Summary

Polity Class 20

A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE PREVIOUS CLASS (01:01 PM)

FUNCTIONS TO BE PERFORMED BY OUR PARLIAMENT (01:11 PM)

To make laws, rules, and regulations. As part of the separation of powers, it is the primary responsibility of the legislature to make laws, rules, and regulations. The executive is responsible for their implementation.
To Fix accountability on the part of the executive- Constitutionalism is about limited government and inherent checks and balances. It is the responsibility of the legislature to ensure continuous accountability of the executive through various instruments.
Parliament should act as a forum for discussion and debate. Members of parliament are expected to discuss, debate, and decide on various problems confronting the country. In a representative democracy, it is not possible for ordinary citizens to discuss their problems on the floor of the house. It is people elected representatives who have to perform this function on behalf of citizens.
Members of parliament with their impeccable honesty and integrity, should be role models for others in society.
[* Attitude and values can be developed by observing the actions of the leaders]
Members of parliament must also ensure that those who are committed to the service of the country are in a selfless manner or elected because the quality of executive (CoM and PM) in our parliamentary democracy directly depends on the quality of legislature.

FUNCTIONING OF OUR PARLIAMENT SINCE INDEPENDENCE (01:30 PM)

Since independence, the evaluation can be divided into various periods
1947-67- The Golden Age
1967- 1990- Decline of the standards- Criminalization of politics
1990 onwards- Decline further widened- Politicisation of crime, But with the emergence of coalition governments parliament again regained its credibility
2014 onwards- Single-party rule
2019 onwards- Parliament became an extension of the executive.
Parliament- The UK v/s India
Democratic norms have developed over 800 years. India has the same parliamentary democracy but in UK's legislature is performing its function effectively.
When a charismatic leader occupies the position then all the positions of power become subservient to the charismatic leader. In UK democratic structure is such that the charismatic leader can not make all other positions of power subservient.
Inner party democracy is not there in India.
Charismatic leader- A person who enjoys a huge amount of popularity because the followers believe that the leader has some supernatural powers.
In the UK members use their conscience while voting, In India the MP has to follow the party discipline and party Whip.
In India, there is no democratic functioning in the political party.
First Phase- the Golden phase- 1947-67 (01:47 PM)
Functioning of the parliament is always dependent on the quality of MPs
These MPs were called First generation politicians (they entered into politics during the national movement). The spirit of sacrifice dominated their life so they worked selflessly.
It was reflected in the functioning of the parliament. The functioning of parliament depends on the personality of the PM
J L Nehru's success= in Democracy and Secularism, Failures- Socialism and Foreign policy
1952-57- In the first general election- There was no opposition to the LS [* 1/10 seats are required to get the opposition party status] [**1969- India got the first opposition party. ]
Swatantra party, Bhartiya Jansangha, and Congress socialist party were there but very few in number. Despite their less number, they had active participation in the debate and discussion of the Bill.
All the Bills were discussed and debated before passage [* In 2021, The amount taken by parliament to bass a Bill is 10 minutes]
J L Nehru respected the views of the opposition party. He used to attend each and every session.
Important points
During this phase parliament functioned for at least 150 days in a year. Most of the members of the parliament were first-generation politicians who had entered into politics with the objective of serving the country. They maintained the highest ethical standards and it was reflected in the functioning of the parliament also.
J L Nehru was a democratic PM and always respected parliamentary traditions and customs.
Bills were passed only after in-depth discussion and debate on the floor of the house.
Gulliotine was not used during this period. It means giving approval to Budgetary proposals without any discussion or debate.
The first budget of Independent India was discussed for more than 2 months before it was given approval by Parliament on the other hand in 2023, 45 lakh crores of rupees of taxpayers' money was given approval by our parliament in less than 10 minutes.
Speaker mostly acted in an impartial manner
Question hour was used effectively by opposition members of parliament to fix accountability on the part of the executive. A cabinet minister was forced to resign because of questions raised by opposition members on the floor of the house.

THE SECOND PHASE (1967-1990 ) (02:06 PM)

This phase witnessed a decline in parliamentary standards. Why?
First-generation politicians either died or retired and were replaced by second-generation politicians.
Big Zamindars entered into politics- They had business interests in mind.
J L Nehru brought 1st CAA to bring land reforms but it failed.
License raj and quota raj led to Crony-Socialism. [Businessman entered politics to grant licenses to their favorite one]
1967- Till 1967, elections were held simultaneously for both LS as well as SLA. Congress party was all over India.
1967 general elections- Congress party majority declined (It got only 290 seats). Non- performance of the congress party led to the emergence of Bhartiya Jansangha, the Communist party, Swatantra party.
In 1962, the candidates used to spend less on the political campaign.
In 1967- People lost faith in Congress, and people explored other options. Elections became Multi-party affairs. candidates also knew that elections can not be fought only on ideologies. Political parties started using Money power in elections.
Political party took the help of anti-social elements to scare the people of the election- RIGGING of the election.
This is also called the Criminalisation of Politics- the use of criminals by the political party in the election. After coming to power political parties were protecting the interests of the criminals.
This period also witnessed the breakdown of law & order.
From 1971 onwards politics revolved around personality- It is called personality-based politics [* Earlier politics was revolving around ideas, values, and principles].
Indira Gandhi countered the slogan of "Indira Hatao" with the "Gareebi Hatao". She got the absolute majority in the parliament.
This period witnessed the complete deterioration of the functioning of the parliament with walkouts, frequent adjournment motions, etc
Budget was guillotined. The country witnessed "Ordinance raj" during this period, Ordinances were promulgated and Re-promulgated.
Also post of the speaker was politicized, and Question Hour was suspended.
1984 election- Rajeev Gandhi got 420 seats in LS.
1985- Anti-defection law was added (Xth schedule). It had taken away the freedom of the members of the parliament.
Anti-defection law+ Party Whip - declined the functioning of the parliament.
1987- Opposition was demanding the JPC for the Bofors scam.
The 1980s- the emergence of many political parties- BSP, SP etc.
After the implementation of the Mandal Commission, the emergence of backward-class political parties
Important points (02:50 PM)
This period also witnessed the dominance of the Criminalization of politics
This period also witnessed the dominance of the Congress party getting ended over Indian politics.
It has increased competition for public offices like MPs and MLAs. Political parties have realized the fact that they can no longer win elections only on the basis of ideologies and values. They started taking the help of criminals to win elections. These criminals provided Money and Muscle support to political parties. It ultimately resulted in the criminalization of politics. It essentially means criminals helping political parties indirectly to win elections
The country also witnessed especially after 1969, Personality based politics i.e. Politics started revolving around the personality of the leaders rather than on ideologies and problems
All these events had a huge amount of negative impact on the functioning of our parliamentary democracy.
This period witnessed a drastic decline in the functioning of our parliament. Bills were passed without any discussion or debate on the floor of the house. Ordinances were routinely issued to avoid scrutiny, Budgets were guillotined (they were passed without any discussion or debate on the floor of the house).
The role of the speaker had become completely politicized.
Parliamentary committees were also not effective
Because of Anti defection law, Freedom and autonomy enjoyed by Individual MPs had come to an end. The legislature was becoming an extension of the executive.

THE THIRD PHASE- 1990- 2019 (03:02 PM)

In North India, after the implementation of the Mandal Commission, many caste-based political parties emerged. Example- Biju Janta Dal etc
At the central level, there was an end to single-party rule. It was a period of "Hung parliament" and coalition government.
In present LS, 43.5% of MPs have criminal records.
JMM Bribery case, Jharkhand, 1993- P V Narasimha Rao faced a No-confidence motion in parliament, so a bribe was offered to JMM members. This matter went to SC. [* Article 105 mentions the privileges of the MPs- Whatever a political party does on the floor of the house can not be questioned in a court of law.]
In 2009, the Congress party again faced a No-confidence motion.
Money power started influencing the elections from outside as well as inside. Speakers started misusing the Anti-defection laws.
After 2009, The government got a majority in both houses, which led to a complete deterioration of the functioning of the parliament.
Important points (03:28 PM)
This period witnessed further degeneration of Indian politics. The criminalization of politics had transformed itself into the Politicization of crime.
In 1989, in general elections, for the first time the country witnessed the phenomenon of "Hung Parliament" i.e. no political party got an absolute majority in Lok Sabha. It led to the emergence of minorities and coalition governments at the central level.
Individual members of parliament can decide the fate of the governments. For example- In 1999, the then-Vajpayee government was defeated on the floor of the house by a single vote.
Criminals found it beneficial for them to contest directly in elections and then support political parties indirectly. This period also witnessed further fragmentation of the Indian polity with many regional political parties coming into existence.
Competition for public offices (MPs and MLAs) further intensified. It has forced the political parties to invite criminals into politics as they have better chances of winning elections. The only criteria used by political parties to select candidates is the winnability criteria i.e. Ability to win elections.
When denied tickets by political parties, these criminals contested elections as independents. Political parties needed their support to survive on the floor of the house. These criminals were also given the opportunity to become part of the Council of Ministers. It has ultimately resulted in the complete politicization of crime.
Crime has been used by political parties and candidates to win elections and to retain power. It can be seen in the present loksabha also wherein a significant no. of MPs have serious criminal records against them as per the affidavits they submit to the election commission at the time of contesting elections.
This transformation from the Criminalization of politics into the Politicization of crime has resulted in a further decline in the standards of our parliament.
Since 2019, when the ruling political party had got a majority in Rajya Sabha also, our legislature has become nothing but an extension of the executive. The no. of days the parliament meets in a year had come down from around 150 days in the 1950s to less than 60 days at present.
Maximum no. of Bills are passed without any discussion or debate. The average time taken by Lok Sabha is less than 10 minutes to pass a Bill.
The three Farm Bills were passed by Rajya Sabha in less than 2 minutes' time after the entire opposition was suspended on the floor of the house.
2023-24 Budget of 45 Lakh crores of rupees was approved by Lok Sabha in less than 10 minutes without any discussion or debate.
Speaker's role also had become controversial especially due to the misuse of the Anti-defection law.
Parliamentary committees have also become less effective due to continuous conflict between ruling and opposition parties.

SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEMS (03:48 PM)

Problem 1- No. of days parliament is functioning- From 150 days in a year the no. of days parliament functioned has come down to less than 60 days in recent times
In order to overcome this problem Parliament can come out with a special law regarding its own functioning. It should meet for at least 120 days in a year.
If the house is adjourned for any reason it should meet for an additional no. of days to overcome the loss of parliamentary functioning.
Question:- Differentiate between the criminalization of Politics and the politicization of crime and suggest reforms. (10 marks/ 150 words)

The topic for the next class:- Continuation of solutions to the problems faced by parliament in its effective functioning.