Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan raised concerns on Parliament logjams saying “people are losing faith in democratic institutions like Parliament owing to logjams.”
Inaugurating a 78th edition of all India Presiding Officers’ conference in Gandhinagar, Ms. Mahajan stressed on improving the quality of debate in the House and also transacting legislating business without disrupting the proceedings.
“A notion has gained ground that no work is done in Parliament despite spending huge amount of public money. Such negative belief shows that the public is losing faith in us,” she said addressing over 350 delegates including 34 Speakers and Deputy Speakers attending the three-day conference.
“When terrorists attacked Parliament, our security guards gave supreme sacrifice and prevented them from entering the House. On this, someone sarcastically commented, ‘how come not a single MP was killed in such a massive attack’.”
“…I believe that we have to work hard to ensure that legislature functions and people don’t lose trust in us,” she said.
The main topics for discussion of this year’s conference includes “changing public perception on legislatures,” “the role of legislators in strengthening public faith in democratic institutions” and “measures to be taken to ensure attendance of members during sittings.”
Exhorting the presiding officers to play active role in promoting dialogue between the members of different parties, she said: “Speaker sits above all others in the House. It is upon us how we use our powers. A Speaker can do many things. We should see that discussions do not go in wrong direction. We should not just give orders but also ensure that dialogue takes place in the House.”
She also rued the fact that number of sessions as well as attendance of the members is less than expected in many States and that need to change.
She praised the Bihar and Karnataka Assemblies for meeting over 60 days a year.
“It is expected that State Assemblies meet for at least 60 days in a year if not the ideal figure of 90 days. But, several Assemblies meet for very less days but there are exceptions like Bihar, where Assembly met for an impressive 75 days in 2014, while Karnataka Assembly met for 68 days in that year.”
Without naming any State, she said “in some states, Assembly meets only for 30 to 40 days a year.”
