New York Times (May 14, 2012)
May 14, 2012, 4:37 AM
As India’s Parliament Turns Sixty, Politicians Celebrate Democracy
By HARI KUMAR
The Lok Sabha Web site
A screenshot of an archival photograph of the Parliament house under
construction in New Delhi.
The Indian Parliament celebrated its 60th anniversary on Sunday, with a
daylong special session that included addresses by the prime minister
and president of the country.
During the special session, which ran more than five hours, speaker
after speaker narrated the achievements of and challenges to Indian
democracy.
The major achievements they listed included the strengthening of
democratic roots in India despite its diversities, the representation
of lower and so-called “backward” castes in Parliament, the emergence
of India as major world power and the country’s improved health,
literacy and per capita income. Challenges included the large number of
people left below the poverty line and the lack of basic amenities in
some areas.
Speaking to the Upper House of Parliament, Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh said “There is no doubt that one reason for our growing global
stature in the world is our unflinching commitment to pursuing a
democratic path to achieving our social and economic salvation.”
He also talked about increasing disruptions and adjournments that have
roiled recent sessions of Parliament, saying that politicians should
“not reflect with concern on the repeated disruptions of proceedings
and a regrettable unwillingness, on occasion, to engage in informed
discussion.”
The leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha, the lower house of
Parliament, Sushma Swaraj, lauded India for allowing democracy to take
strong roots while neighboring countries did not. “In India the change
of government has always taken place through ballot and never by
bullet,” she said.
Lalu Prasad Yadav, the president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal party and
former railroad minister, said “I belong to the cattle herders
community. I could not have been standing and speaking in this house
but for democracy.”
PRS Legislative Research, an independent legislative research
organization, took a hard look at how India’s Parliament actually works
in honor of the anniversary. Parliament gets a lot less done in modern
times than it did when it first started, the group found.
The first Lok Sabha passed 72 bills a year. In this current session of
the Lok Sabha, its 15th, this number has come down to 40 bills a year.
The Lok Sabha, on average, met 127 days in the 1950s but only 73 days
in 2011.
Representation of women has increased somewhat. In the first Lok Sabha,
only five percent of the members were women. In the most recent
session, 11 percent were women.
The age of members of Parliament has also changed. In 1952, 26 percent
of all members were below 40 years old. In the current Lok Sabha only
14 percent are below 40. There were no members above 70 years of age in
the first Lok Sabha, but now seven percent of its members are older
than 70
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