Parliament Stifled, Business, and a Word of Advice
CONTEXT: Despite the limited monsoon session and constraints, Members of Parliament (MPs) must scrutinise
the government’s work and guide policy.
Impact of COVID on Legislatures:
• States have held very short sessions — some met just for a day — in which they ratified a number of
ordinances, and hardly questioned any executive action over the last few months
• Parliament has curtailed its proceedings: through -
− Truncated Zero Hour (in which members raise issues pertinent to their constituents and of wider
public interest), and
− Cancelled Question Hour (in which Ministers have to answer questions raised by members).
Roles of key organs of state
• Executive: Take decisions and perform various public tasks.
• Legislature: Making laws and policies beneficial to the public and hold the government accountable while
they themselves are accountable to citizens through regular elections.
• Judiciary: Ensure that all actions are made within the boundaries of the Constitution and laws made by
the legislature.
Current Issues related to Parliament
• Dilution of the role: It has not questioned and monitored the activity of the executive.
− For, E.g. while in the United Kingdom, there were discussions for bringing legislation checking the
misuse of Contact tracing Apps, India went ahead with executive decision to roll out Arogya Setu.
• Lack of parliamentary insight: has been largely absent through the last six months.
− For, E.g. During this period, over 900 central and nearly 6,000 State government notifications have
been issued which are related to managing the pandemic, with no supervision.
Only Post-mortem analysis can be done on the government’s response to the crisis during this
period
The long gap between sittings:
− Parliament will be meeting after 175 days,
− Parliamentary committees did not meet for about four months, and after that have had only in-
person meetings, which have led to low attendance, given travel risks and restrictions.
• Court interventions: judicial intervention in many policy issues complicate the issues for E.g.
− The Supreme Court is neither equipped nor mandated to balance policy options related to lockdowns
and the hardships caused to the migrants
− Court decided to limit the period in which telecom companies have to pay their dues to the
government, which is also a policy matter.
• Short session, much business: It has a large number of issues to discuss in the short 18-day session. For
example, the government has issued 11 ordinances since the last sitting.
− A slew of Notification issues: During this period, over 900 central and nearly 6,000 State government
notifications have been issued which are related to managing the pandemic.
− Central Ordinance Issued:
Five of these relate to the COVID-19 crisis and the lockdown:
? extending tax filing dates,
? moratorium on new insolvency cases,
? protection for health workers, and
? temporary cuts in salaries and allowances of Members of Parliament and Ministers.
Two ordinances related to the supersession of the Boards of the councils that regulate
homoeopathy and Indian systems of medicine,
One ordinance allowing the Reserve Bank of India to regulate cooperative banks (a similar bill
is pending in Parliament), and
Three Ordinances related to agricultural markets (allowing contract farming and trading
outside mandis).
Way Forward
• Parliament should refer those ordinances with long-term implications to the respective committees for
detailed scrutiny.
• In the absence of Question Hour and shorter zero hour, Parliamentarians must resort to other available
options to ensure new laws and expenditure proposals are passed only after detailed discussion.
the government’s work and guide policy.
Impact of COVID on Legislatures:
• States have held very short sessions — some met just for a day — in which they ratified a number of
ordinances, and hardly questioned any executive action over the last few months
• Parliament has curtailed its proceedings: through -
− Truncated Zero Hour (in which members raise issues pertinent to their constituents and of wider
public interest), and
− Cancelled Question Hour (in which Ministers have to answer questions raised by members).
Roles of key organs of state
• Executive: Take decisions and perform various public tasks.
• Legislature: Making laws and policies beneficial to the public and hold the government accountable while
they themselves are accountable to citizens through regular elections.
• Judiciary: Ensure that all actions are made within the boundaries of the Constitution and laws made by
the legislature.
Current Issues related to Parliament
• Dilution of the role: It has not questioned and monitored the activity of the executive.
− For, E.g. while in the United Kingdom, there were discussions for bringing legislation checking the
misuse of Contact tracing Apps, India went ahead with executive decision to roll out Arogya Setu.
• Lack of parliamentary insight: has been largely absent through the last six months.
− For, E.g. During this period, over 900 central and nearly 6,000 State government notifications have
been issued which are related to managing the pandemic, with no supervision.
Only Post-mortem analysis can be done on the government’s response to the crisis during this
period
The long gap between sittings:
− Parliament will be meeting after 175 days,
− Parliamentary committees did not meet for about four months, and after that have had only in-
person meetings, which have led to low attendance, given travel risks and restrictions.
• Court interventions: judicial intervention in many policy issues complicate the issues for E.g.
− The Supreme Court is neither equipped nor mandated to balance policy options related to lockdowns
and the hardships caused to the migrants
− Court decided to limit the period in which telecom companies have to pay their dues to the
government, which is also a policy matter.
• Short session, much business: It has a large number of issues to discuss in the short 18-day session. For
example, the government has issued 11 ordinances since the last sitting.
− A slew of Notification issues: During this period, over 900 central and nearly 6,000 State government
notifications have been issued which are related to managing the pandemic.
− Central Ordinance Issued:
Five of these relate to the COVID-19 crisis and the lockdown:
? extending tax filing dates,
? moratorium on new insolvency cases,
? protection for health workers, and
? temporary cuts in salaries and allowances of Members of Parliament and Ministers.
Two ordinances related to the supersession of the Boards of the councils that regulate
homoeopathy and Indian systems of medicine,
One ordinance allowing the Reserve Bank of India to regulate cooperative banks (a similar bill
is pending in Parliament), and
Three Ordinances related to agricultural markets (allowing contract farming and trading
outside mandis).
Way Forward
• Parliament should refer those ordinances with long-term implications to the respective committees for
detailed scrutiny.
• In the absence of Question Hour and shorter zero hour, Parliamentarians must resort to other available
options to ensure new laws and expenditure proposals are passed only after detailed discussion.
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