Zeroing in

The loss of an entire winter session was unprecedented and unfortunate,but it gave a new relevance and urgency to the question of how to make our Parliament function more effectively and on the various structural and procedural changes that are required to bring this about. It led to a new searching on reclaiming the stature of the House for protecting its debates,discussions and itself. Its in this context and with chunks of the present budget session too being lost to disruptions that Rajya Sabha Chairperson Hamid Ansari decided to break with tradition and bring about an elementary modification: change the timetable of the House. Ansari has decided to postpone the Question Hour where starred or unstarred questions can be asked and which often gets derailed by eager members who want to make their point the first thing in the morning to afternoon. Instead,the House will first take up matters that are raised with the permission of the Chair or what is called Zero Hour submissions. What is expected out of this tinkering is an orderly beginning to a days proceedings.

Every institution has to evolve,to respond imaginatively to the peculiar challenges of the times. And Ansaris experiment is a beginning. We also have to consider our legislatures deeper,structural issues. One,for instance,being whether the House is subsuming the voice of the individual legislator. Isnt the grandstanding by smaller parties and individual MPs often a desperate but useful measure to call attention of their constituency back home,the House and the media to their importance as well as their grievances? Isnt it essential to spare a little time and some space for parliamentarians to articulate their concerns,without making a production of it? Also,shouldnt the parties themselves take responsibility and invest in pressure groups to ensure civility of proceedings?

Yet,theres only so much that rescheduling and restructuring by themselves can effect. The honour of the House and the civility of its discourse can only be elevated by the imagination of its members.