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The Problem of Hasty Passage Of Bills in Parliament: GS 2 - Polity -UPSC IAS Mains preparation 2019


INEFFECTIVENESS OF THE PARLIAMENT


Many important bills like IBC, Juvenile Justice Act, Person with Disabilities Act, Prevention of Corruption Act, Aadhar Act, GST etc. are passed in the 16th lok Sabha. But the passage of Aadhar bill as a money bill undermines the Rajya Sabha and also the passage of 124th constitution amendment bill which enables 10% reservation for economically weaker section raises the people's eyebrows on the effective functioning of Parliament


PROCEDURE FOR PASSING THE BILLS

  • First reading (asking for leave to introduce the bill)

  • Publication in the Gazette

  • Reference to standing committee

  • Second Reading

  • General discussion and referring to standing committee

  • Clause by clause discussion

  • Third reading (support or reject the bill)

  • Bills in other House

  • Assent of President


VIOLATION OF THE PROCEDURE

  • But due to vote bank politics most of the bills violates the rules of procedure like The Bill was not circulated ahead of being introduced.

  • There was hardly any time between its introduction and final discussion.

  • It was not examined by a committee. Barring a few small parties, none of the larger.

  • Opposition parties asked for the Bill to be carefully considered by a parliamentary committee — even in the Rajya Sabha


IMPACTS OF BYPASSING THE PROCEDURE


Members of Parliament had only very less time to read and understand the intricacies present in the bill leading to a poor discussion and lack of proper scrutiny.


The Bill also bypassed the usual practice of referring to Parliamentary Standing Committee which Members of Parliament use a measure to solicit public feedback and interact with experts before forming their recommendations.



OTHER FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR INEFFECTIVENESS OF THE PARLIAMENT


Anti-defection

  • Interferes with members freedom of speech

  • Reduces accountability of the government to the parliament and the people

  • Members unable to express his belief or the interests of his constituents

Lack of recorded voting as a norm

  • Reduces the accountability of the MP as voters don’t know which way they voted on each issue

Party affiliation of the Speaker

  • Making her dependent on the party leadership for reelection prospects

Insufficient time and research support to examine Bills, and the lack of a calendar

  • Parliament is held at the convenience of the government


WAY FORWARD


  • Anti-defection law should be only applied to confidence and no- confidence motions (Dinesh Goswami committee).

  • Instead of making speaker the authority of disqualification, it must be done by judiciary or the president on the advice of election commission.

  • All the voting of the MP must be recorded so that the voters can know which way they voted on the issue.

  • Independence of the speaker must be secured like in UK.

  • Working days of the Parliament must be regularised it must not on the will of ruling party.

  • Every bill must follow the rules of procedure.

  • Usage of guillotine by the speaker must be reduced.

  • Parliament has a central role to secure the interest of citizens. It is the primary body of accountability that translates the wishes and aspirations of citizens into appropriate laws and policies.

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drksp
Feb 27, 2019

If we are going to allow judiciary to decide the disqualification wont it be ripping away the autonomy of our parliament? Already the decision of The Speaker is subjected to juidicial review. Instead it can be handed over to the Election commission with The Hon'ble President being the final authority.

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