Revision as of 23:34, 1 June 2015

This page deals with issues and factoids common to the two houses of Parliament, the Rajya Sabha as well as the Lok Sabha

Non-political celebrity MPs

Celebrities in the Indian parliament

Celebrities in the Rajya Sabha

Non-political celebrities in the Indian parliament belong to two main streams:

i) Those who win elections and enter the Lok Sabha, and

ii) Those who are nominated to the Rajya Sabha under the special dispensation allowed for such nomination.

There are two more categories:

iii) Those who get elected to the Rajya Sabha; and

iv) Those who, after initial nomination to the Rajya Sabha later feel confident enough to seek election to the Lok Sabha, and win.

Celebrity MPs' attendance in Parliament

Celebrity MPs are a rare sight in House Vishwa.Mohan@timesgroup.com New Delhi: The Times of India Jul 21 2014

Sachin Attended 3 Days, Rekha 7 Since April ’12

Celebrity MPs simply give a royal miss to Rajya Sabha, the upper House of Parliament, where they find place as ‘nominated’ members due to their outstanding performance in their respective professions.

Be it legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar or the late painter M F Husain in the past or cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and Bollywood actress Rekha now, the ‘nominated’ celebrity MP has not matched up to the other nominated members, who come from professions like academics, civil services, journalism, legal service or science.

Records show that Tendulkar has attended the House only thrice while Rekha has attended it on seven days since they were nominated as MPs in April 2012.

Though Tendulkar was expected to attend the House more often once he retired from international cricket, he did so only once after November last year. The upper House sat for 35 days during three sessions between December 2013 and July this year.

Neither Rekha nor Tendulkar attended any sittings during the ongoing session of Parliament under the new government. Their absence from the House was noted by other members. Last week, RJD member and former Union minister Premchand Gupta referred to it in the House and questioned such nominations.

Besides Rekha and Tendulkar, poet-lyricist Javed Akhtar is the other celebrity among the 12 nominated members. Though Akhtar's record is much better, he re mains a mute spectator during most of the proceedings. He was last heard during a debate on amending the Copyright Bill two years ago.

His wife Shabana Azmi was, in contrast, among the most vocal celebrities who raised many issues and actively participated in many debates during her tenure.

Records show that the other nine nominated members, including businesswoman and social activist Anu Aga, journalist H K Dua, theatre personality B Jayashree, jurist K Parasaran and lawyer K T S Tulsi, have been quite regular in Parliament.

Utilisation of MPLADS funds

Sachin Tendulkar, Rekha spent nothing from MP development fund

TNN | Feb 24, 2014 The Times of India

NEW DELHI: Cricket superstar Sachin Tendulkar and veteran actress Rekha who were nominated to Rajya Sabha around two years ago have spent "zero" rupee on development in their respective adopted areas.

Official reports published on the website of ministry of statistics and programme implementation reveal that the celebrity MPs did not spend anything from their members of the parliament local area development (MPLAD) fund.

The Upper House parliamentarians get to adopt a district of their choice for development. Each Rajya Sabha member is entitled to Rs 5 crore a year from their MPLAD fund. Sachin Tendulkar adopted district is Mumbai suburban, but Rekha has not bothered to even adopt a district.

Neither sent any development project proposal to the government. Both have accumulated Rs 10 crore each in their two year old accounts.

India no. 103 in women's representation

India no country for women netas

Kounteya Sinha The Times of India Mar 06 2015 London

India no. 103 in women's representation

At 103, India Behind Sub-Saharan Africa In Representation Of Fairer Sex In Parliament

India has been found to be one of the world's worst countries for women to enter politics. Data shows that even countries like Syria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Niger and Somalia have more women in their parliament. Days before the world celebrates the International Women's Day , the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) revealed that there are only 96 women representatives in both houses of Parliament in India. The country , therefore, ranks abysmally low -103rd -in the Women in Parliament study released on Thursday .

The worst country in the world for woman parliamentarians is Vanuatu, ranked 137th, where not a single woman is in parliament.

India, where only 12% of parliamentarians are women in both houses of parliament -65 in the Lower House and 31 in the Upper House -can learn from its immediate neighbours. Pakistan -having 84 woman parliamentarians -ranks 64th with 21% legislators in its lower House and 17% in the upper House being women. China, too, is much better off. It ranks 53rd with 699 members in its lower House being women (24%).

Nepal, which is ranked as high as 35, is a shining example of how to involve more women in parliament. Almost every third seat in Nepal's parliament -totalling around 176 -are occupied by women.

Not just these, even Afghanistan beats India by miles. The country is ranked 39th and boasts of 97 women parliamentarians -28% of seats in both its houses. In Bangladesh, too, every fifth parliamentarian is a woman (20%).

The IPU said, “There were also minor increases to both houses of Parliament in India, though the overall percentage remains very low.“

The US is ranked 72nd with 84 woman parliamentarians in its lower House (20%) and 20 in the upper House.The UK, on the other hand, is ranked 56th with 24% of parliamentary seats in the upper House taken by women and 23% in the lower House. There is, however, good news globally . The number of single or lower houses of parliament where women occupy more than 30% of the seats increased from five to 42, while those with more than 40% have jumped from one to 13 over the past five years.There are now also four chambers with more than 50% women MPs and one, Rwanda, with more than 60%.

In 1995, Europe dominated the top 10 spots in the IPU's world rankings of women in parliament. In 2015, four of the top 10 countries are from Sub-Saharan Africa.

Only Finland, Seychelles and Sweden appear in the top 10 for both 1995 and 2015, while Rwanda, Andorra and Bolivia have made the biggest leaps forward.

Indifferent MPs

Sachin Tendulkar adopted a district is Mumbai suburban, but Rekha has not bothered to even adopt a district as Rajya Sabha MP.

Private member’s bills

Private member’s bills passed by the parliament; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India