Opposition can have its say, the govt will have its way

KV Prasad in New Delhi

The Budget session of Parliament, the first for the 17th Lok Sabha, just got extended and by the time the new target date of adjournment arrives on August 7, both the Houses would have had some 40 working days spread across eight weeks.

It may not qualify as the longest in terms of Budget sessions of the past, but the Narendra Modi government is certainly in the quest of setting a new template when it comes to introducing and enacting legislations in the past two decades, while the Houses are running smoothly without major disruptions.

Though it is tempting to compare performance over the past two decades, it is important to ponder over two factors and contextualise the political landscape. First, the 2014 BJP government that came to office with its own majority happened in national politics after three decades. Second and more pertinent is that between 1989 and 2014 was an era of coalitions when fractious politics played out in Parliament. Parties when out of power resorted to stalling tactics and disruptions as a weapon, with the then top BJP leaders even justifying it.

This year, the Modi government returned to the Lok Sabha with greater numbers, which gives it an additional ring of confidence. Then there is a new-found zeal among the MPs what with nearly 260-plus being first-time representatives in the Lok Sabha, a majority of whom belong to the ruling BJP.  The freshman MPs bring new ideas and most of them are encouraged by Speaker Om Birla, who is offering them a chance to speak in the House.

The Speaker, in his second term as MP, knows about the travails of a freshman and is making an attempt to sharpen focus during Question Hour, requesting both MPs and Ministers to be brief and to the point.

Through this approach, Speaker Birla hopes to accommodate various points of view while ushering in greater accountability of the government, since the Question Hour is all about the right of the member to ask the Treasury Benches about its policies and programmes.

30-odd Bills introduced

At the end of last week, July 26, when the Budget session was scheduled to end, the government had introduced some 30-odd Bills, securing parliamentary nod on most.

Parliamentary managers of the ruling coalition led by the Bharatiya Janata Party have every reason to cheer as both the Houses are going full-steam ahead, what with statistics revolving around the narrative as being the most productive session in recent memory.

There are several reasons behind such a performance; one, the 300+ majority of the Modi government in the 543-member Lok Sabha not only provides strength to the BJP-led government to push forward its legislative business with ease, but also allows it to create a momentum. Then there is a compulsion that the new government faces. It has to replace 10 ordinances issued after the end of the last session of the 16th Lok Sabha with regular laws. It also wants to take forward another 10-odd Bills that lapsed with the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha. Failure to secure clearance of Parliament would result in these ordinances lapsing and forcing the government to fall back on the emergency law-making procedure all over again, a route the Modi government 1.0 resorted to once too often.

For instance, last Friday was the third time that Lok Sabha considered and passed the instant triple talaq Bill, but on two previous occasions it failed to get it past the Rajya Sabha. This time around, after the success in piloting the RTI (Amendment) Bill in the Council of States, the parliamentary managers’ confidence to get approval of the Upper House should be high.

Upper hand in Upper House

Unlike the previous Modi Government, the BJP is not hemmed in the Rajya Sabha on numbers that are on the rise and the Opposition, which enjoyed numerical superiority providing them the opportunity to deny easy passage of contentious Bills, is going to be tested more often. The manner in which the combined Opposition got outmanoeuvred on the RTI Bill is a case in point.

The intention of the Modi government 2.0 to be more active in passing laws was declared when the Prime Minister told the Rajya Sabha that many Bills had lapsed last time since the House did not pass it. Citing sagely advice by former President Pranab Mukherjee, he reminded that the majority has got the mandate to rule and minority the mandate to oppose, but nobody has got the mandate to obstruct.

Shorn of its political authority, the Opposition on its part too is acutely aware of this reality and by and large proceedings of the Upper House have been smooth. Barring an effort to send the RTI Amendment Bill to the Select Committee for greater scrutiny, there has been no major effort to strategise on any legislation.

‘Decreasing’ scrutiny

There are genuine concerns now being heard over decreasing parliamentary scrutiny of the law-making process. The Opposition is crying hoarse that the practice of referring Bills to Standing Committees for detailed examination is being given a go-by.

The government offers a different take. One, that the process of forming 24 Departmental Related Standing Committees (DRSCs) is not complete since all parties are yet to nominate members. To counter the argument of scrutiny, the BJP parliamentary managers say debate and discussion in the Houses forms part of the deliberative process and oversight.

While formation of DRSCs, a practice that came into being in 1990s, involves much thought, with parties seeking to nominate members with areas of interest and keeping overall balance of representation according to strength in the Houses, the work allows greater consultation with stakeholders, advocacy groups, civil society, domain experts and also officials who drafted the proposed legislation.

In case of Budget, officials of ministries can also be asked to explain the rationale of seeking funds from the exchequer for various projects.

Former Lok Sabha Secretary General PDT Acharya, who was associated with Parliament for four decades, said Speaker Somnath Chatterjee would insist on sending Bills to panels of jurisdiction for scrutiny unless the government made a specific request for passage without referral and convinced him of the reason for such urgent clearance.

While governments of the day and Ministers in particular would be eager for early passage of Bills being brought by them before Parliament, the deliberative process is also meant to sharpen the law. At times, laws made in haste can end up having unintended consequences as the UPA-1 found after enacting the Special Economic Zones Act that upset the farmers, requiring policy alteration by the Congress.

After the 2019 Lok Sabha election verdict, it is easy to adapt the adage: Opposition can have its say, but the government will have its way. The only caveat is it should not result in reduced consultation and less negotiations with those holding contrarian views.

ORDINANCES BEING REPLACED BY ACTS

• The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Second Ordinance 2019 (Triple Talaq Bill)
• The Indian Medical Council Amendment Second Ordinance 2019
• The Banning of Unregulated Deposit Scheme Ordinance 2019
• The J&K Reservation Ordinance 2019
• The Aadhaar and Other Laws Amendment Ordinance 2019
• The New Delhi International Arbitration Centre Ordinance 2019
• The Homeopathy Central Council Amendment ordinanc 2019
• The Special Economic Zone Amendment Ordinance 2019
• The Central Education Institutions Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre Amendment Ordinance 2019