The word Parliament was allegedly taken from the French "Parler" which means "to speak" and today our politicians in the legislature do just that - "talk" and most of the times 'rubbish'. So the Parliament which ought to have been a place for discussion and decision making has been reduced to a mockery owing to our Politicians. So this raises an important question...Has the Parliament failed the nation? If you ask me the answer would be probably yes.
The reasons are not too hard to find. Take for instance the Budget presented for the last three years, all have been passed without a trace of discussion on the topic. After all who ever cares for a mere 100,000 crore budget that would power India into an economic powerhouse when there are other pressing issues like scams and sting operations. It just illustrates the appalling state of affairs. So it would be safe to say that the country is moving forward despite the best efforts of the politicians to hold it back. Also parliament instead of being the jewel in the crown of democracy is turning out to be its biggest embarrassment.
So now lets focus on the solution rather than the problem. One of the things that can be done according to me is having a minimum attendance for each legislator per session. If one does not attain this mark he would be forfeiting the perks that come with being a legislator and also puts a black mark against his name which will hurt his public life. How does that sound, pretty radical but then again what do they say - desperate situations demand desperate measures.
The reasons are not too hard to find. Take for instance the Budget presented for the last three years, all have been passed without a trace of discussion on the topic. After all who ever cares for a mere 100,000 crore budget that would power India into an economic powerhouse when there are other pressing issues like scams and sting operations. It just illustrates the appalling state of affairs. So it would be safe to say that the country is moving forward despite the best efforts of the politicians to hold it back. Also parliament instead of being the jewel in the crown of democracy is turning out to be its biggest embarrassment.
So now lets focus on the solution rather than the problem. One of the things that can be done according to me is having a minimum attendance for each legislator per session. If one does not attain this mark he would be forfeiting the perks that come with being a legislator and also puts a black mark against his name which will hurt his public life. How does that sound, pretty radical but then again what do they say - desperate situations demand desperate measures.
Finally how about this remedy. India being the largest democracy in the world can hark back to the past to take a leaf out of the book of Classical Athens- the cradle of democracy. In Classical Athens there was a yearly practice called 'Ostracization' which was more like a 'unpopularity' contest wherein all the citizens would gather and vote for the most unpopular politician and the unlucky man was exiled for 10 years, basically rendering him politically defunct. The Athenians got rid of many a tyrant owing to this practice. This seems rather dramatic but it can be implemented in some form or the other so as to achieve the ultimate goal of making the politician accountable. I wonder how many parliamentarians will stand the test of 'Ostracization' in today's India.
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4 comments:
we need more than one politician to be ousted :)... but athenian model helps if we can have one in india!
I don't completely agree to the policy of ostracization..
The reasons are as follows::
1)First and foremost lets go back 20 years before when people were just not aware of their rights, the corruptons done secretly by big politicians...let me not name them,,,(there are many cases which have been pending for 15 years or more,that have come to limelight now)..At that point of time,,having a common poll from common man would be an impossible task...remember at that time there werent much media coverage and only the intelligentsia class would have been able to vote,,This situation would give rise to politicians misleading people by giving them false statistics..false hopes. etc..
Also some politicians bcoz of less media coverage, would simply get last position coz other politicans would have used media using their power......
2)Secondly,,now lets come to the present,,,
We have lot of media sting operations,,,lot of news channels and press..which are also owned and controlled by various politicians...
Now if there was a system of ostracization,,,,,all the politicans might be more busy in defaming the opponents...This would just distract the actual working politicans( who will be fewer in number)....and even they will also start arranging for campaigns...
They might arrange some kind of sting (which maynot be real...this is the age of telecommunication..)
to just defame others...
So again we cannot ensure free fair poll...
Overall, this whole exercise of monitoring the politicans continuously, arranging for free fair poll for worst politicans..would involve lot of expenditure.......
DO YOU THINK IT IS FEASIBLE TO HAVE SUCH KIND OF OSTRACIZATION POLICY AND DO YOU ENSURE IT TO BE FREE AND UNBIASED????
remember u may risk the career of a honest politican (still there are some) and in turn hamper india's growth....
of course i agree that parliament is an extra burden on budget of india,
I feel the costs can be cut for conducting parliament proceedings,,,
@Yogs
The post is a critical look at the current parliament in particular and the indian polity in general
The allusion to 'Ostrasization' should not be taken literally. I have mentioned it to make a point that there should be a policy to keep the politicians in check and keep them honest.
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