At 7:45 AM -0700 10/1/07, Dilip/Dil Deka wrote:
You missed the point. India being united has
little to do with behavior of MPs along party
lines to the point of being hooligans.
*** I must have! But that must be because I must
have had this bizarre idea that the world's
largest democracy's top lawmaking body's members
, purportedly representing that sea of humanity
united in their collective well-being, just might
be concerned about getting things done for
EVERYBODY's benefit, not merely go there to
safeguard the spoils for themselves.
Silly me!
Reform will come with education - including
educating the MPs on democracy and government.
**** Uh-huh! Dang, why didn't I think of it? But
if I read it correctly here, Indian education is
one of the best in the world, with its products
taking the world by a storm. What am I missing?
Maybe an Indian Institute of Democracy for
Aspiring MP's is in order. Admission strictly by
MERIT.
Grads can be exported to, improve western
democracies, or the latter can out-source their
govts. to India.
. Progress has been made in many areas but there is room for growth in others.
**** Indeed! My bad, being so impatient, ready to
destroy India on a minor technicality.
Unfortunately India does not proact but reacts.
**** Must be a learned response from that Ten thousand year old civilization.
On a side note, secession of Assam is definitely
not the salvation of the Assamese.
**** Could I dispute that? Just look at India's record, envy of the world!
**** O'Deka, you have got to stop leaving that
door ajar for my acerbic side to barge right in
like this :-).
O'm
"Wake up to reality Dilip. It is better late
than never." - I am indeed awake and that is why
I posted the article. But I do not believe that
India has reached the point of dissolution.
Progress has been made in many areas but
there is room for growth in others.
Unfortunately India does not proact but reacts.
On a side note, secession of Assam is definitely
not the salvation of the Assamese.
Good morning to you,
Dilip
Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
But, but---India is UNITED, isn't it? What seems to be the problem?
>Clearly, it is time to give serious thought to
rectifying the flaws in our system and urgent
overhauling.
**** NOOOOO! :-)
Wake up to reality Dilip. It is better late than never.
At 7:09 AM -0700 10/1/07, Dilip/Dil Deka wrote:
I doubt whether some of the MPs are familiar
with the constitution or are even aware that
the government consists of three branches. Do
the freshman MPs at least get some orientation
in the first few weeks to understand the
process of government?
Probably some such training will help remove the
stalemate. It is very hard to remove
partisanship but it is possible to remove some
of the hardness due to partisanship. There are
issues where the nation comes above party
politics and the debaters need to be aware of
these. The parliamentarians of the past that the
writer extols had this calber and the debates
were meaningful.
Also I have a question - the "Parliament" is
called "Lok Sabha" today. What are the "Members
of Parliament" called in Hindi, other than MP?
Dilip
FROM THE ASSAM TRIBUNE:
EDITORIAL
Parliament withering away
Poonam I Kaushish
We have been through all this before. Year after
year. Of how Indias Parliament is increasing
being devalued. Crores of tax payers hard earned
money being swept aside by the verbal torrent of
puerile discourse that leads to walkouts, even
near fisticuffs. Wherein the very protectors of
this high temple of democracy have become its
denigrators and destroyers.
Of how in their collective wisdom our MPs have
been spewing sheer contempt on Parliament,
wittingly or unwittingly. Reducing it into an
akhara, where politically motivated bashing has
become the order of the day and agenda a luxury
to be taken up when lung power is exhausted.
Epitomising a cesspool of every thing that has
gone wrong with India today! Testimony to this
sharp decline was this years shortest ever
monsoon session of barely 17 days with the
longest daily adjournments and hardly any work,
a mere 64 hours.
Shockingly, the session, originally scheduled
from 10 August till 14 September, was hurriedly
cut short and adjourned sine die four days
earlier. No, not because of lack of agenda or
legislative business. But due to the proceedings
being disrupted in both Houses on a daily basis
thanks to the stand-off between the Opposition
and the Treasury benches on the Indo-US nuclear
deal. The former demanding a JPC on the
contentious subject and the latter adamantly
declining.
With the result that Parliament further lost
credibility and prestige. Leading a much
anguished Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee
to State in his concluding remarks: It is
extremely disturbing that the highest public
forum in the country has come to a standstill
which has raised questions about the utility of
our system of Parliamentary democracy and about
its future. Raising a moot point: Is Parliament
becoming irrelevant?
That we are slowly but surely heading towards
disaster is obvious. What troubles one is the
new dimension to this age-old malaise. That it
does not strike a chord among our MPs. Who
largely continue to drift along smugly without
thinking of what they have done to Parliament.
Of how they have mauled it and continue to do
so. Most distressing is that there is no sense
of outrage or shame.
The legislative business transacted during the
session illustrates how powerless parliament
has become in stemming the mounting rot. Lets
start with the Question Hour, the hyphen which
links Parliament to Government and ensures
ministerial accountability. Distressingly out of
the 380 starred questions listed, only 35 could
be answered. Thus, on an average about 2.05
question were answered per day. Why? The MPs
were too busy rushing into the well of the
House, raising slogans and preventing
transaction of any business.
Mindlessly, ignoring the fact that the hour,
treated as sacrosanct in the House of Commons,
belong to the private members and empowers them
to push the Government and even its Prime
Minister into the dock. Any member can ask any
question within the framework of the rules.
This, according to constitutional experts, is
what makes the Westminster model of
Parliamentary democracy superior to all other
systems. The crucial Question Hour consequently
got guillotined time and again,
notwithstanding the midnight oil burnt by
various ministries preparing for the answers.
Not only that. Incredibly, four Bills were
passed by the House without any discussion
whatsoever due to continuous interruptions. No
one cared that the bills failed to meet the
conventional parliamentary requirement of three
readings. The first reading is done when the
Minister moves for the bills consideration and
explains its philosophy and its broad
parameters. Thereafter, the bill is closely
thrashed out clause by clause in the second
reading. The third and final reading is done
when all the clauses and schedules, if any, have
been considered and voted by the House and the
Minister moves that the Bill be passed.
Veterans recall Nehrus time when battles royal
were fought during the second reading even over
the placement of a comma! Surprised?
Constitutionally and legally, the placing of a
comma could make all the difference to the
meaning of a clause. Lamented a Lok Sabha MP, I
worked long and hard preparing for speaking on
one of the scheduled bills. All my effort is
wasted. If one were to divide 64 hours by 17
sitting, only three-and-half days of concrete
work have been transacted.
As matters stand, Parliament has already been
reduced to a farce. It has become an annual
ritual to guillotine the demands for grants of
various ministries totalling thousands of crores
of rupees. What is more, the Treasury Benches
are now increasingly using its brute majority to
rubber stamp various policies trumpeted through
ministerial fiats and ordinances. Remember,
Parliaments greatest strength and utility lies
in its control over the Treasury. This has been
systematically eroded. Bringing things to such a
pass that a party in power today has no qualms
in pushing ahead with populist pronouncements at
the drop of a hat. Even when that goes against
all parliamentary norms.
Parliaments all-round decline is today easily
Delhis best known secret. Everyone talks about
it. Not a few lament over it. Be it the quality
of leadership, brand of MPs, parliamentary
standards and debating skills. Worse, everyone
also knows the raison de atre of this sorry
state of affairs: the all-pervasive
corrupt-criminal nexus and the all-enveloping
caste-creed and vote-bank paradigm. Nothing
more, nothing less. Yet all willy nilly abet it.
Ironically, even as Parliament withered, it was
a win-win session for our MPs. Who earned hefty
salaries, perks and innumerable freebies
including free lunches in the historic Central
Hall, Indias most exclusive club, for shouting
and playing truant. Normally, they should have
been held accountable for their actions, as
during the Nehru era. But no one seems to care
anymore beyond shedding crocodile tears and
indulging in boring rhetoric, as witnessed once
more when the President presented Best
Parliamentary awards to Sharad Pawar, Sushma
Swaraj, P Chidambaram and Mani Shankar Aiyar.
Parliamentary democracy can succeed only when
the rules of the game are followed honestly.
Constitutional and other steps therefore, need
to be taken soonest to restore to our Parliament
its functional glory as originally conceived.
Bemoaned a senior CPI leader, Parliament is
being reduced to nothing. MPs are not doing
their work but prefer to take allowances... the
largest democracy is not functioning. This must
be set right!
The monsoon session has sharply posed a bigger
question mark than ever before over the future
of Indias parliamentary democracy. The issue is
not just of our MPs making ones presence felt by
muscle-flexing in the House of the People and in
the Council of States or even intolerance of
anothers point of view. It is about upholding
the highest standards of morality, credibility
and dignity of Parliament. The MPs are servants
of the people, not their masters.
If Parliament is to function and regain its lost
lustre among the people, the Government and the
Opposition have to bury the hatchet of distrust.
The Treasury and the Opposition benches are two
sides of the democratic coin and must ensure
orderly debate, discussion and functioning.
Basically, the Opposition must have its say,
even as the Government has its way. Else, it
will lose its credibility and prestige. Worse,
become redundant and irrelevant.
Clearly, it is time to give serious thought to
rectifying the flaws in our system and urgent
overhauling. If necessary, rules should be
drastically changed to put Parliament back on
the rails. Indira Gandhi once wisely said:
Parliament is a bulwark of democracy. It has
also a very heavy task of keeping an image that
will gain it the faith and respect of the
people. Because, if that is lost, then I dont
know what could happen later. Time to heed her
words and stop the drift towards disaster. INFA
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