Public Administration Mains 2018 : Model Question and Answer - 71

(Public Administration Paper II / Chapter: Union Government and Administration)

(Current Based) Question: Discuss current scenario of undermining the space of the institution of Parliament in India. (20 Marks/250 Words)

Model Answer:

Babasaheb Ambedkar, in his historic speech in the Constituent Assembly said that “however good a Constitution may be, it is sure to turn out bad because those who are called to work it, happened to be a bad lot. However bad a constitution may be, it may turn out to be good if those who are called to work it happened to be a good lot”.

Apart from the Constitution, the institution of Parliament is being undermined. The law-making process and the democratic method of governance based on deliberation, dialogue and consultation has been irreversibly compromised by declaring many bills as money bills and, thereby, depriving the Rajya Sabha of the opportunity to scrutinise those proposals. Never have we witnessed such a situation wherein the money bill route is being taken to bypass deliberation, consultation, dialogue and better scrutiny.

Ambedkar famously said that Parliament belonged to the Opposition. But unfortunately, the space for Opposition to debate and discuss legislative proposals is being shrunk.

Besides, the well-established convention of referring bills to Parliamentary Standing Committees for scrutiny is being dispensed with, with the objective of diluting critical examination.

In undermining Parliament, the present leadership is negating the people’s will and mandate. In other words, it is an assault on democracy. This constitutes a serious challenge.

India, known for a million mutinies, would explode if such challenges are not mitigated by a full flowering of democracy. What we need is more democracy, more freedom and less restrictions. (Total Words- 245)

Valuable inputs from The Indian Express Opinion: ‘Divide and Misrule’ by D. Raja

(Linkages: Institution of Parliament and Undermined Space, Institution of Parliament and Compromised Dialogue, Institution of Parliament and Space of Opposition) y 2018

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