Relevance : GS Paper II
Category: GS 2 (Polity)
Theme of the article
In today’s extraordinary circumstances Parliament should convene soon; adapting IT solutions can make this even easier
Introduction
Parliaments in democracies around the world are meeting and questioning their governments on their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, India’s Parliament, which prides itself as the apex representative body of the world’s largest democracy, is a notable absentee.
How Parliaments are being convened during the pandemic
- The British Parliament has adopted a hybrid model of in-person and video attendance.
- Several other countries have held sessions either with physical distancing (fewer MPs attend with agreement across parties) or video conferencing or a combination of the two. These include France, Italy, Argentina, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand.
- Many others are convening their committees through video-conferencing.
Significance of Parliament
Parliament has a central role in our system of governance.
- First and foremost, it is the institution that checks and challenges the government of the day. The parliamentary system holds the government to account on a daily basis through questions, motions and debates. The fact that Parliament has not met for over two months indicates the absence of scrutiny of government actions.
- The current steps by the central government are being taken under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, which was not designed to handle epidemics. There was no other law that provide it with powers to impose a lockdown across the country. Parliament could have passed an appropriate Act.
- The Constitution requires all expenditure by the government to be approved by Parliament. The government has announced a series of measures to address the economic crisis sparked by the health crisis and the lockdown. These have not been subject to parliamentary scrutiny or approval.
- MPs have a duty to shape policy and guide the government in national interest. They represent the concerns of people by raising issues in Parliament. The country is facing serious challenges on many fronts as a consequence of the pandemic.
- There have been several news reports of migrants being mistreated, not provided transport, being harassed by the police — and being stripped of their dignity. Parliament is the forum where such issues should be discussed and a plan of action agreed upon.
Constitution does not prohibit hybrid or remote meeting of Parliament
- Our Constitution does not prohibit meetings that may require maintenance of physical distancing or remote meetings. It states that the President may summon Parliament “to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit”.
- The Rules of Procedure of both Houses require the Secretary-General to issue summons to each member specifying the “date and place for a session” of the House. These enabling clauses can be used to hold hybrid meetings or remote meetings.
- The Rules require parliamentary committees to sit within the “precincts” of the House but the Speaker may permit meetings to be held outside.
The question of secure connectivity
- The question of security and secrecy may come up. The meetings of the Houses are usually telecast live, and there is no issue of confidentiality. Committee meetings, on the other hand, may require secure remote working tools.
- Given that large global corporations as well as parliamentary committees of several other countries seem to have solved this problem, there is no reason that the Indian Parliament cannot adapt these solutions.
- All district headquarters are linked with fibre optic lines, so even if there is a problem of connecting the constituency office of MPs, they could use such government facilities.
Way forward
- If our parliamentarians think that they are sentinels of the people, they should find a way to perform their constitutional duties.
- Over the last three months, central and State governments have issued over 5,000 notifications to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. The appropriateness of these circulars need to be examined by Parliament and its committees.
- In ordinary times, Parliament would have its next session in the second half of July. In today’s extraordinary circumstances, Parliament should meet sooner, perhaps within a couple of weeks.
Conclusion
India prides itself on being the world’s largest democracy as well as the information technology provider to the world. It is imperative that Parliament harnesses the country’s IT strengths to buttress our credentials as a performing democracy.
