and deepened so that disruption of proceedings ceases to be an option. Background: Disruption is replacing discussion as the foundation of our legislative functioning. In this regard, the government is considering curtailing the monsoon session of Parliament.\u00a0 All sessions since last year have been&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/setting-new-house-rules\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Setting new house rules<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10322,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,8679,8680],"class_list":["post-123120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-parliament-and-state-legislatures","tag-parliamentary-proceedings","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704837771},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10322"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123120\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}