Parliament and law-making

The just concluded session of Parliament has led to a debate on whether our MPs did justice to their primary duty, that is, law-making. Newspapers have been critical of the manner Parliament passed as many as 16 Bills in 20 minutes. Some of the criticism can be read here. The PRS Legislative Research gives here the key statistics of the just-concluded session. But what I find missing in the PRS’ analysis is how much time the Standing Committees spent in each of the Bills passed in this session. The comment here suggests that we need to take into account the work done at the committees to pass a judgment on whether our MPs wasted their precious time in Parliament or whether the Government really rushed through the Bills avoiding a debate. Here is the list of Bills passed in the extended monsoon session. This list highlights the objectives of the Bills passed and the status of the pending Bills.

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1 comment
  • Thanks for this V – it is an issue I have also been troubled with. I was looking at the reformed parliamentary procedure in the UK after a ‘modernisation of the House of Commons Report’. White and Green papers, publication of draft Bills and prelegislative scrutiny should become a norm for every Bill, to be bypassed only in an emergency.