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Parliamentary Session Gets Washed Out

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April 09, 2018

What is the issue?

  • The Budget session of the parliament has highlighted the serious challenge that the Indian democracy is currently facing.
  • Significantly, even a “No-Confidence Motion” couldn’t be taken up.

What were the outcomes of the Budget session?

  • Both houses of the parliament closed on April 6th, with very little business transacted in the entire session that saw vociferous protests.
  • Productivity was less than 10% of the total time, with about 120 hours being lost due to disruptions and just 5 of the 419 starred questions being taken up.
  • Among the long list of pending Bills, “Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2017”, was the only one passed by both houses.
  • While it was just that one bill for the Rajya Sabha, Lok sabha passed three other budget related bills - Financial Bill 2018, and two appropriation bills.
  • These were money bills that only needed Lok Sabha approval and sailed through only because the BJP alliance has the numbers in the lower house. 
  • Notably, the budget was guillotined early (citing protests), which left little scope for substantive debate (in violation of established norms). 

What are the larger implications?

  • Beyond mere numbers, the quality of interactions that took place is what has damaged India’s democracy more than anything else.
  • Glaringly, the Lok Sabha Speaker failed to take up a “No-Confidence Motion” (NCM) citing protests, which is a shocking precedent like never before.
  • She could’ve used her powers to suspend unruly MPs (mostly AIADMK members) to ensure that the all important NCM is taken up. 
  • But her intentional inaction has raised doubts on the tacit government support for the AIADMK MPs to sabotage the proceedings to suppress the NCM. 
  • While Modi government’s majority is not in doubt, a future government might use the same route to cling on to power, which is dangerous for the democracy.

How does the future look?

  • Some ruling party MPs have proposed to forgo their salaries as gesture of regret for the session’s washout - which is noble but misleading.
  • Notably, while the ruling coalition has conveniently blamed the opposition for the crisis, government too has played an important role in the stand-off. 
  • A special session before the monsoon session to finish pending business has been mooted, but uncertainty over further sabotage remains.  
  • The parliamentary system’s fairness has taken a server beating and is need of a strong revival for safeguarding the vibrancy of our democracy.

 

Source: The Hindu

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