How hard is your Parliamentarian working for you?

The Monsoon session of Parliament concluded last week and our Netas went into hibernation. However, your columnist being the hardworking writer that he is, will not be doing anything of the sort. Welcome to Parliament Matters, in which I delve into Parliament Archive, and emerge with facts and GIFs.

Think of this intersession column like a cow regurgitating unchewed food, sitting down royally and chewing it for hours with a contemplative air about her.

The whole point of this column is to make Parliament and everything that happens within those circular walls more relatable. So till the next session, deep dive with me into a few issues so that when our parliamentarians return, you’re ready, willing and able to identify the patterns, connect the dots and see the picture (or is it a GIF?) that emerges.

Best Job Ever!

Did you know that our Parliament sits for an average 67 business days in a year?

Compare this to the first, second and third Lok Sabha (1952 – 1967), when the Parliament sat for an average 120 days annually. Since then, the time of functioning has reduced by half!

Think about it this way, the average number of days an average Indian kid goes to school is 225. The average number of working days for you, ]doing a regular job in India, is 250 days. Even the number of workdays guaranteed under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA) is 100.

Oh but wait, there’s more! The average attendance of all our MPs (in the 16th Lok Sabha) is 82 per cent. So if you take that into consideration, on an average, our MPs collectively spend 55 days in the Parliament in a year. Our Members of Parliament, who are tasked with making laws that more or less run our lives, work for roughly one-fifth of that of an average working Indian citizen.

If an MP is reading this right now, I know what arguments are forming in his/her head:

“But but… I have to visit my constituency. I need time for that!”

“Hey! I need to spend time with my voters! Otherwise how will I get re-elected?”

All fair concerns. I’m not saying netas should attend Parliament for 250 days a year. If that happened, most of our representatives would just end up twiddling their thumbs in the house waiting for the Government to bring in bills & issues. Rather pointless.

But there are multiple committees and experts that have recommended that the Parliament should sit for at least 110 days annually. It would give MPs enough time to visit their constituencies and still be present for important law-making and stuff in Delhi.

To give you an international comparison, the American House of Representatives has had an average of 139 ‘legislative days’ since 2001, while the British House of Commons sits for an average of 150 days. And despite that, British peeps are grumbling that their MPs are ‘lazy’.

Our MPs should get a total ‘Sharmaji ka beta’ feels!

Amazeballs

If the number of days the Parliament sits are increased & properly planned, a very nice sequence of events *might* unfold.

1) Less disruptions!

One defining feature of the Parliament today is our elected representatives storming the well, gathering around the Speaker’s throne-chair and creatively using their loud voices to get things done. The last session (Monsoon 2016) had 20 business days, where the opposition did try to disrupt the Rajya Sabha during the first week. Both the houses functioned more or less smoothly after the first week, but there was much left to be discussed. We are all aware of how whole sessions have been scrapped due to disruptions previously. Valuable business time was wasted.

If the number of sittings is increased, the opposition will get more time to raise issues that they are concerned about. Simply put, the government can let them voice their concerns AND get their legislative business through.

2) Opposition ranting days!

One idea that has been floating around is to give one day in a week for the opposition to set the agenda. They can raise various issues that are bothering their collective conscience. So if there are four weeks for a session, the Congress will get four whole days to talk about how Mr Narendra Modi is ruining the country and vent out their anger (jk).

Opposition parties will get a chance to raise issues like price rise, atrocities against minorities, floods, draughts and much more. By having an extra week every session, the Government can make up for the time given to the opposition quite easily.

Everyone is happy!

3) Announcing a yearly calendar

The sitting days of the Parliament are decided by the Government of the day. The President issues the summons on the advice of the Government and we, the common peeps, find out about three weeks in advance when the session will start & end.

Here’s a wild thought: what if the session dates are decided a whole year in advance?

Well, it already happens in the United Kingdom and United States of America where yearly calendars are announced with the days of sittings pre-decided. This gives the Government and the representatives time to plan out their political and legislative strategies properly. The government has proper slots to bring in legislations and those can be announced months in advance too. It would automatically give everyone more time to go through the proposed laws and come to some sort of conclusion before the bill goes to the floor for discussion & voting.

Legislative business can be synchronised in an oddly satisfying manner. It is possible!

Whichever political party you support, whatever ideology you follow, the system under which democracy functions remains the same. Making small, incremental systemic changes can bring about a massive change in the way our country functions today. It might also affect how our politicians behave!

#ChewAway!