Beyond the new facade

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Beyond the new facade

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Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment

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• People's Parliament: In Dec. 2020, the groundbreaking ceremony of the new Indian Parliament was done. Remarkably, neither the President nor the Vice-President (RS Chairman) were present, despite the Article 79 mentioning that Parliament comprises the President and two Houses.
• Big questions: The money being spent on redesigning the entire Central Vista is being challenged in the Supreme Court. But other questions are bigger - (i) do we need this new, larger building, (ii) population as the basis of MPs' elections, and (iii) poor functioning of the institution in recent years.
• Delimitation coming up: Soon, the Lok Sabha (LS) will have 888 members, and Rajya Sabha (RS) 384 members, so a total of 1272. What will such a large Parliament achieve, in terms of efficacy and efficiency? Size enlargement is useless, but reforms are needed.
• Federalism breaking down: If Census 2021 is used as the basis of delimitation (drawing up parliamentary constituencies), then states will be given irrational representation, and federalism itself will crack. The north will outdo the south by a large margin, due to population gap. A huge confrontation looms, like what happened with the langugage issue in 1960s. (politically, non-BJP states will decline sharply, creating fissures) So a new criteria for seats allocation has to be found, other than population.
• The 15th FC case: Its Terms of Referene (TOR) said it should use 2011 population data for tax revenue allocation among states. Earlier formula was used since 1976, incentivising states for population control. South objected to new TOR, and once the FFC report is public, formula will be known. 
• The big questions: India has postponed three issues that are explosive - (a) official language, (b) S.C. reservations, and (c) delimitation of Parliamentary constitutes. The third one will have to be taken up soon.
• Working of the Parliament: Slowly and steadily, the public now no longer considers the Parliament as the credible pillar of democracy. Expert recommendations on improvement have been ignored. Given the impending size enlargement, it's time to implement improvements, if anything meaningful is to be transacted later. Committees will be the way forward for orderly business to be carried out. 
• Indira and Modi: During the 1975-77 emergency, PM Indira Gandhi tried reforming Parliament's functioning, but the "committee system" idea didn't gain traction due to opposition's fear of her style. Same holds true today, for Modi as well (if new reforms are considered).
• Making Committee system better: Make working non-partisan, and transparent (for public). Let NGOs help the Committees. Let Ministers be made to appear before Committees, so allot them full rights and privileges. Restore the power of the JPC - Joint Parliamentary Committee.
• Formalise it: Like other democracies, Indian Parliament's functioning must be formalised by legislation - annual calendar, minimum duration of working, administrative regulations, etc. Let Parliament oversee global treaties being done by India, and also work of intelligence agencies (as happens in US).
• Summary: Without these major changes, the enlarged Parliament will simply be an enlarged dysfunctional Parliament that achieves little except through brute force of majority.

Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment

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