This is the message I wrote in prpoint group. I am sharing for the information of members.
srinivasan
BNK has raised this issue quoting TOI story. Already, i have also published data relating to the disruption in Parliament. Even yesterday, I have released the speech copy of Dr K Rosiah, Governor of Tamil Nadu who expressed concern on disruption issue during our sansad ratna function.
Since, we had many MPs and MLAs in our panel, we also had a detailed discussion on this matter. I would like to share some of the interesting facts about the disruption.
Do not blame the individual MPs; disruption is the decision of party leadership
Many times, all the people try to blame the individual Parliament Members for disruption. We should understand that no individual MP can take a decision on disruption. It is the party leadership that takes decision on disruptions and the members have to simply obey the directions.
Indian democracy is based on 'Constitutional democracy' 395 Articles of Indian constitution runs our Governance. Though independent MPs are permitted, our system is based on political system. This is needed for stability of the Government and the country of our size.
Under Parliament rules, disruptions are allowed to show the protest of the opposition on the functioning of the Government. There is a large difference between the protest shown outside the House and inside the House. When the protest is shown inside the House, the Government gets the accountability.
Even in the earlier Lok Sabhas, the opposition parties used to show the protest through disruption. In most of the cases, the Members worked late and compensated the loss of Parliament time.
Impact of disruption
14th Lok Sabha (2004-2009) lost 22% of the Parliament time. The current 15th Lok Sabha has so far lost around 32% of the Parliament Time. Every one hour of disruption costs Rs.25 lakhs to the exchequer. For a country like India, the money factor is very very negligible. The main loss is the discussion on various bills, question hours, private members bills.
Now it has become a fashion among the big or small parties to disrupt the Parliament even for their regional issues. We should not blame the Members of Parliament for this. The high command of those parties instruct the MPs to disrupt the houses, to draw the national attention of their local issues through TV channels and print media. Importance given by the media for the negative stories is also the main contributor for such disruptions.
Top performing MPs are the victims
The top 100 MPs (all parties) contribute nearly 60% of the debates and questions. Due to such disruptions, active MPs lose their chance to present their views, in spite of their preparations. The top 100 MPs run the majority of the show in the House.
On my suggestion, one of the MPs submitted a Private Members bills to start an institution to refinance education loans, which can help crores of poor students to pursue higher education at a very low cost. Though this bill got listed, due to disruptions, it could not be introduced. I am not sure, even after introduction of this bill, whether the Parliament will have time to discuss on this vital issue. I am sharing this as an example, to show that many such important issues may go undiscussed in the current Lok Sabha. The particular MP got really dejected that he could not introduce the bill and speak on this, in spite of his preparations.
During this 15th Lok Sabha, 370 bills (Government bills) were planned for introduction. Only 172 could be introduced. Of this only 99 bills have so far been passed. Even in this 99,. 29 bills were passed without discussion.
56% of the Question Hour time was lost. Though 20 questions are listed in the House every day for oral reply, normally 6 to 7 questions are answered within one hour by the Ministers concerned. The opposition can put supplementary question and force the Government to come out with decision.
During such disruption and cancellation of question hours, Ministers escape from facing the Opposition members. During the discussion on bills, Government has it own way of getting the bills passed without much input from opposition.
Opposition takes the blame, Government gets the reprieve
If you closely analyse the situation, disruption helps the Government more by not facing Parliament, while blame goes to opposition. This is a very interesting and complicated issue.
When the country is facing lot of challenges from within and outside, such disruptions may cause cynicism among the people and citizens may lose faith on the democratic institutions. Every Indian can feel proud of our constitutional democracy, which has survived many challenges.
In such impasse, it is the responsibility of the Government to enter into dialogue with the opposition leaders and find a way out to run the Parliament smoothly in the interest of the nation. I feel that the Government is now enjoying this disruptions, since they do not want to face the Parliament due to various scams and mishandlings. When such things continue, people will blame only opposition. This will be an advantage for the Government. Opposition leaders also should realise the catch 22 situation and try to find out a solution.
What is the solution?
I have also mooted out an idea in the Sansad Ratna function that Parliament should compensate the loss of time by sitting extra hours. While British Parliament sits for 150 days (8 hours each day) in an year, Indian Lok Sabha sits around 60 to 70 days (7 hours each day) per year. Even within this, nearly one-third is lost in disruption. Presently, there is no rule that stipulates minimum number of working days for Parliament. A time has come that Parliament should pass a resolution to work for a minimum of 100 days (without disruption). This is the only way, we can find a solution.
In my view, disruption is allowed and it should be there to show protest. But it should get compensated with further extra sittings.
Srinivasan
Prime Point
www.sansadratna.in
On Mon, Apr 29, 2013 at 9:44 AM, BNK 24x7 <mailbnk@gmail.com> wrote:
This report in today's Times of India makes a very disturbing reading. This forum has discussed with alarm the trend among our elected representatives to keep disrupting Parliament.This report makes us wonder whether we the people of India spend thousands of crores of rupees on elections only to see this? Admittedly, opposing the Government is the opposition parties' birth right. But can they not do within the House by rains points of order etc., instead of forcing adjournments after adjournments?There are several Bills pending approval of Parliament. They will all now be relegated to the dusty shelves of Parliament secretariats!Friends, let us use our collecting power to make our elected representatives realise that they are doing a great disservice to the Nation by not allowing Parliament to function.We need to find ways to spend the tax payers' money wisely.RegardsBNK
=======This Lok Sabha could be the least productive in history
Bharti Jain, TNN | Apr 29, 2013, 04.20 AM ISTA TV grab of Lok Sabha proceedings. (File photo)NEW DELHI: The present Lok Sabha could well end up with the dubious distinction of being the least productive in terms of business transacted among those that completed their full five-year terms.
According to statistics compiled by the Lok Sabha secretariat, 1,157 hours of sittings had taken place until the 12th session of the 15th Lok Sabha, which was elected in May 2009.
Among the Houses that completed five-year terms, the 14th Lok Sabha has the worst record so far as it clocked just 1,737 hours of sittings. But even that could be beyond the present Lok Sabha, which will have to manage almost 600 hours of sittings in less than a year if it is to overtake its immediate predecessor.
Some Houses, like the 9th, 11th and 12th Lok Sabhas, did manage far fewer than 1,737 hours. But none of them completed their full terms. While the 9th Lok Sabha clocked 754 hours, it also had a life of barely two years (1989-91). Similarly, the 11th Lok Sabha clocked 814 hours in 1996-1997 and the 12th 575 hours in 1998-1999. Interestingly, the 6th Lok Sabha managed 1,753 hours of sittings even though it lasted just two years (1977-1979).
The current Lok Sabha's failure to transact any business since the resumption of the budget session on April 22 deepens a worrying trend that has seen an acrimonious House losing over half an hour to disruptions and adjournments for every hour of business transacted by it.
According to data maintained by the Lok Sabha secretariat, as many as 634 hours were lost on account of interruptions and adjournments until the 12th session of the 15th Lok Sabha, totalling more than 50% of 1,157 hours of sittings of the House.
The lament that our MPs are not the most diligent of public representatives seems borne out by their record in the current Lok Sabha with the treasury benches and the opposition clashing over scams like 2G, Commonwealth Games and Coalgate and regional parties also being major disrupters.
Contentious issues like Telangana and regional one-upmanship have spilt onto the floor of Lok Sabha. The situation has been aggravated by the government's floor management being average for most of this Lok Sabha's tenure while an aggressive opposition has not been inclined to cooperate either.
Sources in the parliamentary affairs ministry said nearly 41 hours were lost in the first half of the ongoing budget session due to adjournments following disruptions over Coalgate, Nirbhaya gang-rape and alleged atrocities against Tamils in Sri Lanka.
The opposition's post-recess protests over the leaked draft report of the JPC on 2G and alleged government interference in CBI's inquiry into the coal scam ensured a shutdown over the last four working days.
A rough calculation puts hours lost so far this session at nearly 65, and indications are that this figure may only rise in the days to come give the new low in government-opposition ties over the 2G draft report and the fresh controversy over Coalgate.
As demands for grants for four ministries of agriculture, coal, textiles and new and renewable energy face the guillotine at 6 pm on April 30, the current session - the 13th for the 15th Lok Sabha - could end up as the budget session that recorded maximum time lost.
While the budget session of 2011 recorded maximum disruptions, resulting in loss of nearly 70 hours, the 2012 budget session saw 48 hours being lost to adjournments, while the figure for 2010 was just 25 hours.
Although nearly 634 hours were lost over the last 12 sessions compared to sittings spread over 1,157 hours, the Lok Sabha did make up for lost time by sitting through lunch recess and extended hours totalling nearly 253 hours.
Of the 12 sessions completed by the 15th Lok Sabha until December 2012, the most productive in terms of hours of sittings was the 10th session - the budget session of 2012 - clocking 187 hours 36 minutes of work.
The least productive session was the winter session of 2010 - the sixth session of the current Lok Sabha - when disruptions over the opposition's demand for constitution of a JPC on the 2G scam saw the people's representatives working for just 7 hours 35 minutes as against more than 124 hours lost due to disruptions.
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