Parliament’s monsoon session is another in a long series of reminders of how little time, attention and respect MPs give to serious legislative business. The nuclear deal apparently is serious enough to threaten the government’s survival but not serious enough to merit a substantive debate. Since MPs can’t talk about the issue, citizens would be right to wonder what the fuss is all about. Participation rates of MPs in parliamentary debates are extremely low. Studies of parliamentary proceedings in 2006 reveal that on average only 20 per cent of Lok Sabha MPs participated in legislative debates. Worse, 40 per cent of legislative bills were passed with less than one hour of debate.

This is the problem. What is the solution? We need to understand our MPs’ incentive structure. MPs have few incentives for good legislative performance. Elections are neither won nor lost on the basis of parliamentary performance. And political parties neither demand nor reward stand-out legislative speakers.

MPs’ incentives are also influenced by their workload and the resources they command. Yes, we are appalled by MPs’ conduct in Parliament. But let’s also acknowledge being an MP is a tough job. An average parliamentarian’s responsibilities range from legislative and oversight functions to party and constituency work. But the resources he commands are, by today’s standards, almost pitiful. This fact is rarely mentioned in critiques of MPs’ legislative performance.

Office expense allowances for Indian MPs are a paltry Rs 14,000 per month — that’s less than Rs 500 a day. Compare this with the United States. Each member of the House of Representatives, the Lower House, is entitled to an annual personal allowance of $632,355; he can hire up to 18 permanent and four part-time staff members. US Senators, members of the Upper House, get more: an annual allowance starting at $1,000,000 for hiring administrative staff and legislative aides and assistants who are responsible for researching legislative and policy issues, drafting legislation and liaisoning with constituents and lobbyist groups. Plus, the US Congress has its own public policy research arm — Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS’s sole responsibility is to provide legislators with non-partisan analysis. The British parliament offers similar privileges to its MPs. A member of the House of Commons gets an annual staffing allowance of £ 90,000. Staff responsibilities include both constituency and parliamentary work.

... contd.