Undermining Parliament: Mismanagement has created dangerous precedents

Even more disturbing was the fact that Finance Bill retrospectively repealed a section of FCRA, which in effect legalised all foreign funding to Indian political parties for tpast 42 years

The Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die last week after the least productive Budget session in 18 years. The Lower House functioned for just 4 per cent of its time in the second half of the session; even the Rajya Sabha functioned for less than 10 per cent of its scheduled time. The Finance Bill, the single-most important piece of regular legislation in any given year, was passed in 18 minutes and without even the slightest whiff of debate. In essence, budgetary demands from 99 Union ministries and departments and over 200 amendments were not subject to parliamentary discussion, with