GS-2

Answer –
In recent years there is going incident of disruption leading to less number of hours of
working at Parliament as well as state legislatures. As these are embodiments of a
representative Form of democracy. The rule of The rule of debate, discussion, and
deliberate. Are significant.
Some example of recent disruptions.
• The turning of the bills and The misbehaviour with the vice chairperson of Rajya
Sabha is Giving the attention in that area.
• Recently Karnataka state assembly The vice chairperson was also manhandled.
• Over many issues, the member of Opposition party In parliament gone on the
protest And hence no effective working of Parliament has done.
• Excluding the zero hours and reducing the time for question are during last session
was also disruption in parliamentary processes.
Diminishing role of Parliament and state legislatures.
In representative parliamentary Democracy, Parliament is at the centre of Democratic
process and so as State legislatures at state level.
They play a critical role in governance process which suffered a sit back due to disruption
in the house. For example, the Loo 11th Lok Sabha lost 5% of its time to the disruption
and 13th Lok Sabha last 22.4% of Time and 14th and 15th Lok Sabha at least 30%.
How disruption diminishes the role of parliament – ( just write 1 2 line and max 5 points.
Here maximum is given )
• The role of legislators or representatives is to debate the appropriateness of
legislation, and the disruptions not only delay legislative business, but also allow
little time for debates.
• Disruptions also contribute to undermining the respect representatives ought to
have in the eyes of the citizens. It is also widely known that disruptions in India are
often not caused by the actions of individual legislators but by the coordinated
action of a party to which the disrupting members belong.
• Parliamentary disruptions have been defended by the opposition, now as well as in
the past, as a means to counter arrogance of the ruling dispensation (theoretically
alluding to the “tyranny of the majority” problem), as a means to highlight matters
of public interest (particularly constituents, existing or potential), and even as an
opportunity for legislators to express dissent!
• At the core of the rise in disruptions, whether in Parliament or in state legislatures,
is the belief among the parties and their legislators that their interest is better
served by disruptions than debates. This is in marked contrast to the behaviour
exhibited by most of the other functioning democracies.
• As noted earlier, some politicians and commentators have attributed this trend to
the penetration of the mass media in India since the 1990s and its changing
character. Newsworthiness of disruptions and unruly behaviour in the legislatures
attracts media attention, keeps the party causing the disruptions in the limelight
and gives it recognition. Contrariwise, participating in a debate requires investment
in details of any proposed legislation or discussion, which, due to its staid nature,
may not attract ready attention.
• Choosing the contester – the parties do not choose on the basis of their ability to
debate and put across their viewpoint in a discursive manner, but for their ability to
win elections. Hence, it is natural for them to exhibit their preferences through
protests rather than through debate.
• Anti defection law – The other possible explanation for the rise in disruptions is the
enactment of the anti-defection law in 1985, which allows parties to herd their
members, weakens incentives of legislators to invest in developing their own
viewpoints and express them freely as they cannot use their own stand on different
issues to evolve or develop their own political careers. The effect of anti-defection
law is not only manifest in disruptions or the nature of protest and dissent, but is
also negative for intra-party democracy.
Other reasons for diminishing the role of Parliament And state legislature are.
• Fragmented policy with emergence of regional partner In 1970, Indian electoral
system has been increasingly fragmented. This is also because of diversity in India.
• Though Regional party perform Democratic role, There are some unintended
consequences of them
• Quality of representatives in Parliament is another reason, why parliamentary
conventions as developed in West are not Followed in India, for example according
to report by Association for Democratic Watch, 34% of Lok Sabha MP’s have
criminal cases against them. About 22% of these faces serious criminal case
charges.
The role of opposition in parliamentary democracy –
The opposition is an integral part of democracy. Without opposition, we cannot expect a
pluralistic society, and more importantly, it is the soul of democracy. In the absence of
opposition, any ruling party unabashedly and arbitrarily impose or promote its ideology,
belief, dogma, religion, caste, creed, place of birth, etc. on the people of the country.
Role of opposition:- ( use one or two examples…and curtail the content as per word limit.
Here maximum is given – just write only 1 2 line and max 1 example )
• Preparation to form government: Strong opposition means a lot for a Democratic
system. If there is no opposition, the party in power blatantly or unblushingly do
whatever they want without fear of losing the Chair. In the absence of opposition,
democracy is a body without a soul.
• Safeguarding liberty and right of people: Nowadays communism became an integral
part of contesting elections. Different political parties first do the proper scrutiny of
the particular constituency on the basis of religion, inter-caste, etc. before electing
their candidates. For example, Kairana and Kandhla migration row also known as
kairana exodus refers to alleged migration of Hindu families during the period of
2014-2016 but the National Human Rights Commission Report (NHRC) had
confirmed that 400 Hindu families had indeed left the town due to fear of the
members of a particular community (Muslims) which was “majority in the area”. The
report also said the people of the majority community passing obscene remarks
against the women of the minority communities. According to the NHRC, the
exodus was also due to the Gangster Mukim Kala.
In general, when the MP or MLA also belongs to the majority community, it
instigates suppressing and neglecting the people of minority leads to the threat
over safeguarding liberty and right of people. In these cases, the opposition plays a
crucial or vital role in mooting the voice of the minorities and beg justice for them.
• Accountability: Strong opposition is extremely important to keep the party in power
accountable. Democratic political systems ensure accountability, not just byelections but by mechanisms such as transparent decision making, judicial review,
use of ombudsmen, and most important opposition. For Example politicians or the
ruling party often focus more on visible promises, such as school infrastructure,
than on less tangible ones, such as teacher professional development. Hundreds of
promises the government did in his manifesto but after being selected by people,
all the promises, assurances, and guarantees simply disappeared or gone into vain.
So strong opponent is exceedingly needed for making a ruling party accountable or
more sincere.
• Transparency: Powerful and active opponent is the need for democracy. Corruption
is one of the major resistance or obstacles which devastating India internally.
For Example: In March 2018, it was revealed that the amount of Indian black money
currently present in Swiss and other offshore banks is estimated to be ₹300 lakh
crores or US$1.5 trillion. So it became the role of opposition to make the ruling
government transparent and use RTI like a weapon against the wrongdoings.
• Ordinance: For passing any rule two-thirds majority is needed in both the houses of
the Parliament. In the absence of strong opposition, the ruling party passes
whatever bill it wants. For Example, any bill which comprises plenty of loopholes
and must need to be rectified or redesigned or the addition of Something but due
to the truancy of opposition, the bill simply passed in both the Houses of
Parliament.
So definitely strong opposition is highly required for condemning the party in power on its
wrong move or decisions. The role of opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha is highly
necessary.
There are hundreds of reasons behind the urgency of the strong opposition in the
Democratic system of the Country. Opposition Express the Public and severely lambaste
the government too on its wrongdoings and enhance the standard of democracy.
Hence, in any parliamentary democracy, it is important to have the wide discussion in
debate on any major policy issue to attend large public goods. And any disruption in the
proceeding of house erodes The Democratic process.

Answer –
The Aadhaar Act amendment bill was termed as money bill and opposed by many on
which Supreme Court upheld its classification being money Bill in 2019. But it started the
debate about the process of classification of any bill as money bill by speaker.
About Money Bill –
Article 110 of the Constitution deals with the Money Bills. It states that a bill is deemed to
be a money bill if it contains ‘only’ provisions dealing with all or any of the following matters:
▪ The imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax;
▪ The regulation of the borrowing of money by the Union government;
▪ The custody of the Consolidated Fund of India or the contingency fund of India, the
payment of moneys into or the withdrawal of money from any such fund;
▪ The appropriation of money out of the Consolidated Fund of India;
▪ Declaration of any expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund of India or
increasing the amount of any such expenditure;
▪ The receipt of money on account of the Consolidated Fund of India or the public
account of India or the custody or issue of such money, or the audit of the accounts
of the Union or of a state; or
▪ Any matter incidental to any of the matters specified above.
The recent Aadhaar controversy – defining as Money bill under clause 7 – put attention in
the areas of lacunas in defining money bill & other issues related to money bill. These
problems are –
This discretion is being used by the ruling parties to whistle away the legislative powers of
Rajya Sabha and make it a redundant legislative house by sending crucial bills like money
bills as rajya sabha doesn’t have the power over those bills. The recent aadhar bill is a
good example in this regard.
• Neither the constitution nor the house rules lay down the procedure with regard to
certifying the money bill making speaker’s decision discretionary.
• Rajya sabha can’t question the decision of the speaker even when they have a
strong case for contesting speakers decision.
• The decision of the speaker cannot be qAmbiguity over definition of the bill has
recently Supreme Court did not find Aadhar amendment Bill fit to the definition of
money bill. But the government replied it being part of any matter of the money bill
definition.
• The criteria as. Of financial bill and that off money Bill seems to be used as
scapegoats over its overlapping features.
It is true that the sometimes the ruling parties use discretionary powers to overcome the
legislative process which is not justified. this constitutional provision of giving authority to
the speaker cannot be seen as a convenient tool to deal with an inconvenient second
chamber. The Constitution reposes faith in the speaker’s fairness and objectivity. His
decision needs to be in conformity with the constitutional provisions. If not, it is no
decision under the Constitution. In order to reduce the discretion of the leader of the
house, certain mechanisms can be developed such as:
• He can be made to resign from his membership of a particular party while taking
seat as the leader of the house and can again join it when his term ends.
• A mechanism can be developed where the committee of the secretaries of both the
houses examine in detail the given bill and submit their views to the speaker before
speaker’s decision.
Hence there is need for increasing the role of Rajya Sabha in case of money bill and clarity
over its definition to make it less controversial.