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THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 13 December 2019 (Legislative Impact Assessment (The Hindu))

Legislative Impact Assessment (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Polity
Prelims level: Legislative Impact Assessment
Mains level: Essential elements of Legislative Impact Assessment

Context:

Recently, the Chairman of Rajya Sabha advocated the idea of Legislative Impact Assessment and called for informed lawmaking process in the country by bringing out social, economic, environmental, and institutional impacts of legislative proposals which will help in realizing the
stated objectives of various laws.
He also stressed on the need of Parliamentary reforms in the form of 15 point charter.

About Legislative Impact Assessment:

The study of the impact of a law (being made and enforced) on the society over a period of time is known as Legislative Impact Assessment (LIA).
LIA is a method of estimating the likely impacts of legislative proposals and government policies, before and after they are adopted and enacted, and comparing them with different policy designs to
determine which policy produces the best result.

What are the essential elements of LIA?

Identification of the policy problem.
Identification of potential legislative/policy options.
Comparative analysis of potential legislative/policy options with each other.
Stakeholder consultation.
Selection of the preferred legislative/policy option.
Impact analysis of the preferred option.
Identification of impact mitigation measures required (if any)
Cost-benefit analysis of the preferred option.
Reporting

What is the requirement for LIA?

Quick decision-making raises the questions regarding implementation of the law, associated costs and most importantly, the negative impacts that the laws may have like Biological Diversity Act, 2002, which aims to protect India’s biological resources.
The inherent contradictions between some of its provisions have caused significant barriers to conservation, use and development of biodiversity, thus undermining the fundamental purpose of
the Act.
It is essential that laws are analysed in detail before their enactment, as the country cannot afford to make expensive or irreversible mistakes with already limited resources.

What is Delegated legislation?

Delegated legislation is referred to as secondary legislation.
It is made by a person or body other than Parliament.
Parliament, through an Act, can permit another person or body to make such legislation.
Parliament creates the broader framework of a particular law and gives the authority for legislation to other persons or bodies to provide more details to the passed Act.

Challenges ahead:

Currently, no such institutionalized study is conducted to analyse the impact of the legislations being made on the society.
Sometimes, the hasty passage of laws by the bureaucracy creates various hurdles in the effective implementation of that law.
In India, the intent of the legislature is great but the implementation of the law suffers from certain drawbacks. Parliament is reflective of the society, hence it needs to evolve the laws having social and economic impact with time.
There is a need to address this legislation mismatch with the changing pace of societal needs, which can be effectively done by the LIA.

Way forward:

Undertaking an Impact Assessment on legislation provides analysis of the potential effects and effectiveness of a legislative proposal before its enactment.
It could have the following benefits: improve the quality of legislation; increase the productivity of legislature; improve governance; help make informed choices; identify potential effective alternatives, and reduce redundant legislation.
In the Social Impact Assessment under the Land Acquisition Law there is proper mechanism to carry out social impact of the project.
Similarly, the Environmental Impact Assessment is done for big manufacturing mines and plants before approving them for the set up.
On similar lines, LIA can be made mandatory for improving the implementation and achieving the intended objectives of the laws.

Conclusion:

It is the accountability and responsibility of the Parliament to ensure the effectiveness of the passed legislation.
On the sidelines of Australian practise where an institution outside the Parliament specifically performs the post enactment assessment of the passed law, similar institutions can be established in India.
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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) What is M-Sand, recently seen in news?
A. It is a substitute of river sand for concrete construction.
B. It refers to the fine powder or dust found in Moon’s surface.
C. It refers to big crescent-shaped sand dunes found in Mars.
D. None of the above.