June 27, 2019
Dear Shri Venkaiah Naiduji,
Shri Om Birlaji, Shri Prahlad Joshiji
You are well aware of the
huge loss in working hours that the 16th Lok Sabha and the Rajya
Sabha suffered in the period 2014 – 2109 owing to the irresponsible and intransigent behavior
of some members and political parties.
This is an insult to each and
every voter who takes time out from the work of earning his/her daily bread to elect
their representatives for the purpose of framing laws and recommending action
to the government to make the country more livable for all citizens.
Further there is a huge financial
loss to the exchequer, which is eventually a loss to the common citizen,
because of such interruptions when members get paid for doing no work or not
being allowed to do any work.
According to the https://www.prsindia.org/parliamenttrack/vital-stats/functioning-16th-lok-sabha-2014-2019
· This (i.e. 16th) Lok Sabha lost 16% of its scheduled time to
disruptions, better than the 15th Lok
Sabha (37%), but worse than the 14th Lok
Sabha (13%).
· Rajya Sabha lost 36% of its scheduled time. In the 15th and 14th Lok
Sabhas, it lost 32% and 14% of its scheduled time, respectively.
This Lok Sabha sat for 331 days (against a 468-day average for all
previous full-term Lok Sabhas), and lost 16% of its time to disruptions.
This is a shameful 66 days
every year out of the 250 working days that are available. True, sometime has to be spent by MPs in their constituencies
but look at the proportion – only 26 % in Parliament and the rest ?
The cost of every minute of
Lok Sabha time is huge - Rs. 2.5 Lakhs
- clearly every minute is precious to the
country and must be utilized only for the purpose for which MPs are elected –
making laws, highlighting the common man’s grievances and difficulties and keeping
the Government accountable.
(The average monthly expenditure on each MP is around Rs
2,70,000, including salary and all allowances and for running the Parliament,
the expenditure is around Rs 2, 50,000 per minute. – Source : https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/060418/217-hours-lost-due-to-interruptions-in-lok-sabha.html)
In view of the above, I would like to make some suggestions to your
respected selves which will ensure that Parliament functions smoothly,
productively and for significantly longer periods than the previous 5 years.
a) If there is a time loss, due to
interruptions/heckling/shouting by members for more than 60 minutes on any day, then, No member of the House will get his Daily Allowance (of all kinds) for
that day. This will put pressure from
all other members, on the offending members, to refrain from their disruptive
antics.
b) If any member enters the well of the house
and is requested by the Speaker / Presiding Officer to get back to his/her seat
and refuses to do so, he/she will be issued a verbal warning by the
Speaker/Presiding Officer.
If
the act is repeated, immediately a second verbal warning will be issued. If, thereafter he /she does not withdraw from
the well or repeats the action of entering the well, the member will be immediately
expelled for the day and the House Marshalls will escort the member out. In
such a case the member will not only lose his Daily Allowance but one day’s salary too.
c) If any member continuously disrupts the
proceedings of the House by repeatedly shouting, interrupting or any other act
that impedes the functioning of the House, and is requested by the Speaker /
Presiding Officer to refrain from doing
so, but constitutes with his/her disruptive
action, he/she will be issued a verbal warning
by the Speaker/Presiding Officer.
If
the act is repeated, immediately a second verbal warning will be issued. If, thereafter he /she does not desist from
these disruptive actions, the member will
be immediately expelled for the day and the House Marshalls will escort the
member out. In such a case the member will not only lose his Daily Allowance
but one day’s salary too.
d) If any member has been expelled from the House
on 2 occasions and proceeds to disrupt proceedings again, he/she will be suspended
for one week from the House and will
lose one week’s Daily Allowance plus one week’s salary.
e) If after such 1 week’s suspension the member repeats
his/her act of disrupting proceedings,
he/she will automatically be suspended for the entire remaining period
of the House session and will lose proportionate Daily Allowance as also proportionate
salary.
f) Every Tuesday, the respective House Secretariate will upload on their websites information about Hours Lost in the previous week and Name
the Members or the party whose disruptions forced such loss of working hours.
If individuals are difficult to name in some case, their parties will be named. This will let the nation know who is
attending Parliament for work and who is doing so for mere fun and daily
allowance.
g) Every Tuesday, the respective House
Secretariate will upload the Attendance Record of all Nominated Members of the Lok
Sabha and Rajya Sabha. This is to put pressure on nominated members (who are
nominated for their erudition and expertise) to do their duty by the country and
not simply enjoy the perks of office.
h) Every Tuesday, the respective House
Secretariate will upload the Names & Constituencies of all members who
attended the House only for one day or not at all in the previous week. This is intended to force members to regularly
attend the House.
Coming
now to the question of the Government’s responsibilities to enable smooth functioning
of Parliament, the following should be ensured
i) All Bills that are required to be sent to
Parliamentary Committees must be so sent and the Speaker/Presiding Officer
should refuse to let such Bills be tabled in the House unless there is
some emergency (National Security, Natural Disaster, War/Riots etc.) or sufficiently cogent reasons
are provided by the Government on the floor of the house for doing so.
j) Adequate time should be provided for Members
to discuss the Budget which should be done in consultation with the Opposition
(no matter how small it is) but the Opposition should also be cautioned that if
they interrupt House proceedings then the time lost will also be proportionately
be reduced from their time for commenting/questioning the Budget.
k) Maximum effort should be made that members of
small parties and independents get an opportunity to speak and ask questions. Hence, the Speaker/Presiding Officers of both Houses should consider a protocol
that these members are allowed to speak/raise questions, first, rather than members of the larger parties. When the smaller parties are listed last and
time is running short, they became the casualties and never get a chance to
place their views before the House. Of
course, they must adhere to time allotted by the Speaker/Presiding Officer for
doing so.
I do hope you will give due
consideration to the above suggestions and take necessary action as you deem
fit.
Yours sincerely,
hemendra k. varma
