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Citizens report: how shameful will the 15th Lok Sabha be?
April 7, 2009
NEW DELHI: The conduct of business in Parliament, marked by a reduced number of sittings, an insufficient apportionment of time to the main functions of deliberation and legislation, as well as frequent and prolonged disruptions due to pandemonium, was a “cause for high concern,” says the Citizens Report on Governance and Development 2008-09 by the National Social Watch Coalition.
The performance of the 14th Lok Sabha as it comes to an end is a telling tale on the “falling standards,” according to the report, ‘How Shameful will 15th Lok Sabha be’ released here on Monday by an eminent panel of B.N. Yugandhar, Mohini Giri, Madhava Menon and Rajesh Tandon.
“What is striking, however, is that the deterioration has intensified in areas where it had set in earlier and in the process the erosion has moved into hitherto uncharted territories. Slogan-shouting, walkouts and boycotts have resulted in a colossal waste of time and public money.”
John Samuel, convener, National Social Watch Coalition said: “There is not a single session during these two years that has not lost valuable man-hours on account of unruly incidents. The year 2008 even witnessed the virtual abrogation of a whole session of Parliament.”
The report points to a “new high” in the corruption and criminalisation of legislators witnessed in the cash-for-vote scam. The corrupting influences are not confined to such manifest spectacles, it says, drawing attention to the sway of corporate houses on the functioning of legislators in order to evolve policies that facilitate their business.
Since the 14th Lok Sabha began in June 2004, the average hours put in by the Lower and Upper Houses by the end of 2007 were 4.3 and 3.3, says the report. The average working hours seem to have declined over the years: in 2000, the average for both Houses was 5.5 and 4.4 hours respectively, which subsequently improved marginally in 2003 to 6.1 and 4.7 hours.”
“The unseemly behaviour of people’s representatives in the ‘august Houses’ and their unethical misdemeanour as exemplified by the cash-for-question and cash-for-vote scams are common knowledge. With the politics of power-hungry politicians and self-styled ‘Prime Ministers’ and the sight of unprincipled bedfellows in its most brazen display in the election melee, the only apt question now is — how shameful will 15th Lok Sabha be?”
Sources:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4367239.cms?frm=mailtofriend
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2009/04/07/stories/2009040756371100.htm
