Discuss how the Indian parliament scrutinizes the functioning of the Indian executive. Is this constitutional arrangement on the backburner?
Discuss how the Indian parliament scrutinizes the functioning of the Indian executive. Is this constitutional arrangement on the backburner?
Parliamentary Scrutiny on the Executive:
- Parliament is the embodiment of the people’s will. Therefore, in addition to its legislative role, it is also mandated to scrutinize the functioning of the Government.
- The Parliament is equipped with various instruments for close and continuous scrutiny of the functioning of the government.
Instruments:
- General Discussions and debtes: During discussions/debates on Bills, issues of public or national interest on the floor of Parliament legislatures could point out any shortcoming of the government or its policies or loopholes in any laws or proposed bills.
- Question Hour: It is during the Question Hour that the members can ask questions on every aspect of administration and Governmental activity. This brings government policies in national as well as international spheres come into sharp focus.
- Parliamentary committees: Parliament has put in place a large machinery of committees to scrutinize the Bills which are brought before it by the government. They carry out the detailed scrutiny of the proposed legislation, for which they can solicit expert advice and elicit public opinion.
- Motions and Resolutions: They include no-confidence motion, censure motion and so on. Especially the no-confidence motion mandates the ruling government to overcome the no-confidence motion in its favour for its very survival.
Parliamentary Scrutiny on the backburner:
- Recently the winter session of the Parliament was truncated owing to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
- In the 16th Lok Sabha, question hour has functioned in Lok Sabha for 77% of the scheduled time, while in Rajya Sabha it has functioned for 47%.
- Also, over the years, there has been a decline in the sittings days of Parliament.
- There has been a declining trend in the percentage of Bills being referred to a Committee.
- While 60% of the Bills in the 14th Lok Sabha and 71% in the 15th Lok Sabha were vetted by the Parliamentary committees, this proportion came down to 27% in the 16th Lok Sabha.
Conclusion:
- The lacunae found in the system of parliamentary scrutiny should be fixed as soon as possible to ensure the vibrancy of our democracy.
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