Parliament is often blamed for not paying enough attention to legislation. Parliament passed 59 bills in 2006, which is a shade better than the average 58 bills per year over the past five years. However, if one were to take the percentage of time spent on legislation as an important indicator of Parliament’s focus on legislation, the numbers are not very encouraging. Over the past seven sessions of Parliament, the time spent on debating legislative issues was approximately 20 per cent in Lok Sabha and 23 per cent in Rajya Sabha. In fact, in the winter session of 2004, less than 15 per cent time was spent on legislation in Lok Sabha.

A second indicator that is of concern is that Parliament passes a number of bills with little debate. This year, over 40 per cent of bills were passed in Lok Sabha with less than one hour of debate. The situation is only marginally better in Rajya Sabha. Of course, the pundits would point out that there is a Parliamentary Standing Committee system consisting of MPs from across party lines to examine bills in detail. However — as at the end of the monsoon session of Parliament — the attendance rates in Committee meetings averaged just about 40 per cent. In any case, closed room deliberations of committees cannot substitute for healthy and well-researched debates on the floor of Parliament on important legislation.

If we look at the participation of Lok Sabha MPs in legislative debates, the picture is not a happy one either. In the monsoon and winter sessions of Parliament this year, just 173 MPs in Lok Sabha actually said anything on the floor of Parliament on legislative issues. During these two sessions, almost 65 per cent of MPs said nothing on the floor of the Lok Sabha on legislation.

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