As the Indian Parliament completes 60 years, it is time not for noisy celebration but for serious introspection. That India remained a parliamentary democracy while some of its South Asian neighbours went through military coups or violent upheavals can only be a small consolation to its people. Stability is of no great value in itself. After 60 years, the question to ask is whether the debates in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha have adequately reflected the will of the people, whether the law-making powers of Parliament have contributed to the creation of a freer, fairer and more just society. Evidently, the score-sheet shows mixed results on these counts. Meaningful debates over marathon sessions have been few and far between in the last six decades. In contrast, disruptions and slogan-shouting over any number of frivolous issues have been frequent. Too often, a boisterous few have held the whole of Parliament hostage. A case in point is the Women's Reservation Bill: over several years, a small section of the two Houses has been able to physically stall the bill, which on paper enjoys the support of the overwhelming majority of MPs. Forcing adjournment of the proceedings through high-decibel interventions and demonstrations is a common enough occurrence in the Lok Sabha as well as the Rajya Sabha. Not surprisingly, the impetus for progressive change in the last few decades has often come from the wider civil society with Parliament shown up as reactive and passive.
Also, after 60 years and 15 national general elections, India's Parliament is nowhere close to being truly representative. Thanks to seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and the political mobilisation of the backward classes on the basis of reservation benefits, members are now drawn from different social strata. But women and Muslims are under-represented, and the rich continue to dominate India's law-making bodies. With the cost of fighting elections spiralling, businessmen, the landed gentry and highly-paid professionals are entering Parliament in increasing numbers, alongside leaders of trade unions. This, no doubt, skews the debates too. Since the adoption of the Constitution, India has moved decisively towards a multi-party system, with laws such as the one to prevent defection restricting inner-party dissent even while curbing horse-trading. Thus, power is still concentrated in the hands of a few, with the role of the public limited to voting in governments every five years or so. India's people need to be an active part of the political process before they can be the agents of change, and the masters of their own destiny. Six decades on, the task of shaping a truly representative Parliament must be taken up in earnest.
Ahead of reservations and all such unnecessary things the members need to be elected based on their education status and mentality to take India to a truely developed country instead of being always a developing country.
We are led by the luminous persons than us. The parliament should be represented eminent,and luminous and visionary personnels.No criminal,no robbers,no bribers,no bandit,no irate,no one who try and wish to spat people,no traitor,no sybarite should be allowed to represent the people in our parliament.
Still there is something on which we have to work, i think just selecting people and sending people as our representative is not enough , we need to raise our points on bills too that this thing we want to implement or this shouldn't be implemented.
There shouldn't be an iota of doubt that the debates in our parliament have not adequately reflected the will of the people, and the law-making powers of Parliament have not contributed to the creation of a freer, fairer and more just society. As was rightly pointed out by the editorial "power is still concentrated in the hands of a few, with the role of the public limited to voting in governments every five years or so". To change this situation, the civil society must press for electoral reforms. Powers such as a provision to recall erring MPs must be with the public.
We could do a few things to curb the sorry trend of the last 60 years: 1) More distribution of power: More power must be devolved to local councils, panchayats, municipalities etc. with right to levy and use the collected taxes. The local councils ought to be able to determine what tax rates they choose to levy, with less than a fifth of overall taxes going to Delhi. This will provide money at local level for local projects. 2) Limiting officials to two terms and placing an age restriction of 60 for office-bearers will also help root out the present problems to a large extent. The above aren't easy to implement but the voters could simply do their bit by refusing to vote in politicians who have been serving for a long while or are incompetent.
I really feel that inadequate representation of relatively backward classes is due to the Electoral Process of India. Although, constitution bestows us with the right to contend elections,it is practically impossible for a poor man to come forward to fight election even if he has immense leadership qualities and great ideas. To fight elections, a huge amount of money is needed and hence poor man is knocked out. Even today, rich people control the government by exercising their power of wealth.so, we can say that today we live in some kind of society that is controlled by capitalists.
Parliamentary debates more often than not appear an effort to establish the supremacy of insanity over imprudence. When somebody opens their lips they do so not to express but to rebut. In the house politicians while addressing each other though use adjectives like "My Learned Friend, "My good friend" but the tone they use spew their intentions. Every day they call each other's name saying they are calling a spade a spade. I am afraid what message the world gets when scenes of our parliamentarian tearing apart copies of proposed bills and throwing chairs towards each other is telecast. 60 years on I was expecting some laws being passed to civilize the behavior of parliamentarians and direct them to let our parliament be what we expect to be. But who would like axing the branch one is sitting on.
A sad moments in democracy when MPs fights for cartoon at the cost of important legislation awiating. When question of their salary and perks comes for consideration all of them happily agree but when distributing rotten grains due to failure of storage comes they keep mum. In sixty years our parliamentarians could not agree on one fundamental question that they are representative of people and not masters. They are behaving like masters. They have transformed themselves in a ruling elite not bothered for common man. Else do one thing and see its effect. Ask the parliament that you are allowed all disruptions and all kind of discussions but parliament can not go sine die till all the matter before it is cleared- pass it or reject it. Had this been the case Anti-Corruption bill or such other important bills have been passed easily. Why a time limited session ? Why not task limited session? When our country is asking individual to perform or perish why a different yardstick for them?
Still Indian democracy is not away from dynastic or cast centric politics. In Independent India congress ruled government controlled by Nehru-Indira-Rajiv to Sonia Gandhi. We need independent decision making leader's government like Morarji Desai and like Narendra Modi in Gujarat to show that anyone can become PM without having the background of political family and run by parties. When we come to such situation then only we can proud to celebrate and claim that true democracy. Under democracy everyone listens to high command and act according to that direction and policies prepared in their offices and approved in parliament houses. Because of reservation accommodated various kind and set of people represent to the parliament or else only loyal to first family of parties get into parliament and abide to their directions. True democracy to elected representative had independence in making and taking decision on various issues in accordance to his/her expertise, exposure, knowledge and
If India survived as a democracy for the past 6 decades excepting the interregnum when the emergency was imposed in 1975, some of the credit must go to the armed forces who steadfastly remained apolitical in spite of really poor governance.
We can claim to be the world's largest democracy but we are far away from becoming a democracy in the true sense of the term. The fact is that we elect a dictatorship, which on the basis of a majority in the Parliament, runs it with Stalinist ruthlessness.
The one who has any disregard to the Parliamentary democracy, I would
like to ask what better alternative he/she can provide. The recent
article "Three Cheers to Parliament" has demonstrated how Parliament
has helped our citizen for all round growth and development by passing
some unprecedented bills which are demonstrated in day to day life.
Indian Parliament commands tremendous respect and salutations.
Your apprehension is correct.If the present trend of the trooping in of the rich and the powerful into the Parliament continues,and there is provision for that like induction of members into Rajya Sabha,it would pave the way for the demise of democracy in our country.The latter would turn into a plutocracy,technocracy or autocracy.What we expect to occur in the Parliament is dedicated debates not howls of derision;deliberations not squabbles;euphony not cacophony;arguments and not assaults.The advisability of two-party system in place of the present multi-party system shall be explored .This would restrain the rampant malaise of cross-flooring and fresh party forming at the drop of a hat.It would also rein in the horse-trading that erodes the democratic values. Introduction of a crash course on the fundamentals of Parliamentary behaviour and proccedings would immensely benefit the greenhorns who enter the"Hallowed Corridors."Provision to recall an un scrupulous member is another needed.
It is difficult to decide that this is the time to rejoice or to
introspect? As our parliament completed its precious 60 years, yet
there is pessimism widespread in India. Parliament makes law and
policy for people, but as parliamentarians are utterly self centered
these days, the word people is nowhere. Is this the way to run
parliament? What we get from our forefathers of parliament are moral
values and ethics, that we have lost. Now to save our country and her
''people'' from deception the remedy is strong parliament and honest
parliamentarians. Let us be optimistic.
The Parliament is now 60 years old and MPs are entitled for pension/
family pension, if they complete one tenure (5 years). The House has
provided many good, bold, clean as well as not so good leaders. But
there is no doubt that scams are blot on the elected leaders. The
Electoral Reform and Election Commission has made great effort in
cleaning the election system and ultimately the political system in
our country. In some cases the accused against whom cases are pending
since long are still fighting election after election as no judgement
has come out. Now is the time of coalition Government and it seems
coalition partners with the election time approaching near have
started putting pressure on the Government and disrupt the proceedings
of the House to fulfill their own agenda over-looking the country's
interest. Is this true representation of people?
Yes, we should be proud of sixty years of Parliamentary democracy with all its limitations. In this context we are reminded of the fact that our Constitution has made the State very powerful and to get control of the State politicians want power. All political parties have, therefore, one common goal: to rule. To get power to rule, the politicians are ready to go any level, disregard age-old conventions, to break rules. This must change. Hence when we celebrate 60 years of Parliamentary democracy, let us make united efforts to make our democracy more relevant for the largest majority of India’s poor. We must learn to debate, express dissent fearlessly and move forward.
It has been rightly pointed out by the author of this article that
meaningful debates over various issues in both issues have been a
rarity over the past 6 decades of the parliament. Recent example has
been the row over a cartoon of Ambedkar created almost 60 years back.
What a shame!. Our politicians are concerned that the minds of the
children will be maligned by these cartoons in their textbooks. Well
then they should know that nobody had noticed this as an offense
before the row. These kinds of irrelevant debates have been the
landmark of both he houses for over years which have done nothing but
wasted time of the whole country.
Thanks for highlighting Women's reservation issue. INC had promised to pass Women's reservation bill in its Election Manifesto. We have Woman President, Woman UPA chairperson, Woman Speaker of Lok Sabha and UPA II itself is ruling majority. Most of the opposition also supports the bill. Still, Political willpower lacks to pass it.
The Hindu's often more than visible policy of treating muslims as a separate category is no less than pervert.The parliament does have so little representation of northeast citizenry,so few ministers from that part of the country.Sikkim after 36 years of joining the union hasn't had a single member in the cabinet while a small party like Lok Dal has a cabinet rank minister.Muslims may be inadequately represented but so are
others.Effective ST/SC representation may be much lower since their MPs rarely get heard.Besides less than satisfactory representation of muslims is more than counterbalanced by the hullabaloo on muslim issues.The myth of muslims voting in a cohort has done two things:artificial interest shown in their welfare and static social indicators as they can easily be manipulated by non-developmental issues.The fact is our parliament at 60 has miles to go before being truly representative and one among many groups not having received good enough a stake is the muslim community.
The forefathers of our constitution were sanguine over the meaningful role of our Legislature, the vital pillar of our demoncracy which they thought wouold uplift the living standars of Indians. When we see in retrospect, their aspirations are yet to be fulfilled. The unethical race to grab power has spawned plummeting political, moral, and ethical values which are also reflected in the low standards of the deliberations, and the noisy skirmishes the floor of the Parliament. A strong bias for promoting, and defending one's political party is witnessed in all the deliberations. To cite an instance, we are yet to plumb the truth behind the shameful wads of currencies displayed in the floor of the Parliament,which was alleged to have been parted with,to save the government . Dearth of space in certain localities ends up with burying one coffin above the other. So do the successive scams in India.
First, Congratulations to all the citizens of India.
The journey of 60 years has not been a cake walk for Country, with several inside and outside turmoils, leading to abrupt adjournment many a times. There has been the cases of violence and Lucre flow inside, making India's image wane in the album of great countries of the world. The attendance of various MPs is an issue, considering the cases of film stars, business magnates etc. Well, one thing we can be proud of is of our security, no terror attack after the one in early 2000s.
These are the things, that once addressed, will make our parliament one the model Democratic house of the world.
The boisterous talks in the assembly could still be tolerated if the topics were related to the upliftment of the society or the economic stature of the country. Instead, the discussions are mostly personal and targeted towards individual members. So, is the recent fuss about the ex finance minister Mr.Chidambaram. Ministers should rather concentrate on constructive talks and bring up good fights for the pending bills like the one author mentioned or a recent article on MMRDA bill affecting the tribals.
A valid issue has been raised by you. Why there is an impression that today's politicians are not true representatives of the people? To answer this vital question, one must compare the present lot of politicians with those of the yester-years. Post-indpendence, the majority of the political class had fought for independence of the country and had made immense sacrifice in their personal lives. Hence, they earned respect of their countrymen. Mr. Gulzarilal Nanda, former Home Minister of India did not own a house, when he retired from politics. Mr. Y.B. Chavan, when he had become a Minister in the State of Bombay wrote to his wife to borrow Rs.100 from a family friend, as he was not in a position to send money to her! Today even a Municipal councilor is a multi-crorepati. How do the politicians earn their crores? Today's politicians are only interested in their re-election. This is the reason why they are not true representatives of the people of this country.
Government servants reture on attaining 60 years. Should the present
parliamentarians also retire, on Parliament attaining 60 years? It may
look ridiculous. But surely our Parliament's credibility, reputation and
responsibility have been lost already. Barring a few, all MPs have taken
Menbership to be a career for making money than as a honour and trust
reposed on them by the citizens. That is why money is spent lavishly to
become a MP.
The pathetic unparliamentarily display and attitude by parliamentarians is uncalled for. The blame for ridiculous behaviour of not even having the decency to listen to speeches is not new. The members have the tendency to create noise in each and every occasion which should have been utilized in analyzing, debating and criticizing the Govt. policy. It is not only unparliamentarily, but also tells us about the irrelevancy of Parliament.
Parliament is losing its sheen, supremacy, respect, intellectual superiority among members and meaningful discussions on matters of national importance. Do the people, desire and deserve any irresponsible behaviour from our elected representatives? Has the image of the institution and of the individuals damaged? When "We the people", will hear better informed and intelligent discussion? We request all the elected representatives to participate in the debate with clarity and confidence keeping in view public interest and not personal interest.
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