Parliament: India (general issues)
(→Parliament attack: 2001) |
(→India no. 103 in women's representation) |
||
| Line 65: | Line 65: | ||
Neither sent any development project proposal to the government. Both have accumulated Rs 10 crore each in their two year old accounts. | Neither sent any development project proposal to the government. Both have accumulated Rs 10 crore each in their two year old accounts. | ||
| + | |||
| + | [[File: parliamnt.jpg|Work done in the Rajya Sabha in the winter session, 2015;Graphic courtesy: [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Gallery.aspx?id=24_12_2015_012_028_003&type=P&artUrl=GROWING-PAY-LITTLE-DONE-24122015012028&eid=31808 ''The Times of India'']Dec 24 2015 | ||
| + | |frame|500px]] | ||
=India no. 103 in women's representation= | =India no. 103 in women's representation= | ||
| Line 97: | Line 100: | ||
[[File: parliamnt 3.jpg|The cost of running the parliament, 1951-2006;Graphic courtesy: [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Gallery.aspx?id=24_12_2015_012_028_003&type=P&artUrl=GROWING-PAY-LITTLE-DONE-24122015012028&eid=31808 ''The Times of India'']Dec 24 2015 | [[File: parliamnt 3.jpg|The cost of running the parliament, 1951-2006;Graphic courtesy: [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Gallery.aspx?id=24_12_2015_012_028_003&type=P&artUrl=GROWING-PAY-LITTLE-DONE-24122015012028&eid=31808 ''The Times of India'']Dec 24 2015 | ||
| − | |frame|500px]] | + | |frame|500px]] |
=Indifferent MPs= | =Indifferent MPs= | ||
Revision as of 17:48, 10 January 2016
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content.
|
This page deals with issues and factoids common to the two houses of Parliament, the Rajya Sabha as well as the Lok Sabha
Contents |
Non-political celebrity MPs
Celebrities in the Indian parliament
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
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.
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
Apr 25 2015
Just 14 private member's bills passed by Parliament till date; the last was in 1970
Only 14 private member's bill have been passed by both Houses and become law in the history of Indian Parliament. The last such bill, the Supreme Court (enlargement of criminal appellate jurisdiction) Bill, was passed in 1970. Members of Parliament other than ministers are called private members and bills presented by them are known as private member's bills.
An overwhelming number of such bills are introduced with only a fraction even discussed on the floor of the House. According to data collated by PRS Legislative Research in the 13th Lok Sabha, 343 such bills were introduced but only 17 were discussed while only 14 of the 328 bills were discussed in the 14th LS. In the last LS, 372 bills were introduced by members but 11 were discussed while in the present (16th Lok Sabha) 206 bills have been introduced and six have been discussed excluding the bill on transgenders introduced on Friday .
Among the bills that were introduced on Friday was one which seeks to set targets for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to address climate change, another to prevent, control and manage the HIVAIDS epidemic, yet another to establish a fodder warehouse board, a national commission for famers and amendments to protection of children from sexual offences act among others.
“No private member's bill has become law since 1970,“ Subhash Kashyap, expert in parliamentary affairs said.
Among the 14 bills that have become law in the past and were introduced in the Lok Sabha were the Muslim Wakfs Bill as early as 1952 that provided for better governance and administration of Muslim Wakfs, the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill in 1953 that aimed to empower the revisional court to stay or suspend the final orders of lower courts and the Indian Registration (Amendment) Bill, 1955 which sought to remove the anomaly of recording castes and sub-castes of parties in a deed for registration.
Others include the Proceedings of Legislature (Protection of Publication) Bill, 1956, brought by Feroze Gandhi in the Lok Sabha to protect journalists reporting on Parliament proceedings and to define by law the privilege available to publications made in good faith of reports of proceedings of legislatures, the Women's and Children's Institutions (Licensing) Bill, 1954, introduced by Rajmata Kamlendu Mati Shah and passed in 1956 to regulate and license orphanages and other institutions caring for women and children under 18 years of age and to provide for the proper custody , care and training of their inmates.
The Ancient and Historical Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Declaration of National Importance) Bill, 1954 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha by Raghubir Singh and aimed to get certain monuments included in the list of Monuments of National Importance declared in the principal Act of 1951.
The Hindu Marriage (Amendment) Bill in 1956 brought by Seeta Parmanand in RS and passed in 1956 said that when both parties belong to the Hindu religion and are marrying under the Special Marriage Act, they will be governed by the Hindu Succession Act, 1956.
The Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 1957, the Orphanages and Other Charitable Homes (Supervision and Control) Bill, 1960, the Marine Insurance Bill, 1959, the Hindu Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 1962, the Salaries and Allowances of Members of Parliament (Amendment) Bill, 1964 and the Indian Penal Code (amendment) bill, 1963, passed in 1969 were also some bills passed by both Houses.
Parliament attack: 2001
India Today December 29, 2008
December 13, 2001, saw an audacious terror attack on Parliament which the intelligence agencies had no clue about. “The attack on Parliament was reality television at its horrific best, September 11 and the World Trade Centre translated into Indian idiom,” said India Today in December 2001. The elaborate terror plot was hatched for eight months by the terror organisation in Pakistan and their local modules in Delhi and Kashmir.
Suspension of members
Rule 374(A)
Rule 374(A): MPs suspended if named
The Times of India, August 4, 2015
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Majahan invoked Rule 374(A) to name (identifying for action) 25 Congress members who were in protesting in the well of the House. Rule 374(A) says, “Notwithstanding anything contained in Rules 373 and 374, in the event of grave disorder occasioned by a member coming into the well of the House or abusing the Rules of the House, persistently and willfully obstructing its business by shouting slogans or otherwise, such member shall, on being named by the Speaker, stand automatically suspended from the service of the House for five consecutive sittings or the remainder of the session, whichever is less“.
