The monsoon session of Parliament begins today. It marks the completion of two years of the tenure of the 16th Lok Sabha. This is a
time for the treasury and opposition benches to reflect on past performance, and an opportunity to strategise and course-correct for
the future. The past two years have been a mixed bag with respect to parliamentary functioning. Some sessions have seen record levels of productivity while others have been completely washed out.
In a parliamentary democracy, the treasury benches are responsible for ensuring the functioning of the legislature. This is done by initiating conversations and building a consensus on contentious issues.
Opposition Should Check, Not Disrupt
In this Lok Sabha, as in many others, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government relied more on the strength of its numbers rather than reaching out to the opposition. This tactic failed them on multiple occasions. The result was delay in the passing of crucial legislation.
The opposition is also not free from blame. They are tasked with the responsibility of keeping a check on government’s functioning. The Congress followed the time- honoured traditions of previous opposition parties and resorted to disrupting Parliament. This effectively compromised Parliament’s ability to hold the government accountable for its actions.
Parliament’s role as a law-making institution suffered in the last two years. The blame for this to a certain extent can also be ascribed to the Opposition parties. On multiple occasions, they were co-opted by the treasury benches in passing legislation without adequate scrutiny.
What to Expect This Season?
The 16th Lok Sabha has been a little different than other Lok Sabhas. In the last two years, government business and non-government business received almost equal attention. This monsoon session follows the same trajectory. The session is scheduled to have 20 sitting days with 15 bills listed for consideration and passing.
This means that the Opposition will have opportunities for cornering the government on policy and political issues. The government’s response to floods in different parts of the country, matters of internal security and our unsuccessful attempt at securing membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) will be some of the issues that could be raised by the Opposition parties in this session.
At the top of the government’s agenda is the passage of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill. Passed by the Lok Sabha last year, it is currently pending in the Upper House.
The fixing of a cap on the tax rate for GST in the constitutional amendment remains a point of difference between the government and the Congress party.
Media reports suggest that the government has been reaching out to the principal Opposition party in an attempt to iron out the differences. The passage of the constitutional bill will be a first step towards the roll-out of the GST regime.
Other Bills Awaiting Clearance
The other bill which awaits Rajya Sabha clearance is the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill. This Bill sets up national and state funds for compensatory afforestation and forest conservation. Under the Bill, 10 percent of the funds collected will be received in a national fund and 90 percent will be transferred to the state funds.
The legislative agenda released by the government indicates that it will also seek the passage of the Whistle Blowers Protection Amendment Bill. This Bill prohibits reporting of corruption related complaints that fall under ten specified categories. These categories have been modelled on those under the 2005 RTI Act under which information maybe denied. This bill is also pending in the Rajya Sabha.
A piece of financial legislation that the government plans to get passed through Parliament is the Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debts Laws (Amendment) Bill. The main thrust of this Bill is to harmonise existing legislation to speed up the debt recovery process. The parliamentary committee which was examining it has met several stakeholders and its report is expected in the first week of the session.
New Introductions
The government’s legislative agenda suggests that it plans to introduce and pass a bill which will allow the use of DNA technology in civil and criminal proceedings. The bill is listed under the category of bills for introduction, consideration and passing.
This means that the government will not press for referring it to a parliamentary standing committee for detailed scrutiny. This suggests that the government chooses to ignore learnings from the last two years, and in its attempt to pass legislation quickly it is weakening parliamentary scrutiny of legislation.
This session will be a curtain raiser for the kind of parliamentary functioning that the nation will witness till 2019. In this session, political parties will set the tone for debate for the coming years. The government will have to keep in mind that its performance will not be judged by the number of legislations passed but by their quality. The Opposition will be judged by its contribution in strengthening debates on issues and institutions and not by whether it was successful in thwarting the government’s legislative agenda.
(The writer is head of Outreach, PRS Legislative)
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