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THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 04 June 2020 (India’s Parliament is missing in action (The Hindu))

India’s Parliament is missing in action (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2:Polity
Prelims level: Parliament
Mains level: Technology inclusion in Indian Parliament to deliver system of governance

Context:

Parliaments in democracies around the world are meeting and questioning their governments on their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Actions performed by parliament around the world during pandemic:

The Canadian Parliament had its first lockdown meeting towards the end of April, with roughly 280 of the 338 Members of Parliament attending through video conference and questioning the government for three hours.
The British Parliament..................................................................................................

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Role of Parliament in the system of governance:

Parliament has a central role in our system of governance.
First and foremost, it is the institution that checks and challenges the government of the day.
While introducing the draft Constitution, B.R. Ambedkar explained why the drafting committee had preferred a parliamentary form over the presidential system of governance.
The reasoning was that while the presidential system provides a higher level of stability, the parliamentary system is better at holding the government to account on a daily basis through questions, motions and debates.
Over the decades, our Parliament has evolved procedures of accountability including hearings of committees.
The fact that Parliament and its committees have not met for over two months indicates the absence of scrutiny of government actions.

Role by making laws:

National laws are made by Parliament. The current steps by the central government are being taken under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, which was not designed to handle epidemics.
The reasoning is that the central government had no choice as there was no other law that provide it with powers to impose a lockdown across the country, which was needed to arrest the spread of the disease.
This misses the point that Parliament, which was meeting till a day before the national lockdown was announced, could have passed an appropriate Act.
This is what many other countries have done — an Act with suitable checks and an expiry date, which could be renewed by Parliament, if required.
The Constitution requires all expenditure by the government to be approved by Parliament. The government has announced a series of measures to address the economic crisis sparked by the health crisis and the lockdown.
These have not been subject to parliamentary scrutiny or approval.

The pressing issues:

MPs have a duty to shape.......................................................................................

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Mitigating the impact:

Then there is the large humanitarian question of mitigating the impact on the most vulnerable sections of the population, both the urban poor and in rural areas.
There have been several news reports of migrants being mistreated, not provided transport, being harassed by the police — and being stripped of their dignity, even in cases where they have been provided with food and shelter.
There needs to be concerted action to alleviate the distress. Parliament is the forum where such issues should be discussed and a plan of action agreed upon.

Not to prohibit meetings:

Our Constitution does not prohibit meetings that may require maintenance of physical distancing or remote meetings. It states that the President may summon Parliament “to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit”.
The Rules of Procedure of both Houses require the Secretary-General to issue summons to each member specifying the “date and place for a session” of the House.
These enabling clauses can be used to hold hybrid meetings or remote meetings. The Rules require parliamentary committees to sit within the “precincts” of the House but the Speaker may permit meetings to be held outside; indeed, subcommittees often go on study tours outside Delhi.
Thus, there is no prior parliamentary action required to permit meetings through video-conferencing.

Secure connectivity

The question of security and secrecy may come up. The meetings of the Houses are usually telecast live, and there is no issue of confidentiality.
Committee meetings, on ............................................................................................

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Conclusion:

India prides itself on being the world’s largest democracy as well as the information technology provider to the world.
It is imperative that Parliament harnesses the country’s IT strengths to buttress our credentials as a performing democracy.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1)With reference to the World Milk Day 2020, consider the following statements:
1. World Milk Day 2020 was celebrated on June 1.
2. World Milk Day is a day established by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to recognize the importance of milk as a global food.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2