Noting that there is a perceptible drop in the working days of Parliament, Vice President Hamid Ansari on Sunday called for restoring legislatures to their earlier norms of functioning.
“There is a perceptible drop in the working days of Parliament. Deliberation is less frequent; legislation is at times hasty…An impression is afoot in some quarters that diligent parliamentary work is less rewarding in political terms,” he said.
Addressing a function to commemorate the 60th anniversary of first sitting of Parliament in Central Hall of Parliament, Ansari while noting that new imperatives propelled them, “We do need to respond meaningfully to awakened expectation of a new generation in a changing world.”
He said 60 years is a long time to assess the working of Parliament in two critical areas of its functioning – ensuring accountability and oversight of the executive, and deliberating and law-making, he said “both tend to exhibit declining efficacy” and “are being progressively underused”.
—-Agencies