Rajya Sabha is a drain on treasury and needs to be downsized
Like Parliament itself, reforms can no longer be stalled.
POLITICS
| 5-minute read |
15-12-2016
MINHAZ MERCHANT
@minhazmerchant
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi announced at a news conference on December 14 that he has “explosive” information of personal corruption against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Why did Rahul not reveal that information publicly at the press conference yesterday? Because he wants the legal protection parliamentary privilege affords him. This sums up all that’s wrong with our parliamentary system: too much privilege, too little accountability. The rot runs deep. Last Friday the Rajya Sabha was adjourned for lack of quorum. Only 23 MPs were present — 18 from the government and five from the Opposition.
Reforms
Several MPs were seen chatting outside parliament. Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien rang the quorum alarm twice. A few indolent MP “peeped inside the House”, as one observer reported, but refused to enter the chamber. Kurien finally adjourned the House under the rule that requires a minimum quorum of 10 per cent of the strength of the House (250).
So why does India need the Rajya Sabha? It doesn’t — certainly not without sweeping reforms.
Those reforms should begin with the Lok Sabha. In a country with a population of 125 crore, the Lok Sabha’s 545 MPs (including two nominated MPs) are grossly inadequate. The ratio works out to one MP for roughly 23 lakh citizens. In 1952, when India’s population was just over 38 crore, the Lok Sabha had a strength of 489 — a much better average of one MP for around seven lakh citizens. Britain with a population (6.5 crore) that’s one-20th India’s, has 650 MPs in the House of Commons — an average of one MP for one lakh citizens.
The average size of a constituency in England is 72,000. In Scotland it is 69,000 and in Wales 56,000. In India, constituencies run into tens of lakhs, making them unwieldy and increasingly untenable.
Downsizing the number of Rajya Sabha MPs is a necessary but not sufficient reform. [Photo: Mail Today]
Clearly, several large constituencies need to be broken into smaller bits. Delimitation has changed the contours of some constituencies but sizes have not changed significantly. The key is to increase the number of MPs in the Lok Sabha. After careful constituency-wise evaluation, the number of constituencies can be increased in the first phase to around 700. That would still leave each Lok Sabha MP to deal with an average of over 18 lakh citizens.
Simultaneously, the strength of the Rajya Sabha must be downsized from the present 250 to 100. Unelected MPs are a drain on the treasury. Their increasingly irresponsible behaviour has lowered the image of the Upper House and disrupted legislative business.
The Rajya Sabha enables state assemblies to elect MPs and represent the federal character of the House. But a downsized Rajya Sabha with 100 members can still reflect the plural views of the Union’s states and territories.
Strength
Downsizing the number of Rajya Sabha MPs is a necessary but not sufficient reform. The Upper House has far too often been used to stall legislation. It cannot, under present rules, hold up money bills. It should in fact not be allowed to stop legislation of any kind.
Like the House of Lords in Britain, it should only be permitted to delay legislation, not reject it. For example, once the House of Commons passes a bill the House of Lords can delay it for a maximum of one year.
The rules governing the conduct of the two Houses need reform as well. While the Lok Sabha can suspend unruly MPs and even marshall them out, the Rajya Sabha cannot. Given the behaviour we have witnessed from MPs in the Upper House in recent weeks that exemption must be removed. If you disrupt either House, you belong outside, not inside, parliament.
Disruption
In the House of Commons the slightest disruption is dealt with swiftly and ruthlessly by the Speaker. Since 1900 Britain has had less than 50 disruptions, each lasting, on average, less than one hour before the Speaker ensures the House resumes normal business.
In contrast, Indian Speakers are both weak and partisan. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has proved particularly ineffectual. Despite senior BJP leader LK Advani’s reprimand directed at her last week, and President Pranab Mukherjee’s admonition of MPs’ conduct (“For God’s Sake, do your job,” he told them, implying the Speaker wasn’t doing hers), Mahajan has failed to control the House.
The chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Vice- President Hamid Ansari, has been equally disappointing. He established his partisan credentials by stalling a vote on the Lokpal bill at the stroke of midnight on December 30, 2011 and adjourning the House sine die. Ever since, his stewardship of the Rajya Sabha has been partisan and anaemic. The Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, PJ Kurien, has been equally ineffective, though he does make an attempt to appear impartial and firm. He is neither. While the number of Rajya Sabha MPs and their influence over legislation are cut down to size, the really big-ticket reform involves the Lok Sabha: more MPs, smaller constituencies, stricter rules of conduct, and stronger Speakers.
Indian parliamentarians work for fewer days than lawmakers in, for example, the United States. The US Senate (100 members) and the House of Representatives (435) serve a population one-fourth India’s and work 140 days a year. India’s parliamentarians in comparison work only 80 days a year across the winter, Budget and monsoon sessions. And that includes the countless days Parliament is adjourned following disruptions.
Like Parliament itself, reforms can no longer be stalled.
(Courtesy:
Mail Today)
