To reform parliamentary institutions, V-P Naidu unveils 15-point charter
Delivering the first Arun Jaitley Memorial Lecture instituted by Delhi University, Naidu urged parties to ensure attendance of at least 50% of their legislators all through the proceedings of the Houses by adopting a roster system.
In his 50-minute address, the Rajya Sabha Chairman called for a new political consciousness urging all stakeholders to review their mindset with regard to their roles and responsibilities.
“The present pitfalls of our parliamentary democracy are too well known to be elaborated. Briefly, these include the declining number of sittings of legislatures, persistent disruptions, declining quality of debates, growing number of legislatures with criminal record, high degree of absenteeism, inadequate representation of women, rising money and muscle power in elections and lack of inner democracy in functioning of the political parties,” he said.
His 15-point reform charter also includes review of anti-defection law; review of the whip system which is “stifling reasonable dissent even on non-consequential matters”; setting up special courts for time-bound adjudication of criminal complaints against legislators; pre and post legislative impact assessment; address problem of rising number of legislators with criminal background; governments to be responsive to opposition and opposition to be responsible and constructive while resorting to available parliamentary instruments; and consensus on the proposal for simultaneous elections.
“Poor knowledge, low argumentative power of the masses, negative influences of poverty and economic disparities, faulty ‘First Pass the Post (FPTP) election system and society’s perpetual habit of accepting all permeable state to control public and private affairs are the sources of some concerns about the efficacy of our democracy,” the Vice President said.
Referring to occasional debates over the need for presidential form of government, Naidu said it is not an option considering that the parliamentary form is one of the features of the ‘basic structure of the Constitution’ and is accordingly beyond the power of Parliament to be amended.
Speaking on the role of legislators, he said, “MPs need to have clarity regarding their role and functions instead of giving in to the tremendous pressure from their respective constituencies to attend the locally felt needs of the electorate which is primarily the domain of the Executive.”
Terming Jaitley “a multi-tasker and a multi-faceted genius” and recalling his contribution, Naidu said: “His contribution as Finance Minister of the country at a critical time and his stellar role in piloting the introduction and execution of GST was certainly the high point of his career.”
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References
- ^ Venkaiah Naidu (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
- ^ Arun Jaitley (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
- ^ democracy (www.speakingtree.in)
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