THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 13 May 2020 (The need for a second chamber (The Hindu))

The need for a second chamber (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Polity
Prelims level: Rajya Sabha
Mains level: Rajya Sabha role and its responsibilities

Context:

• The Rajya Sabha came into being on April 3, 1952 and held its first session on May 13 the same year. The second chamber underwent severe prenatal scrutiny in the Constituent Assembly.
• The proposal for a bicameral central legislature for the country was discussed at length, with deep divisions between the proponents and opponents.
• From this churning that went on for eight days with the participation of leading members of the Constituent Assembly finally emerged the Council of States and its mandate.
• After 68 years, it is instructive to revisit the debates on the need for a Council of States and its performance since then.

Evolution of the central legislature:

• The central legislature that came into being under the Government of India Act, 1919 was bicameral with a Council of States comprising 60 members and a Legislative Assembly comprising 145 members.
• The membership and voting norms.........................................

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Bicameralism and federalism

• Bicameralism is a principle that requires the consent of two differently constituted chambers of Parliament for making or changing laws.
• This principle came into operation in 1787 with the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. Its appeal grew in strength from time to time.
• At present, 79 Parliaments of the world (41% of the total number) are bicameral.
• Federalism has been in vogue since ancient times when some states got together to confer the power of law-making on a central authority.
• But modern federalism is entirely different given the complexity of geographical, regional, social and economic diversities marking the constituent units of a federation or a union.
• It is more so in India. The U.S. is a union of constituent states and so is India — each unit has a set of unique features.
• Federalism and bicameralism are linked because the federal character of a nation comprising constituent units can be reflected in, and secured by, a bicameral legislature.
• Despite being conscious of the huge degree of diversities and attendant inequalities that marked British India, and aware of the emergence of independent India as a Union of States, the proposal for the Rajya Sabha as a second chamber had no easy sailing in the Constituent Assembly.
• It was subjected to serious argumentation and had a narrow escape.

Constituent Assembly debates:

• Member of the Constituent Assembly, Mohd. Tahir, asserted that an Upper House was not essential and viewed it as a creation of imperialism.
• Professor Shibban Lal Saksena went further and warned that such a chamber would only prove to be a “clog in the wheel of progress” of the nation.
• The need of the hour was quick law-making, he said, which the second chamber would obstruct.
• He was perhaps referring to the role of the House of Lords in the British Parliament whose powers to veto the expenditure proposed was removed, and its ability to obstruct the laws made by the House of ...................................................

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Way forward:

• So, what follows from the above discussion is that the House elected directly by the people is susceptible to passions of the moment and electoral considerations.
• Their imprint on legislation needs to be checked by the second chamber whose members are expected to be sober, wise and well-informed with domain knowledge.
• The mandate of the Rajya Sabha, as can be gleaned from the Constituent Assembly debates and the experiences of other Parliaments, is legislation — to revise or delay legislation without proving a clog in the wheel of the progress.
• To represent the interests of the States as a federal chamber; and be a deliberative body holding high-quality debates on important issues.

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Prelims Questions:

Q1. With reference to the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), consider the following statements:
1. It has been under the control of Pakistan since April 1949.
2. The region does not have any place in the constitutional framework of Pakistan.

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

Answer: ...............................

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Mains Questions:
Q1. The proposal for the Rajya Sabha ......................................?