THE BUDGET session of Parliament starts today.
All eyes will be on Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee when he presents the Union budget on Friday and corporate India as well as the aam aadmi are eagerly looking forward to it. But our honourable MPs have other worries on their minds, particularly those belonging to the Rajya Sabha. This is because of a get- tough plan unveiled by Hamid Ansari, the Vice President and Chairman of the Upper House to crack down on truant ministers and MPs who are in the habit of taking their parliamentary responsibilities lightly.
All eyes will be on Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee when he presents the Union budget on Friday and corporate India as well as the aam aadmi are eagerly looking forward to it. But our honourable MPs have other worries on their minds, particularly those belonging to the Rajya Sabha. This is because of a get- tough plan unveiled by Hamid Ansari, the Vice President and Chairman of the Upper House to crack down on truant ministers and MPs who are in the habit of taking their parliamentary responsibilities lightly.
Ansari has decided to hammer such truant elected representatives with a slew of measures and if these succeed — I don’t see why they shouldn’t — we will be spared the many shameful occasions in recent times when Parliament sessions had to be abandoned because too many MPs or ministers were absent.
The Vice President’s initiatives couldn’t have been more timely. Delinquency among MPs and ministers is rising by the day and last December, the Lok Sabha stood disgraced when on two occasions, Question Hour was suspended due to lack of quorum as many MPs whose questions were listed in the day’s business remained absent. Until the mid- 1980s, this sort of thing was a rarity, but now it’s happening with unfailing regularity. Consider these: of late, both houses are half empty when the day’s proceedings begin at 11 am with the traditional Question Hour. Even when they do turn up, it is often to hurl abuses or even wrestle with each other. MPs are lucky in that they don’t have to report for work until 11 am. In many states, assemblies convene at 8.30 am. One recent study showed that while the first three Lok Sabhas met for an average of 124 days a year, now it is less than 80. Things are so bad that Sonia Gandhi sent missives to her party men and the BJP leadership issued diktats to its MPs to get serious. But these didn’t work and I am not surprised, because in the current coalition scenario, I cannot see, for example, the DMK supremo M. Karunanidhi’s son M. K. Alagiri, a Union minister, taking commands from anyone except his father.
Some ministers and MPs may be plain lazy. But the more likely reason why many of them stay away is because it suits both sides: the former won’t have to answer embarrassing questions; the latter won’t have to sit up late nights doing homework for the next day’s session. And to think that for every minute that each house of Parliament sits, it may cost the exchequer a month’s salary of an MP. It’s easy to see why there is a near collapse of trust in politicians.
Vice President Ansari is not a career politician; he is a distin- Meira Kumar guished retired diplomat and an academician and it comes as no surprise that someone like him has decided to crack down on delinquency. He has made sweeping changes in the Rules of Procedure in the Rajya Sabha aimed at making ministers and MPs accountable. The new rules come into effect from today and will ensure that ministers do not escape answering questions even if the MPs who posed them are not present in the House.
Until now, if the MP who asked a “ starred question”— where the concerned minister has to give an oral answer as against the “ unstarred” ones where written answers are merely placed in the house — is absent, the question lapsed. Starting today, irrespective of whether the questioner is present in the House or not, the minister will have to give the information sought.
What’s more, other MPs who may want clarifications will now have the right to grill the minister on the subject. Ansari has sent letters to all members of the Upper House about the new rules and it is hoped that our MPs take it as a reminder that they have been elected to serve and they serve best when they attend Parliament. I see no reason why Meira Kumar shouldn’t be encouraged to usher in similar changes in the Lok Sabha.
Our MPs will then become more responsible and our claims of being a vibrant democracy will sound a lot more credible.
P. S. Too many businessmen have “ managed” their way into the Rajya Sabha, whose membership entitles them to diplomatic passports. These are being used increasingly for business purposes and the foreign ministry has now issued a circular warning against such misuse.
Like truant MPs, businessmen know their rights but it seems they too have to be reminded of their responsibilities.
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