{"id":126750,"date":"2021-08-17T19:29:04","date_gmt":"2021-08-17T13:59:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=126750"},"modified":"2021-08-17T19:49:42","modified_gmt":"2021-08-17T14:19:42","slug":"powerless-mps-mlas-lawmakers-dont-question-laws-in-part-because-anti-defection-rules-snuff-out-all-dissent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/powerless-mps-mlas-lawmakers-dont-question-laws-in-part-because-anti-defection-rules-snuff-out-all-dissent\/","title":{"rendered":"Powerless MPs, MLAs: Lawmakers don\u2019t question laws in part because anti-defection rules snuff out all dissent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/blogs\/toi-editorials\/powerless-mps-mlas-lawmakers-dont-question-laws-in-part-because-anti-defection-rules-snuff-out-all-dissent\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TOI<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Relevance:<\/strong> This article discusses the disruptive functioning and degrading quality of the Parliament.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis: <\/strong>Anti-defection rule was passed with the right intent of checking dissent. However, it is now choking the freedom of speech and expression in Parliament.<\/p>\n<h5><strong>Functioning of Parliament: <\/strong><\/h5>\n<p>Laws badly drafted by bureaucrats escape lawmakers\u2019 scrutiny. <strong>Rush job legislations<\/strong> are becoming a <strong>problem to the judiciary<\/strong> also as bills are not properly discussed by legislators or properly scrutinized by the house committees. There are also <strong>frequent disruptions<\/strong> in the functioning of the house.<\/p>\n<p>For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>During 1st Lok Sabha (LS), there was an average of 135 sittings a year, while 16<sup>th<\/sup> LS has averaged 66 sittings.<\/li>\n<li>This problem is even bigger for State Legislative Assemblies.\n<ul>\n<li>According to PRS Legislative Research, UP, Bengal, Kolkata annually-averaged 24, 40, 53 assembly sittings and 100, 122 and 306 functional hours between 2017 and 2019 respectively<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The more worrying thing is that<strong> state assemblies pass hugely consequential laws<\/strong>, for example, on inter-faith marriage that is subject to no legislative interrogation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 100%;\"><strong>Read more<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/functioning-of-parliament-challenges-and-way-forward\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Functioning of Parliament: Challenges and way forward &#8211; Explained, pointwise<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h5><strong>Reasons behind lack of discussion<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p>The <strong>root cause<\/strong> of this problem is the <strong>1985 Anti- defection law<\/strong> that obliges MP\/MLA\u2019s to obey the party whip. Governing party MPs and MLAs cannot question bills drafted by the executive, even if they want to.<\/p>\n<p>This practice is very much different from the legislative functioning in the UK &amp; the US. There, individual legislators have the discretion to dissent over the bills, policies of their party leadership &amp; even can force change them. They played a meaningful role in contrast to India where the legislator\u2019s role is reduced to a yes or no.<\/p>\n<h5><strong>Way Forward<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p>Dissent and defection are not the same. Adequate space should be provided for dissent in the parliament.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Terms to know<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/karnataka-crisis-whats-a-whip-and-what-does-it-do\/\"><strong>Whip<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/problems-associated-with-anti-defection-law\/\">Anti Defection Law<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source:\u00a0TOI \u00a0Relevance: This article discusses the disruptive functioning and degrading quality of the Parliament. Synopsis: Anti-defection rule was passed with the right intent of checking dissent. However, it is now choking the freedom of speech and expression in Parliament. Functioning of Parliament: Laws badly drafted by bureaucrats escape lawmakers\u2019 scrutiny. Rush job legislations are becoming&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/powerless-mps-mlas-lawmakers-dont-question-laws-in-part-because-anti-defection-rules-snuff-out-all-dissent\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Powerless MPs, MLAs: Lawmakers don\u2019t question laws in part because anti-defection rules snuff out all dissent<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5480,"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":[9106,9011,212,8679],"class_list":["post-126750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-anti-defection-laws","tag-electoral-issues","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-parliament-and-state-legislatures","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704620492},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126750","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\/5480"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126750\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}