THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, DEC.
28:
The Anna Hazare movement has
helped bring into sharp focus infirmities in the parliamentary democracy system
being practised today.
This is how to Mr N. R.
Madhava Menon, a former director of the National Judicial Academy in Bhopal,
chose to put the social activist's stir in perspective.
The occasion was a lecture
organised at the Legislative Complex here on Tuesday in connection with the
diamond jubilee of Kerala Legislative Secretariat.
The issue of corruption aside,
what seemed to be engaging the minds of all concerned is whether the system
represents the one originally envisaged by the makers of the Constitution, Mr
Menon said.
Effective governance calls for
the enactment of effective laws. But Bills are passed these days without so
much as a discussion in both Parliament and Legislatures.
Mr Menon quoted former Union
Home Secretary Madhav Godbole, who had studied the functioning of parliamentary
democracy, to show how Parliament has been marginalised in its role as an
ultimate law-making institution. “Apart from continuous disruption of
proceedings and consequent reduction in the duration of sessions, there has
been hasty passage of legislations without any discussion, curtailment of
Question Hour, open defiance of the Speaker and abuse of legislative
privileges. “If in the 1950's the duration of Parliament sittings averaged 130
days a year, it has come down to less than 50 days in 2008…In 2008, on the last
day of a session, eight Bills were rushed through in less than 17 minutes with
no discussion whatsoever…”
“The story is not much
different in many State Assemblies,” Mr Menon said.
The large gap between public
expectations and performance of Legislatures was partly because neither
Parliament nor State Legislatures thought it necessary to submit themselves to
any independent scrutiny of their functioning.
They had also not taken
cognisance of the ongoing reforms and prevailing best practices in other
democracies.
The greatest challenge before
law makers is how to accomplish systemic changes and structural reforms to suit
the requirements of efficient law-making in a dynamically evolving polity,
economy and society, Mr Menon said.
The times are such that some
sections of the public have even started to doubt the relevance of the Cabinet
system of parliamentary democracy for a large and diverse nation like India.
Lack of a strong and united
Opposition and a truly representative Government has in some cases created an
imbalance in the power equation within and outside legislatures.
This could weaken the
parliamentary system, even leading at times to totalitarian tendencies and
executive non-accountability.
No comments:
Post a Comment