By Vishakha Dahiya:
Parliament/Sansad is the most important legislative body of India. It is responsible for defining some of the most crucial decisions. However, 2013 hasn’t been a fruitful year for both the houses. The issues weren’t addressed as our ‘’Honourable’’ parliamentarians were busy in creating a chaos in the house rather than coming to a consensus on the issues of the nation’s interest. They were more focussed on reprimanding the opposition parties. For instance, the whole monsoon session was wasted as the opposition was adamant for the resignation of the PM Dr. Manmohan Singh. The speaker’s request to the parliamentarians went futile hence half of the sessions in 2013 were adjourned.
The newsmakers of 2013 are a counted few who turned the face of politics and emerged as cleansers in the dirty politics. As 2013 ended, there were two heroes who stole the entire show – Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal. Rahul Gandhi is different, the prince with heir’s luck on his shoulder.
If we look into the key updates of the parliament, we will come across the series of events which were mostly wasted due to the sessions adjourned sine die. For example on Dec 18, several hours were wasted due to discussions on issues related to the formation of Telangana as a separate state. But the speaker could not ascertain anything as there was continued disruption. If we look at the winter session 2013, we will come to a striking figure stating that the Lok Sabha worked for only 6% of the scheduled hours and Rajya Sabha could dedicate only 19%. Parliament has witnessed a significant waste of time due to the disruptions raised by a couple of MPs. From issues like sexual harassment to Telangana, there was a continued series of disruptions for an indefinite amount of time. Similarly, in the monsoon session, 2 MPs were suspended for disrupting the proceedings of the parliament.
Let us now have a look on the key bills that were passed in 2013 —
1) The Rajiv Gandhi National Aviation University Bill.
2) The security and exchange board of India.
3) The national food security bill.
4) The criminal law bill.
5) The protection of women from sexual harassment at workplace bill.
6) The lokpal bill
72 bills are still pending in loksabha .
If only the MPs were more interested in resolving the issues rather than trying to demolish the opponents’ image, it would have been a different story overall. It is disheartening to see the current state of the country, being handled by a bunch of representatives who have forgotten their basic duty towards their country. The parliament has become a mockery of Democracy. We often picture parliament as a supreme body run by people with high moral standards. But a look at the major sessions of the Parliament only weakens our trust in the very belief of the parliamentary system.