Indian Parliament - Samvidhan Sadan to Sansad Bhawan
Published by LexisNexis

There are a few books on the Indian Parliament but none after construction of new Parliament and the many pathbreaking procedural and policy changes that have taken place since 2016. The author was singularly privileged when LexisNexis, the leading publisher of law books in India,  commissioned him for launching a new book on Indian Parliament.

The new Parliament was inaugurated in 2023 with a special session of Parliament on 19 Sept., 2023. The iconic old Parliament building, a construct of the British Raj, had started aging much faster than the Parliaments of UK, France, USA, etc., besides, there was a seating constraint which would have further accentuated with the increase in the number of MPs of both the Houses after the law to be enacted by Parliament in terms of Article 82. For too many, the old building seemed incongruous and incompatible with the much acclaimed glamour of new India.

Yet it was not building of the new Parliament but the great many changes and new conventions which necessitated writing of the extant book. The book documents the new parliamentary tradition with the President of India delivering the state of Union address to the members of both the Houses assembled together in the new Lok Sabha Chamber, instead of the Central Hall of old Parliament. A new spectacle has been added to the pomp and ceremony of the presidential procession for the joint address, with the Marshall of the House of the People carrying the Sengol- ‘the Sceptre of the Kings of yore’, walking ahead of the stately ceremonial procession. The Sengol is a relic of monarchy, but a symbol of righteousness and punishment- the Raj danda.

Whether new or old, the Parliament of any republic is not a mere structure of bricks and mortar, but the supreme representative, deliberative and legislative institution of a nation. Parliament can perform its multifarious functions if endowed with a robust devices of accountability, meets regularly, and, holds informed and well structured discussions with a view to securing the accountability of the executive. In fact, vigorous debates and discussions infuse life in a building and make it the sanctum- sanctorum of democracy. But there has been, over time, a considerable erosion in the legislative power to hold the executive to account. The average sittings and the duration of the sittings of Parliament have declined precipitously. Even the Central Legislative Assembly under the Britishers sat for 74 days in a year. This is deeply worrying if compared to the sittings of some of the leading parliaments of the world. The book tabulates the comparative statistics of the sittings of many leading parliaments and how India fares.

Many avid watchers lament that Parliament, the supreme institution of accountability, often seems to be a body under the overarching control of the almighty executive. When legislations are pushed through in Parliament without discussion or little discussion, Parliament ceases to be the seat of Legislature. Some wag call it ‘Executature’-a rubber stamp of the Executive. Another matter of deep concern is the rising tendency of the members of the treasury benches turning more belligerent than the members of the opposition. Still greater worry is the intermittent verbal tug of war between the Members and the Presiding Officers. Full regard to the Speaker and his rulings is quite essential for orderly conduct of business of Parliament, but the system demands that the Speaker must remain, and must be seen, completely neutral and non partisan.

In order that Parliament discharges its functions effectively and efficiently, the book makes a strong case for revisiting the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business. It behoves the largest democracy of the world that its Parliament meets for at least hundred days in a year and Members get adequate opportunities to deliberate and to call the executive to account. The book makes a well considered suggestion for introducing the Prime Minister’s Question Time in India.

The book also focus on the desirability or otherwise of the nomenclature-Private Members’ business. It is so grossly misleading and undemocratic to describe the business of MPs- other than Ministers- as private. Once elected, a Member ceases to be private as he articulates the urges and aspirations of the people. In fact, it’s a relic of the British Raj and sooner it is given a new name acknowledging the public duties and functions of the MPs, the better. All members are legislators and therefore have inherent right to initiate legislative proposals and to call the executive to account through various devices of accountability enshrined in the Rules of Procedure and conduct of Business. Also, the book makes a case for amending the Rules of Procedure to provide for convening Parliament and to introduce and consider legislative proposals, if at least one third MPs so demand. This well help reduce disruption of normal proceedings of the House like the stalling of Questions Hour and also significantly curtail the tendency to move adjournment motions frequently on feeble grounds.

The book sets out the historical background of introduction of a separate Rail Budget in 1925 and its eventual merger with the Annual Budget in 2017, and, presentation of a single consolidated Budget to Parliament in terms of Article 112 of the Constitution. What sets the book apart is its wide and expansive breadth of topics, ranging from the great republican heritage of India beginning from the Vedic times; the evolution, framing and the working of the Constitution of India; the powers and functions of Parliament; legislative and budgetary processes; devices of accountability including Questions; Committee system and how it works; legislature-judiciary interface; role of political parties and opposition in a democracy; elections and electoral systems obtaining in the world and their relative merits and demerits; role of C&AG as supreme audit institution of the country; and other vital aspects of parliamentary democracy not to be found in a single book elsewhere. Besides, the book brings in sharp relief and quite perspicuously, the dynamics of parliamentary government, public perception of Parliament and its interface with the Media and the intermittent democratic disquiet and the future of democracy itself.

In the words of Prof. Aquil Ahmad, Delhi University, “Written in an accessible yet elevated academic style, the book is both informative and pedagogically sound. It caters to a wider readership-students, scholars, journalists, policy makers, and the aspirants of public service. Singh’s use of anecdotal narratives alongside Legal and procedural references, makes the text engaging without diluting its analytical depth”. He adds, the book is “a timely and indispensable contribution to the discourse of Parliament democracy in India. It succeeded in illuminating both the grandeur and the gravitas of the Indian Parliament while remaining sparingly critical of its shortcomings. It offers more than a chronicle, it offers a vision. He restores to the idea of Parliament, the respect, relevance it so urgently needs in our Times.”

Many scholars, academics and eminent parliamentarians have heaped wholesome praise on the book. Prof. Balram Pani, Dean of Colleges, University of Delhi observes, “The sheer scale of treatment of a wide array of closely conjoined subjects, wealth of information, incisive analysis, and well-merited suggestions, make it a compelling read.” Prof Rishikesh Senapati, ex Director NCERT, finds the book “a brilliant treatise on the powers and functions of Parliament” and “a ready textbook not only to students, academia and legislators-present and future- but also to the passionate champions of Parliamentary democracy, who wish to sharpen their own argumentative skills and enhance their knowledge of democratic governance”. According to Dr Shashi Tharoor, the book “leaves very little unsaid without succumbing to verbosity or daunting excess of pages. The subtitle Samvidhan Sadan to Sansad Bhawan gives it a much deserved touch of contemporaneity enhancing its contextually for the discerning readers.” I have little to add further and leave it the wisdom of readers.