Re: [Assam] Parliament (Lok Sabha) Withering Away
Also I have a question - the Parliament is called Lok Sabha today. What are the Members of Parliament called in Hindi, other than MP? I am guessing: Parliament: Sabha Lower House/House of Commons: Lok Sabha Upper House/House of Lords: Rajya Sabha --Ram On 10/1/07, Dilip/Dil Deka [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I doubt whether some of the MPs are familiar with the constitution or are even aware that the government consists of three branches. Do the freshman MPs at least get some orientation in the first few weeks to understand the process of government? Probably some such training will help remove the stalemate. It is very hard to remove partisanship but it is possible to remove some of the hardness due to partisanship. There are issues where the nation comes above party politics and the debaters need to be aware of these. The parliamentarians of the past that the writer extols had this calber and the debates were meaningful. Also I have a question - the Parliament is called Lok Sabha today. What are the Members of Parliament called in Hindi, other than MP? Dilip FROM THE ASSAM TRIBUNE: *EDITORIAL* -- *Parliament withering away — Poonam I Kaushish* *W*e have been through all this before. Year after year. Of how India's Parliament is increasing being devalued. Crores of tax payers hard earned money being swept aside by the verbal torrent of puerile discourse that leads to walkouts, even near fisticuffs. Wherein the very protectors of this high temple of democracy have become its denigrators and destroyers. Of how in their collective wisdom our MPs have been spewing sheer contempt on Parliament, wittingly or unwittingly. Reducing it into an akhara, where politically motivated bashing has become the order of the day and agenda a luxury to be taken up when lung power is exhausted. Epitomising a cesspool of every thing that has gone wrong with India today! Testimony to this sharp decline was this year's shortest ever monsoon session of barely 17 days with the longest daily adjournments and hardly any work, a mere 64 hours. Shockingly, the session, originally scheduled from 10 August till 14 September, was hurriedly cut short and adjourned sine die four days earlier. No, not because of lack of agenda or legislative business. But due to the proceedings being disrupted in both Houses on a daily basis thanks to the stand-off between the Opposition and the Treasury benches on the Indo-US nuclear deal. The former demanding a JPC on the contentious subject and the latter adamantly declining. With the result that Parliament further lost credibility and prestige. Leading a much anguished Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to State in his concluding remarks: It is extremely disturbing that the highest public forum in the country has come to a standstill which has raised questions about the utility of our system of Parliamentary democracy and about its future. Raising a moot point: Is Parliament becoming irrelevant? That we are slowly but surely heading towards disaster is obvious. What troubles one is the new dimension to this age-old malaise. That it does not strike a chord among our MPs. Who largely continue to drift along smugly without thinking of what they have done to Parliament. Of how they have mauled it and continue to do so. Most distressing is that there is no sense of outrage or shame. The legislative business transacted during the session illustrates how powerless parliament has become in stemming the mounting rot. Let's start with the Question Hour, the hyphen which links Parliament to Government and ensures ministerial accountability. Distressingly out of the 380 starred questions listed, only 35 could be answered. Thus, on an average about 2.05 question were answered per day. Why? The MPs were too busy – rushing into the well of the House, raising slogans and preventing transaction of any business. Mindlessly, ignoring the fact that the hour, treated as sacrosanct in the House of Commons, belong to the private members and empowers them to push the Government and even it's Prime Minister into the dock. Any member can ask any question within the framework of the rules. This, according to constitutional experts, is what makes the Westminster model of Parliamentary democracy superior to all other systems. The crucial Question Hour consequently got guillotined time and again, notwithstanding the midnight oil burnt by various ministries preparing for the answers. Not only that. Incredibly, four Bills were passed by the House without any discussion whatsoever due to continuous interruptions. No one cared that the bills failed to meet the conventional parliamentary requirement of three readings. The first reading is done when the Minister moves for the bill's consideration and explains its philosophy and its broad parameters. Thereafter, the bill is closely thrashed out clause by clause in the second
Re: [Assam] Parliament (Lok Sabha) Withering Away
But, but---India is UNITED, isn't it? What seems to be the problem? Clearly, it is time to give serious thought to rectifying the flaws in our system and urgent overhauling. NO! :-) Wake up to reality Dilip. It is better late than never. At 7:09 AM -0700 10/1/07, Dilip/Dil Deka wrote: I doubt whether some of the MPs are familiar with the constitution or are even aware that the government consists of three branches. Do the freshman MPs at least get some orientation in the first few weeks to understand the process of government? Probably some such training will help remove the stalemate. It is very hard to remove partisanship but it is possible to remove some of the hardness due to partisanship. There are issues where the nation comes above party politics and the debaters need to be aware of these. The parliamentarians of the past that the writer extols had this calber and the debates were meaningful. Also I have a question - the Parliament is called Lok Sabha today. What are the Members of Parliament called in Hindi, other than MP? Dilip FROM THE ASSAM TRIBUNE: EDITORIAL Parliament withering away Poonam I Kaushish We have been through all this before. Year after year. Of how Indias Parliament is increasing being devalued. Crores of tax payers hard earned money being swept aside by the verbal torrent of puerile discourse that leads to walkouts, even near fisticuffs. Wherein the very protectors of this high temple of democracy have become its denigrators and destroyers. Of how in their collective wisdom our MPs have been spewing sheer contempt on Parliament, wittingly or unwittingly. Reducing it into an akhara, where politically motivated bashing has become the order of the day and agenda a luxury to be taken up when lung power is exhausted. Epitomising a cesspool of every thing that has gone wrong with India today! Testimony to this sharp decline was this years shortest ever monsoon session of barely 17 days with the longest daily adjournments and hardly any work, a mere 64 hours. Shockingly, the session, originally scheduled from 10 August till 14 September, was hurriedly cut short and adjourned sine die four days earlier. No, not because of lack of agenda or legislative business. But due to the proceedings being disrupted in both Houses on a daily basis thanks to the stand-off between the Opposition and the Treasury benches on the Indo-US nuclear deal. The former demanding a JPC on the contentious subject and the latter adamantly declining. With the result that Parliament further lost credibility and prestige. Leading a much anguished Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to State in his concluding remarks: It is extremely disturbing that the highest public forum in the country has come to a standstill which has raised questions about the utility of our system of Parliamentary democracy and about its future. Raising a moot point: Is Parliament becoming irrelevant? That we are slowly but surely heading towards disaster is obvious. What troubles one is the new dimension to this age-old malaise. That it does not strike a chord among our MPs. Who largely continue to drift along smugly without thinking of what they have done to Parliament. Of how they have mauled it and continue to do so. Most distressing is that there is no sense of outrage or shame. The legislative business transacted during the session illustrates how powerless parliament has become in stemming the mounting rot. Lets start with the Question Hour, the hyphen which links Parliament to Government and ensures ministerial accountability. Distressingly out of the 380 starred questions listed, only 35 could be answered. Thus, on an average about 2.05 question were answered per day. Why? The MPs were too busy rushing into the well of the House, raising slogans and preventing transaction of any business. Mindlessly, ignoring the fact that the hour, treated as sacrosanct in the House of Commons, belong to the private members and empowers them to push the Government and even its Prime Minister into the dock. Any member can ask any question within the framework of the rules. This, according to constitutional experts, is what makes the Westminster model of Parliamentary democracy superior to all other systems. The crucial Question Hour consequently got guillotined time and again, notwithstanding the midnight oil burnt by various ministries preparing for the answers. Not only that. Incredibly, four Bills were passed by the House without any discussion whatsoever due to continuous interruptions. No one cared that the bills failed to meet the conventional parliamentary requirement of three readings. The first reading is done when the Minister moves for the bills consideration and explains its philosophy and its broad parameters. Thereafter, the bill is closely thrashed out clause by clause in the second
Re: [Assam] Parliament (Lok Sabha) Withering Away
You missed the point. India being united has little to do with behavior of MPs along party lines to the point of being hooligans. Reform will come with education - including educating the MPs on democracy and government. Wake up to reality Dilip. It is better late than never. - I am indeed awake and that is why I posted the article. But I do not believe that India has reached the point of dissolution. Progress has been made in many areas but there is room for growth in others. Unfortunately India does not proact but reacts. On a side note, secession of Assam is definitely not the salvation of the Assamese. Good morning to you, Dilip Chan Mahanta [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: But, but---India is UNITED, isn't it? What seems to be the problem? Clearly, it is time to give serious thought to rectifying the flaws in our system and urgent overhauling. NO! :-) Wake up to reality Dilip. It is better late than never. At 7:09 AM -0700 10/1/07, Dilip/Dil Deka wrote: I doubt whether some of the MPs are familiar with the constitution or are even aware that the government consists of three branches. Do the freshman MPs at least get some orientation in the first few weeks to understand the process of government? Probably some such training will help remove the stalemate. It is very hard to remove partisanship but it is possible to remove some of the hardness due to partisanship. There are issues where the nation comes above party politics and the debaters need to be aware of these. The parliamentarians of the past that the writer extols had this calber and the debates were meaningful. Also I have a question - the Parliament is called Lok Sabha today. What are the Members of Parliament called in Hindi, other than MP? DilipFROM THE ASSAM TRIBUNE: EDITORIAL - Parliament withering away Poonam I Kaushish We have been through all this before. Year after year. Of how Indias Parliament is increasing being devalued. Crores of tax payers hard earned money being swept aside by the verbal torrent of puerile discourse that leads to walkouts, even near fisticuffs. Wherein the very protectors of this high temple of democracy have become its denigrators and destroyers. Of how in their collective wisdom our MPs have been spewing sheer contempt on Parliament, wittingly or unwittingly. Reducing it into an akhara, where politically motivated bashing has become the order of the day and agenda a luxury to be taken up when lung power is exhausted. Epitomising a cesspool of every thing that has gone wrong with India today! Testimony to this sharp decline was this years shortest ever monsoon session of barely 17 days with the longest daily adjournments and hardly any work, a mere 64 hours. Shockingly, the session, originally scheduled from 10 August till 14 September, was hurriedly cut short and adjourned sine die four days earlier. No, not because of lack of agenda or legislative business. But due to the proceedings being disrupted in both Houses on a daily basis thanks to the stand-off between the Opposition and the Treasury benches on the Indo-US nuclear deal. The former demanding a JPC on the contentious subject and the latter adamantly declining. With the result that Parliament further lost credibility and prestige. Leading a much anguished Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to State in his concluding remarks: It is extremely disturbing that the highest public forum in the country has come to a standstill which has raised questions about the utility of our system of Parliamentary democracy and about its future. Raising a moot point: Is Parliament becoming irrelevant? That we are slowly but surely heading towards disaster is obvious. What troubles one is the new dimension to this age-old malaise. That it does not strike a chord among our MPs. Who largely continue to drift along smugly without thinking of what they have done to Parliament. Of how they have mauled it and continue to do so. Most distressing is that there is no sense of outrage or shame. The legislative business transacted during the session illustrates how powerless parliament has become in stemming the mounting rot. Lets start with the Question Hour, the hyphen which links Parliament to Government and ensures ministerial accountability. Distressingly out of the 380 starred questions listed, only 35 could be answered. Thus, on an average about 2.05 question were answered per day. Why? The MPs were too busy rushing into the well of the House, raising slogans and preventing transaction of any business. Mindlessly, ignoring the fact that the hour, treated as sacrosanct in the House of Commons, belong to the private members and empowers them to push the Government and even its Prime Minister into the dock. Any member can ask any question within the
Re: [Assam] Parliament (Lok Sabha) Withering Away
Dilip da and Ram da: Parliament consists of two units Lok Sabha (house of the people) and Rajya Sabha (council of states). Parliament is known in Hindi as Sansad (Pronouced like Song-sod). The members of Parliament are known in Hindi as Saansad (Pronouced like Sung-sod). There are no different name for members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha (like Senetors or Congressman/Representative here in US). Coming to the question of knowledge of Constitution; freshmen/young squad is better equiped with rules and regulations than some of the veterans specially from the Cow belt. As long as the party bosses decides to provide ticket for elections, it is very difficult to remove partisans from the members (otherwise they wont get the ticket for the next election). Ganesh - Original Message From: Ram Sarangapani [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world assam@assamnet.org Sent: Monday, October 1, 2007 10:21:54 AM Subject: Re: [Assam] Parliament (Lok Sabha) Withering Away Also I have a question - the Parliament is called Lok Sabha today. What are the Members of Parliament called in Hindi, other than MP? I am guessing: Parliament: Sabha Lower House/House of Commons: Lok Sabha Upper House/House of Lords: Rajya Sabha --Ram On 10/1/07, Dilip/Dil Deka [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I doubt whether some of the MPs are familiar with the constitution or are even aware that the government consists of three branches. Do the freshman MPs at least get some orientation in the first few weeks to understand the process of government? Probably some such training will help remove the stalemate. It is very hard to remove partisanship but it is possible to remove some of the hardness due to partisanship. There are issues where the nation comes above party politics and the debaters need to be aware of these. The parliamentarians of the past that the writer extols had this calber and the debates were meaningful. Also I have a question - the Parliament is called Lok Sabha today. What are the Members of Parliament called in Hindi, other than MP? Dilip FROM THE ASSAM TRIBUNE: EDITORIAL Parliament withering away — Poonam I Kaushish We have been through all this before. Year after year. Of how India's Parliament is increasing being devalued. Crores of tax payers hard earned money being swept aside by the verbal torrent of puerile discourse that leads to walkouts, even near fisticuffs. Wherein the very protectors of this high temple of democracy have become its denigrators and destroyers. Of how in their collective wisdom our MPs have been spewing sheer contempt on Parliament, wittingly or unwittingly. Reducing it into an akhara, where politically motivated bashing has become the order of the day and agenda a luxury to be taken up when lung power is exhausted. Epitomising a cesspool of every thing that has gone wrong with India today! Testimony to this sharp decline was this year's shortest ever monsoon session of barely 17 days with the longest daily adjournments and hardly any work, a mere 64 hours. Shockingly, the session, originally scheduled from 10 August till 14 September, was hurriedly cut short and adjourned sine die four days earlier. No, not because of lack of agenda or legislative business. But due to the proceedings being disrupted in both Houses on a daily basis thanks to the stand-off between the Opposition and the Treasury benches on the Indo-US nuclear deal. The former demanding a JPC on the contentious subject and the latter adamantly declining. With the result that Parliament further lost credibility and prestige. Leading a much anguished Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to State in his concluding remarks: It is extremely disturbing that the highest public forum in the country has come to a standstill which has raised questions about the utility of our system of Parliamentary democracy and about its future. Raising a moot point: Is Parliament becoming irrelevant? That we are slowly but surely heading towards disaster is obvious. What troubles one is the new dimension to this age-old malaise. That it does not strike a chord among our MPs. Who largely continue to drift along smugly without thinking of what they have done to Parliament. Of how they have mauled it and continue to do so. Most distressing is that there is no sense of outrage or shame. The legislative business transacted during the session illustrates how powerless parliament has become in stemming the mounting rot. Let's start with the Question Hour, the hyphen which links Parliament to Government and ensures ministerial accountability. Distressingly out of the 380 starred questions listed, only 35 could be answered. Thus, on an average about 2.05 question were answered per day. Why? The MPs were too busy – rushing into the well of the House, raising slogans and preventing transaction of any business. Mindlessly, ignoring
Re: [Assam] Parliament (Lok Sabha) Withering Away
At 7:45 AM -0700 10/1/07, Dilip/Dil Deka wrote: You missed the point. India being united has little to do with behavior of MPs along party lines to the point of being hooligans. *** I must have! But that must be because I must have had this bizarre idea that the world's largest democracy's top lawmaking body's members , purportedly representing that sea of humanity united in their collective well-being, just might be concerned about getting things done for EVERYBODY's benefit, not merely go there to safeguard the spoils for themselves. Silly me! Reform will come with education - including educating the MPs on democracy and government. Uh-huh! Dang, why didn't I think of it? But if I read it correctly here, Indian education is one of the best in the world, with its products taking the world by a storm. What am I missing? Maybe an Indian Institute of Democracy for Aspiring MP's is in order. Admission strictly by MERIT. Grads can be exported to, improve western democracies, or the latter can out-source their govts. to India. . Progress has been made in many areas but there is room for growth in others. Indeed! My bad, being so impatient, ready to destroy India on a minor technicality. Unfortunately India does not proact but reacts. Must be a learned response from that Ten thousand year old civilization. On a side note, secession of Assam is definitely not the salvation of the Assamese. Could I dispute that? Just look at India's record, envy of the world! O'Deka, you have got to stop leaving that door ajar for my acerbic side to barge right in like this :-). O'm Wake up to reality Dilip. It is better late than never. - I am indeed awake and that is why I posted the article. But I do not believe that India has reached the point of dissolution. Progress has been made in many areas but there is room for growth in others. Unfortunately India does not proact but reacts. On a side note, secession of Assam is definitely not the salvation of the Assamese. Good morning to you, Dilip Chan Mahanta [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: But, but---India is UNITED, isn't it? What seems to be the problem? Clearly, it is time to give serious thought to rectifying the flaws in our system and urgent overhauling. NO! :-) Wake up to reality Dilip. It is better late than never. At 7:09 AM -0700 10/1/07, Dilip/Dil Deka wrote: I doubt whether some of the MPs are familiar with the constitution or are even aware that the government consists of three branches. Do the freshman MPs at least get some orientation in the first few weeks to understand the process of government? Probably some such training will help remove the stalemate. It is very hard to remove partisanship but it is possible to remove some of the hardness due to partisanship. There are issues where the nation comes above party politics and the debaters need to be aware of these. The parliamentarians of the past that the writer extols had this calber and the debates were meaningful. Also I have a question - the Parliament is called Lok Sabha today. What are the Members of Parliament called in Hindi, other than MP? Dilip FROM THE ASSAM TRIBUNE: EDITORIAL Parliament withering away Poonam I Kaushish We have been through all this before. Year after year. Of how Indias Parliament is increasing being devalued. Crores of tax payers hard earned money being swept aside by the verbal torrent of puerile discourse that leads to walkouts, even near fisticuffs. Wherein the very protectors of this high temple of democracy have become its denigrators and destroyers. Of how in their collective wisdom our MPs have been spewing sheer contempt on Parliament, wittingly or unwittingly. Reducing it into an akhara, where politically motivated bashing has become the order of the day and agenda a luxury to be taken up when lung power is exhausted. Epitomising a cesspool of every thing that has gone wrong with India today! Testimony to this sharp decline was this years shortest ever monsoon session of barely 17 days with the longest daily adjournments and hardly any work, a mere 64 hours. Shockingly, the session, originally scheduled from 10 August till 14 September, was hurriedly cut short and adjourned sine die four days earlier. No, not because of lack of agenda or legislative business. But due to the proceedings being disrupted in both Houses on a daily basis thanks to the stand-off between the Opposition and the Treasury benches on the Indo-US nuclear deal. The former demanding a JPC on the contentious subject and the latter adamantly declining. With the result that Parliament further lost credibility and prestige. Leading a much anguished Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to State in his concluding remarks: It is extremely disturbing that the highest public forum in the country has come to a
