Parliament: India (general issues)
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content.
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This page deals with issues and factoids common to the two houses of Parliament, the Rajya Sabha as well as the Lok Sabha
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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“.
2015
Winter: Majority of time spent on non-legislative business
The Times of India Dec 24 2015
The winter session of Parliament that ended on Wednesday once again reflected how the productivity of Rajya Sabha, where proceedings were marked by frequent disruptions, remained just about 50%. Urging MPs to introspect, chairman Hamid Ansari said the record belied the House's commitment to Constitutional principles “in good measure“.
Against this, Lok Sabha logged productivity of 102%, passing more bills and spend ing more time in debating those legislations.
Ever since BJP-led NDA came to office, the oppositioncontrolled Rajya Sabha has been lagging behind in the past four sessions. Similar fig ures appeared during the monsoon session (July-August) during which Rajya Sabha registered a virtual washout, seen as its worst performance (9%). Over the years, the pro ductivity of Lok Sab ha and Rajya Sabha has been similar, with a few instances of one House performing marginally better than the other. However, in the last four sessions, the average productivity of Lok Sabha has been 97% and the average productivity of Rajya Sabha has been 62%,“ said the PRS Legislative Research in its analysis soon after the session ended on Wednesday .
The productivity gap between the Houses appeared to be getting pronounced since last year's winter session when Lok Sabha's overall productivity was 98% as compared to 59% of Rajya Sabha.This year's Budget session was an exception, with both Houses performing well.
An upset Ansari said the interruptions in the functioning of the House were “sought to be justified by specious logic by different sections of the House at different times to suit their tactics of the moment“, leading to loss of working time and neglect of listed business.
The PRS Legislative Research noted that the majority of the productive time during the winter session was spent on non-legislative business, which included discussions on issues related to price rise, drought and floods, and a two-day special sitting on reaffirming commitment to the principles and ideals of the Constitution.
The Times of India (Delhi)
Parliament canteen
2016: No subsidy, no-profit
The Times of India Jan 01 2016
Food items served in Parliament canteen will be dearer from Friday , with rates being revised in varying degrees in the wake of controversies over hugely subsidised costs of eatables in times of ballooning prices.
With the canteen working on `no-profit, no-loss' basis, a vegetarian platter which earlier cost Rs 18 will now be sold for Rs 30 and non-vegetarian thali will cost Rs 60 instead of Rs 33 earlier. A three-course meal will cost Rs 90 instead of Rs 61 earlier and chicken curry , earlier woorth Rs 29, will be sold for Rs 40. Some items like roti and tea will see no change in rates.
The number of items will be reduced to one-fifth to avoid wastage and cut cost. From 125-130 dishes, the number will be reduced to 25 per day
Legislative work, laws enacted
2016:100% work in monsoon session
The Times of India, Aug 13 2016
LS, RS score 100% biz in monsoon session
Parliament functioned overtime in the monsoon session with Lok Sabha working for 110.84% and Rajya Sabha for 99.54% of their scheduled time, according to the figures shared by the government.
During the session, 15 bills were introduced. While the Lok Sabha passed all 15, Rajya Sabha gave its nod to 14, including a constitutional amendment bill enabling the levy of Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Some bills that were introduced and passed on the same day included Lokpal and Lokayuktas (Amendment) Bill, which was passed in less than half an hour in each House, Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill and the Maternity Benefits (Amendment) Bill.
Another analysis by PRS Legislative Research, however, said that during this session, Rajya Sabha met for 96% and Lok Sabha for 101% of their scheduled time.This implies that lesser time was lost to disruptions.
During the session, both Houses sat for extra hours on most days. Out of 20 days, Lok Sabha sat beyond its scheduled time on 11 days, while Rajya Sabha sat beyond its scheduled time on 14 days.
Question hour was one of the most productive since 2004. During the session, 25% (98) of the questions were answered in Lok Sabha, while 28% (84) of the questions were answered in Rajya Sabha.
Question Hour in Lok Sabha functioned for 88% of its scheduled time, while in Rajya Sabha it functioned for 69% of its scheduled time.
Rajya Sabha spent 52% of its time, and Lok Sabha 40% of its time on discussing issues such as inflation, and atrocities against Dalits. The recent incidents in Kashmir were debated for a total of 16 hours in both the Houses.
Two bills replacing ordinances, the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016 and the Dentists (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016, which were promulgated by the President, were considered and passed by both Houses in this session.
Women in Parliament: 2014-16
The Times of India, Mar 8, 2016
Anahita Mukherji
Women in House: India's rank slips
The 16th Lok Sabha may have the highest number of women that the Lower House has ever had, but India has slipped from a rank of 117 among 188 countries in 2014 to 144 among 191 countries as on February 1, 2016, in terms of the proportion of women in Parliament. Barely 12% of MPs in the Lok Sabha are women and the figure stands at 12.8% in Rajya Sabha. This is well below the global average of around 22% in both Houses. President Pranab Mukherjee had made a strong pitch for reviving the Constitution amendment Bill to give 33% reservation to women in Parliament. While 62 women were elected to the Lok Sabha in the general elections in May 2014, four more have been added over the last couple of years through by-elections. But while the proportion of women has increased from 11.4% in June 2014 to 12% in February 2016, India's rank compared to other countries has fallen. Countries that currently rank higher than India include several African and Latin American countries, as well as countries that were part of the erstwhile Soviet Bloc. Rwanda ranks No 1 with 63.8% women in the lower house of parliament and 38.5% in the upper house.
"Equality is a core value in the Indian constitution. Why are women being kept out of Parliament? Why are women excluded from party lists at the time of elections? One cannot say that women lack merit," said CPM leader Brinda Karat, who has actively campaigned for the women's reservation bill. "The bill has been absent in business agendas for the last two years. Instead, what we have is the worst kind of tokenism, with the PM calling for only women MPs to speak on March 8," she added.
