India’s ‘undignified’ democracy in action
By Rupam Jain Nair
Indian pride in belonging to the world’s largest democracy has not always been best served by the country’s political representatives, whose main purpose often seems to be ensuring that parliament cannot function properly
In his recent Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh rebuked Indian MPs for their ‘undignified’ behaviour in parliament. Five days later the cabinet voted to triple their salaries.
Indian pride in belonging to the world’s largest democracy has not always been best served by the country’s political representatives, whose main purpose often seems to be ensuring that parliament cannot function properly. Proceedings in both the lower and upper houses—all broadcast live on television—have grown increasingly raucous in the past decade, with legislators regularly engaging in high-decibel slanging matches, wrestling with each other and shouting down the speaker’s calls for order.
The chaos, which normally leads to lengthy adjournments, tends to silence any meaningful debate and all too often delays or prevents serious scrutiny of important, complicated legislation.
Data collected by PRS Legislative Research, a New Delhi-based think-tank, shows that of the scheduled 170 working hours of the monsoon session of parliament up to Saturday, 100 hours were lost — 70 due to adjournments and nearly 30 to protests and walkouts.
The wastage is compounded by the fact that each minute of national parliament—whether productively spent or not—costs the exchequer 26,035 rupees (554 dollars), excluding MPs salaries, PRS says.
In his annual speech on August 15, Singh condemned an increase in the use of “harsh and unpleasant words” on the floor of the house. “Criticism should not be undignified. We should have the capacity to reconcile opposite points of view on important issues through debate and discussion,” he said.
His remarks were echoed days later by Vice President Hamid Ansari, who lamented the rise of brute lung power over oratorical skills. “It creates momentary excitement, but is no substitute for persuasion. It detracts from the dignity of parliament and invites public scorn,” he said. Legislators in regional state assemblies have proved more than capable of matching the disruptive muscle of their federal counterparts. In July, more than 60 members of the Bihar state assembly were suspended after particularly ugly scenes, which saw chairs and shoes being thrown, and ended with one enraged woman lawmaker launching a solo assault on flowerpots outside the chamber. “These are most shameless episodes,” Jayant Sen, a political science professor and author of various books on the Indian parliament, told AFP. “Parliament and state assemblies are the temples of democracy but nobody cares to protect them,” he added.
The proposal by the cabinet to triple federal MPs’ salaries to 50,000 rupees (1,000 dollars) per month, from 16,000 rupees previously, was greeted with a mixture of widespread scorn and incredulity.
Sen said he was not against a salary raise, but argued that it should be linked to attendance and accompanied by strict rules on conduct in the house. “Why should citizens pay them if they do not behave themselves and refuse to operate in a professional manner?” he said. Critics are not restricted to those outside parliament. A number of MPs are also unhappy.
Senior legislator Murli Manohar Joshi made his feelings clear when he picked up the Best Parliamentarian Award for the year 2009. “Aimless shouting in the parliament clearly indicates that we are not doing our homework. We do not come prepared.
“We are at a point where the senior members need to recognise the crisis and find a solution to make our debates constructive,” Joshi said. A major area of concern is that key legislation is not receiving the scrutiny it merits.
Because so much time is wasted, the final days—or sometimes the final hours—of any session are often spent voting through numerous bills without any genuine debate. In the 2010 budget session, the lower house cleared five bills in 15 minutes. “After all the political posturing by the ruling party, the opposition and regional parties, very little time is left to transact real business,” said C.V. Madhukar, the director of PRS Legislative Research. afp
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India’s ‘undignified’ democracy in action
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