Misconstrued Opposition=stalled Parliament= Democracy at peril @Need urgent action

In a parliamentary Democracy, various rival parties with their different idiologies, followers and their vision of the welfare of the state, vie with each other to seek victory in elections to become a majority party in the house, fundamentally to govern the country thus the victors (majority) assume the seat of power to govern the country while the losers (minority) sit in opposite benches.

The principal role of our  elected representatives is to represent our needs, make laws, participate in debates, scrutinize the Govt. actions and introduce reforms in tune with changing times  to overcome the challenges faced by the  state of the nation. Once in parliament what we see is opposite, members of majority party which forms the Govt. behave like LORDS and the RULERS while the members of minority, just because they have to sit in opposition benches, keep opposing anything and everything.

Days are wasted in confrontation over non-issues , parliament is not allowed to function  for  days and weeks(statistics for last 5 years are reflective and disgusting on this aspect) , laws are passed in a jiffy without debates and proper scrutiny as required while major bills and reforms are stalled for decades , for e.g. women’s reservation bill, the triple talak and halala bill, leave aside some economic reforms  which take years before being passed thus sometimes loose the relevance and timing for good results. 

The results of analysis done on the hours spent by members in both the houses are shocking, only 10% of productive hours are used. On an average only 11 to 30 productive minutes are spent per day while the scheduled working hours are 6 hours per day. It is a pathetic scene and needs to be addressed on priority basis by Modi Govt, recommend introduce a bill for the corrective measure as we have seen that for last 6 plus years, our parliament has become a butt of a joke, is non functional and a stage for one-upmanship. In a nutshell it is no more a sanctum sanctorum of the temple of democracy.

The political parties of course are rivals thus should oppose each other during the election but once through the ordeal , if they do not work as required(perform their roles) but just keep opposing everything or create hurdles and inflame the junta on sensitive issues to achieve  their dubious political objectives rather than the welfare of the nation, we should have a system in place to ensure that each parliamentarian is assessed on his/her performance and either rewarded /reformed or booted  duly.

The sad part is, our constitution does not define clearly the duties and responsibilities of a parliamentarian thus if the current Govt in power gets a bill passed clearly defining the same then an acceptable assessment card on the basis of the performance of the parliamentarian can be done and shared with the voters for their understanding to take an informed corrective/supportive action as applicable at the time of voting. To go a step further, top 33.33% -50% performers from either side can be retained and elections to be held only for the balance seats, where the performance was below par.

There must be a debate on the meritorious reward for good parliamentarians for their conduct and discharge of responsibilities thus a reservation for next term as mentioned above and those who only keep Opposing outside parliament, do not attend, stall the proceedings in the parliament,  do not debate/discuss issues in parliament can be shown the door. The primary job to ensure that the bills introduced, scrutinized well and passed after a useful debate in the interest of the constituency which they represent collectively should be the order of the day. Why not a Carrot & stick policy here, too.

We the citizens of India, respect our laws (if not start now) similarly the elected representatives must respect their primary role and duly discharge their responsibilities by enacting laws and reforms with proper scrutiny and clear understanding of the subject to assist Good governance of the country, which in effect will help our nation evolve from just a largest democracy in the world to a functional & vibrant democracy of the people, by the people and for the people.

Truly yours

Satish

Jaihind