A virtual washout

Another session of disruptions.

Ask a school student why we send our elected representatives to Parliament, and he is supposed to say that it is to make laws. But if he is worldly wise, he is more likely to comment that it is for causing disruptions and staging walkouts. That ugly tradition was maintained in the just concluded monsoon session too, which, as Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari pointed out with a sad heart, had lived up to its reputation with “stormy” proceedings. The Lok Sabha lost 45 per cent of its time to disruptions and the Rajya Sabha 44 per cent. Out of the 37 Bills listed for passing, only 22 were passed. Out of 34 listed for introduction, only 14 could be introduced. Worse, very little time could be devoted to discussing important Bills.

In the Lok Sabha, only 22 of the 138 available hours went into debating Bills. The worst sufferer was Question Hour, which was not taken up in the Lok Sabha on 16 days. Out of 500 listed questions, only 51 were answered by ministers. Things were no better in the Upper House, where 435 of the 500 listed queries remained unanswered. It is time MPs realised that their reputation is not besmirched as much by what the people say about them as by what they themselves do.

The Tribune, September 10