PARLIAMENTARY REFORMS

BACKGROUND:

• Parliament should be a space for policies and not for politics. But recently there is a growing concern regarding the declining quality of parliamentary debate, devaluation of parliamentary authority, deterioration in the conduct and quality of members and poor levels of participation

CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS – AN OVERVIEW:

• The parliamentary system in India is borrowed from the Government of India Act 1935.
• The Constitution of India provides for a parliamentary form of government, both at the Centre and in the States.
• Articles 74 and 75 deal with the parliamentary system of government at the Union level and Articles 163 and 164 contain provisions with regard to the States.

THE NEED FOR PARLIAMENTARY REFORMS:

• Low productivity: Number of days parliament is in session is decreasing. In 1960’s it was for an average of 120 days in a year and in 2016, it is only 70 days. In comparison, British House of Commons has met for an average of 150 days a year and US House of Representatives for 140 days.
• Lowering standards of Parliamentary scrutiny: Majority of the bills were passed by the Parliament through a voice vote, without much debating and without referring them to the parliamentary committees. For example, RTI Amendment Act (2019), UAPA Amendment Act (2019) - which have huge implications on civil liberties, were passed without referring them to the Parliamentary committee.
• Low female participation: While the global average for Women in Parliament stands at 22.4%, India is at the 103rd place out of 140 countries with a mere 12% representation
• Un-codified Parliamentary Privileges: In many cases Parliamentary Privileges are used in such a manner as to nullify themselves and become rights against the people.
• Falling standards of debate
• Lack of recognition to private members: Only 14 private member bills have been passed in entire history of Parliament
• Losing power of individual MPs: Instruments like anti defection law, whip issued by the political parties are acting as hindrances to free rein of individual MPs
• Ineffective use of Adjournment Motions: The Speaker in many cases act in favour of ruling party , in his ‘absolute discretion’, to refuse to give his consent to moving of an adjournment motion without giving any reasons.
• Deterioration in the conduct and quality of Members:
• Lack of research support: Most of the MPs have limited or no research support. So, expert advice is missing. Parliament’s Library and reference, research, documentation and information service (LARRDIS) is understaffed and no funds are allocated for parliamentarians to hire necessary research support.
• Parliamentary Privileges used to curb press freedom:  Parliamentary privileges under Article 105, are sometimes used to curb freedom of the press through Strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP). For example Karnataka Assembly recently passed a resolution to arrest journalists for criticising MLAs
• Membership of Parliament had emerged as a whole-time, highly lucrative, hereditary profession
• Higher expenditure: Financial costs of parliamentary democracy have been skyrocketing. During the last five decades they have gone up by over 100 times
• Our legislation has often been criticized for hasty drafting and for its being rushed through Parliament in an ad-hoc and haphazard manner

CHALLENGES  

• Criminalisation of politics stood as barrier in reforming the functioning of Parliament: According to a report released by National Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), chances of winning for a candidate with declared criminal cases in the Lok Sabha 2019 is 15.5 per cent whereas for a candidate with a clean background, it is 4.7 per cent. Out of the 539 winners analysed in Lok Sabha 2019, 233 MPs have declared criminal cases against themselves. This is an increase of 44 per cent in the number of MPs with declared criminal cases since 2009.
• Lack of proper voting record: Individual voting record of MPs remains unknown. With no voting record maintained of each MP, it is difficult to distinguish their individual progressive or conservative nature.
• Dominance of Archaic Laws: For example, the police is still governed by colonial-era statutes as the Police Act of 1861
• Role of the presiding officers has become increasingly politicized: In two recent cases, prior to dismissal of governments in Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh, the Speakers in both assemblies had helped ruling parties by using their powers to disqualify MLAs under the Tenth Schedule.
• Frequent elections: It lead to massive expenditure and policy paralysis due to imposition of the Model Code of Conduct during election time
• Unlike U.K., in India, the Constitution and the laws place no limits on the borrowing powers of the Executive. Parliamentary approval for any amount of internal or external borrowings as such is not required except that it is a part of the budget. This is a significant lacuna and must be plugged

NOTABLE REFORMS MADE:

• Electoral Bonds: In order to cleanse the system of political funding in the country Electoral Bonds Scheme was launched in 2017
• Removal of Archaic Laws: In accordance with Ramanujam committee (2014) recommendation, the Parliament in 2019 passed a bill to repeal 58 old central laws which the government said has been done to achieve maximum governance.
• NOTA (None of the Above) option in electronic voting machine: It was mandated by the Supreme Court of India in 2013 which enables the voter to officially register a vote of rejection for all candidates who are contesting.
• Passage of Anti-Defection Law to combat “the evil of political defections” by elected politicians for the lure of office.
• Measures to decriminalize Parliament:
  • Debarring a candidate from contesting elections if charges have been framed against him/her by a Court in respect of certain offences.
  • Candidates are required to furnish details of criminal cases pending against them
  • Candidates are required to provide true and correct statement of assets owned by them.
• As per Central Information Commission’s verdict of 2013; Political Parties are considered as ‘public authorities’ under the RTI Act. This makes them more accountable and hence improves the quality of legislators they send to Parliament
• State level initiatives: Odisha mandated a minimum of 60 days for the State Assembly to sit

SUGGESTIONS TO REFORM THE FUNCTIONING OF LEGISLATURE

• Prescribing a minimum number of days to meet: National Commission to review the working of the Constitution (NCRWC) recommended that it shall be 120 and 100 days respectively for Lok sabha and rajya Sabha.
• Strengthen the role of the opposition: In order to strengthen the role of the opposition, the institution of shadow cabinet can be formed in India
• Enactment of Women’s Reservation Bill: Reserving 33% of all seats in Parliament and State legislatures for women
• Reform in anti-defection law: The law should be applicable only during the passage of no confidence motion. In all other circumstances the individual MPs must be given freedom of expression and voting
  • The adjudicating power of speaker with respect to anti-defection law can be transferred to Election Commission of India
• Investing in Parliament’s intellectual capital: Additional budgetary support should be provided to LARRDIS while assisting MPs in employing research staff
• Creation of a ‘Parliamentary Budget Office’ (PBO), akin to the U.S. Congressional Budget Office: PBO should be an independent and impartial institution devoted to conducting a technical and objective analysis of any Bill
• Legislative Impact Assessment: A detailed framework for pre and post Legislative Impact Assessment was needed
• Codification of Parliamentary Privileges
• Parliamentary committee reforms: Measures for the effective functioning of Department Related Standing Committees like longer tenure (instead of the present one year), promoting specialization etc are needed.
• Hybrid system of voting: It is a mix of both first-past-the-post and proportional representation voting system.
  • It was recommended by the Law Commission in its 170th report which suggested that 25% or 136 more seats should be added to the Lok Sabha and be filled by proportional representation
  • This will lead to better representation of all sections of society.
• Curbing criminalization of politics: Government should make efforts to establish more number of fast track courts to try criminal politicians in a time-bound manner within the maximum period of a year.
• Political parties must ensure attendance of at least 50% of their legislators throughout the proceedings of the Houses by adopting a roster system
• Transparency and Accountability: Regular publication of reports by the Secretariats of Legislatures on the attendance of Members and their participation in debates.
• Bring simultaneous elections: Building consensus on the proposal of simultaneous polls to allow unrestricted governance.
• Building a better image of Parliament: Parliament is the communication link between the people and the government. Bad public relations job has resulted in a poor image of Parliament and of its members. Deliberate and concerted efforts are needed also at the professional level to rebuild Parliament's image as the supreme institution of the people.
• Planning legislation and improving its quality: There is need for a dynamic – not mechanical – approach to legislative engineering and systematic programming of laws which may be proposed for enactment over a period of time
• Setting up a Constitution Committee: Instead of the Constitution Amendments being presented to Parliament like ordinary pieces of legislation in the form of Bills, the device of a Constitution Committee of Parliament can be constituted.

CONCLUSION:

• Parliamentary reforms, political party reforms, electoral reforms, judicial reforms, etc., all have to be taken up together in an integrated approach as part of the overall review of the working of our Constitution. No single reform can provide a miracle cure and no reforms should be effected in a hurry

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Q. “Measures taken to reform the functioning of Parliament is far from achieving its desired goal” Comment.