29-Oct-2019: Vice President seeks a new political normal based on 15 point reform charter for better functioning of Parliament

Expressing concern over the functioning of parliamentary institutions in the country and erosion of public trust in them, the Vice President, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu unveiled a 15 point reform charter as the basis for a new political normal to enable effective functioning of the Parliament and State Legislatures. He dwelt at length on the present pitfalls of parliamentary democracy in the country while delivering the first ‘Arun Jaitley Memorial Lecture on Strengthening of Parliamentary Institutions in the Country’ at Delhi University.

During his 50 minute long account of the genesis of the Constitution of India and functioning of legislatures in the country, Shri Naidu enumerated several pitfalls that are adversely impacting the legislative institutions and suggested remedial measures. He called for a new political consciousness urging all the stakeholders to review their mindset with regard to their roles and responsibilities.

Expressing concern over poor attendance in the legislatures and the quality of debates, the Vice President urged the political parties to ensure attendance of at least 50% of their legislators all through the proceedings of the Houses by adopting a roster system. This suggestion came in the context of Parliament being forced to be adjourned due to lack of quorum of the required presence of 10% of the strength of the Houses.  Responding to the concerns over stifling of the freedom of expression of the legislators due to issuance of ‘Whip’, Shri Naidu called for a review of the same so as to enable reasonable degree of dissent without impacting the stability of the government. The Vice President also advocated a thorough review of the Anti-Defection Law to rectify the grey areas like incentivising legislators to resort to actions inviting expulsion from the party besides providing for time bound disposal of defection cases by the Presiding Officer.

Referring to the functioning of the Department Related Standing Committees that came into being in 1993 for detailed examination of legislative proposals, Demands for Grants and other select subjects on behalf of the Parliament, Shri Naidu expressed concern over declining attendance, lack of specialisation, limited tenure of one year, frequent hopping of Committees etc. Shri Naidu said that he would discuss with Lok Sabha Speaker the measures needed for effective functioning of these committees with longer tenure instead of the present one year, promoting specialisation by nominating the Members for a longer period etc.

Emphasising the need for well thought out and focused legislation with the participation of stakeholders, Shri Naidu proposed a detailed framework based pre and post Legislative Impact Assessment. He stressed that every legislative proposal shall incorporate a detailed account of social, economic, environmental and administrative impact for wider awareness and subsequent assessment of the effect of legislation on ground.

Conceding that the present ‘First Pass The Post (FPTP)’ system of electing people’s representatives is faulty to the extent that MPs and MLAs are being elected with substantially less than 50% of voter support, Shri Naidu, however, said that there is no alternative at present. He further said that the proportional representation being advocated in some quarters would lead to promotion of further social and political cleavages besides being not practical due to implementation issues. He noted that in the recent elections to the 17th Lok Sabha, a large number of Members were elected with more than 50% voter support which would further increase with the changing preference of voters based on developmental concerns.

Shri Venkaiah Naidu stated that ‘Parliamentary form of Government’ is one of the features of the ‘Basic structure of the Constitution’ and is accordingly beyond the power of Parliament to be amended as per the settled position in the matter.   He said that the alternative of ‘Presidential form of Government’ for India is no option by virtue of the same.

Referring to the long held perception about the role of caste, community, region and religion in influencing the voting preferences in the country, Vice President Shri Naidu stated that there is growing evidence to suggest the decline of such identity based voting but it needs to be completely stamped out. While the Indian public has been steadfast in patronising democracy since the first General Elections in 1952 with ever rising turnout, there is a need for new consciousness in the form of moving away from the remnants of identity based voting to that of development oriented exercise of voting preferences.

Shri Naidu underscored the need for the governments to be responsive to the concerns of the Opposition and the Opposition to be responsible and constructive during the debates and while criticising the government and opposing legislation. Frequent disruptions, Points of Order without a point, Adjournment Motions and interruptions betray political immaturity, exhibitionism, excessive fondness for the limelight and inadequate appreciation of the need to utilise the opportunity of serving the public interest.

The other reform proposals of Vice President and Chairman of Rajya Sabha  include building consensus on simultaneous polls to let unfettered governance, enacting for reservation of women in legislatures, making rules that automatically take effect against erring members in case of interruptions and disruptions, regular publication of reports by the Secretariats of Legislatures on the attendance of Members and their participation in debates, doing away with the winnability as the sole criterion for selecting contestants by the parties to address the concern of rising number of legislators with criminal record.

Lauding the contributions of Late Shri Arun Jaitley, Shri Naidu described him as a multi-tasker and multi-faceted genius. He further noted that Shri Jaitley, as both the Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the House for five years each in the Rajya Sabha made a significant role in the passing of several landmark legislations besides resolving stalemates on several occasions. He said; “In my view, Shri Jaitley during his long years in public life made a unique contribution to address the imbalance in the prevailing dominant political thinking in the country which was almost institutionalised for long at the cost of other perspectives. It required the zeal, ability, virtuosity and the power of interpretation and communication of Shri Jaitley to mainstream the hitherto dormant perspective based on Indian ethos and nationalism. He was in the forefront of further elaborating the concepts of secularism and nationalism as unifying forces in the Indian context.

6-Jan-2019: Centre sets up Bezbarauah committee to review the implementation of clause 6 of Assam Accord.

Government has notified the High Level Committee (HLC) for implementation of Clause 6 of Assam Accord. Committee has been given a broad mandate. It is headed by Shri M.P. Bezbarauah and includes eminent Assamese persons from different fields. The Committee will submit its report within 6 months from the date of notification. The State Government of Assam will provide necessary administrative and logistic support to the Committee.

The Terms of Reference for the Committee are as under:-

1. The Committee will examine the effectiveness of actions taken since 1985 to implement Clause 6 of the Assam Accord.
2. The Committee will hold discussions with various stakeholders including social organizations, legal and constitutional experts, eminent persons from the field of art, culture and literature, conservationists, economists, linguists and sociologists.
3. The Committee will assess the appropriate level of reservation of seats in Assam Legislative Assembly and local bodies for the Assamese people.
4. The Committee will also suggest measures to be taken to protect Assamese and other indigenous languages of Assam.
5. The Committee will recommend the appropriate level of reservations in employment under the Government of Assam for the Assamese people.
6. The Committee may suggest any other measures as may be necessary to protect, preserve and promote cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.

The HLC has been constituted as per Clause 6 of the Memorandum of Settlement, known as the Assam Accord, signed on 15th August, 1985. Clause 6 of the Accord states that:

“Constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, as may be appropriate, shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.”