Taking a break to get things done

This week, as both Houses of Parliament go into a 8216;recess8217; in what is the longest session of the year...

This week, as both Houses of Parliament go into a 8216;recess8217; in what is the longest session of the year, there is a general sense that members are taking time out and this is when they put their feet up. MPs do a lot of grandstanding on issues during sessions, reams are written in the media on work done or not done?, legislative business transacted or days spent debating issues, staging walk-outs or meticulously planned protests in the well, perilously close to the chair. The impression therefore is of garrulous MPs, who do precious little for most of the session, and then get into breaks at the drop of a hat. But the truth is that the 8216;recess8217; like the one that has just started is a bit of a misnomer, as this is when the bulk of Parliament8217;s business gets done. A back of the envelope calculation suggests that the total time spent by MPs in the parliamentary committees they are part of often exceeds the total amount of time they sit in the hallowed portals, debating matters, or saying aye to bills.

It was decided in the mid-8217;90s, during the prime ministership of P.V. Narasimha Rao, that the system of parliamentary committees existing elsewhere should be adopted in India. In the UK, the standing committees of the House of Commons consist of 15 to 20 MPs who discuss each piece of proposed legislation line by line, and have the minister concerned with the bill as a mandatory member apart from the opposition members. When the practice of committees was adopted by India, there were important variations to the theme. About 18 department-related standing committees came into existence originally, and now there are 24. Each committee now has 31 members, drawn from all political parties. All MPs, who are not ministers, get to be in a committee and each committee has 21 MPs from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha.

What is striking is that these committees actually do the bulk of what MPs should be doing. These are places where the general public does not see them getting on with business that they do. They do specialised and focused work and examine demands, grants and the general functioning of departments and ministries. Another thing worth noting is the fact that despite being drawn from different political parties 8212; usually with daggers drawn8212; when members are in smaller groups and assigned special tasks of examining what ministries are doing, or taking a detailed look at bills of various descriptions, they work reasonably cohesively: most reports are decided upon unanimously. Dissenting notes obviously exist, but these committees witness politicians of very divergent views, doing a lot of work as a team.

There have been demands to make the hearings at the committees open to the public, but the move appears to run into rough weather whenever someone decides to do it, and perhaps is the better for it. Some argue that the 24/7 public scrutiny of Parliament on TV may be serving the purpose of displaying MP behaviour to the public; but many others would say that precisely because this is not telecast, and the members have no desire to play to their constituencies, that the results are more constructive.

Even today, standing committee reports are not binding on the government of the day. But each ministry, in the 14th Lok Sabha, is committed to tabling an Action Taken Report on the recommendations of the standing committee, every six months. While the government of the day can still reject each of the recommendations made by the committees, as the accounting of action taken is mandatory to the House as a whole, ministers have to deal with members of the committee who are present in the House and can question the former, and get replies from them. The recommendations of the reports, then, don8217;t necessarily get hermetically sealed and put away, but do get attention drawn towards them and succeed in conveying the sense of the house on significant legislation.

Another purpose that these committees serve is to give several of those MPs, who may not be either from a party or very important in the party hierarchy or may just not have a loud voice, a chance to contribute. An MP like film-maker Shyam Benegal, for instance, who diligently attends Parliament, has things to say about goings-on in the public sphere, and brings a different experience and expertise to the House, finds opportunities to contribute in smaller committees instead of getting lost in the hurly burly of a day in Parliament. For several MPs like Benegal, each day of the 8216;recess8217; in this budget session is a very busy day at the office.

seema.chishtiexpressindia.com