TThe winter session of the Parliament ended on Wednesday, 23rd December 2015. Compared to the monsoon session, this session was more productive in terms of the Bills passed. The Lok Sabha passed 14 bills whereas the Rajya Sabha passed 8 bills, and together these houses passed 8 bills. In terms of clock hours put in, the Lok Sabha worked for 115 hours, an hour more than the original schedule. The Rajya Sabha worked for 60 hours, but lost 47 hours to disruption.
Rajya Sabha under review
Despite this level of productivity, the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley commented that the role and powers of Rajya Sabha should be reviewed as it enjoys powers on par with Lok Sabha, which is a directly elected body. What he said in fact expresses the ground reality in the Parliament. Today, the BJP has an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha, but it does not enjoy a similar position in the Rajya Sabha. In the Rajya Sabha, non-BJP political forces like Congress, BSP, SP, etc., have more numerical strength than the BJP. This is precisely why the BJP could not get many important bills like the GST passed as it has no majority in the Upper House. No wonder the big guns of the BJP are talking about reducing the powers of the Rajya Sabha. Interestingly, the Left forces have been asking for this for many years.
Arun Jaitley is an eminent Supreme Court lawyer and knows what he is talking about. This is why it is all the more surprising to see his suggestions to reduce the status of the Rajya Sabha. In fact, the Rajya Sabha has been deliberately given an important status in our scheme of things. There was heated debate in our Constituent Assembly about the role and powers of the Rajya Sabha. Mohammad Tahir representing Bihar said on 28th July 1947 that ‘the Upper House is a creation of imperialism’ and argued that independent India did not need it. To which the mover of the debate Gopalswami Ayyangar, replied that ‘the role of the Upper House is merely to delay legislation which might be the outcome of passions of the moment until the passions have subsided’. It was obvious to the great minds of India that the Lower House (Lok Sabha) can fall prey to passionate rhetoric and thus felt the need to have a ‘House of Elders’ (Rajya Sabha) to instill calm. The powers of the Upper House to delay and oppose legislations passed by the Lower House were recognised and enshrined right from the very birth of the Rajya Sabha. This is an important role given to the Rajya Sabha in our Constitution. So, to argue that the Rajya Sabha is being obstructionist for merely opposing legislation of the Lower House, is a flawed argument.
Is the Lok Sabha truly representative of the people?
Also the argument that our Lok Sabha is a body directly elected by the people who are the sovereign powers, is equally lop-sided. In our ‘first-past-the-post’ system of elections, a candidate can win even if he gets only 30% of the total votes polled, which itself could be only 60% of the total eligible voters in the constituency. In other words, in our country, minority can easily get elected since we do not yet have a well-developed ‘two-party system’ like USA and UK. Given this ground reality, can any MP/MLA (Member of Parliament/Member of Legislative Assembly) claim to be the true representative of majority opinion?
Let us take a quick look at the practice in other developed democracies like USA and UK. Both these countries have a second house of the Parliament, albeit with a world of difference. The UK has the ‘House of Lords’ which is a house of nobles where one gets nominated. Even today, many stalwarts like the economist Dr. Meghnad Desai get elevated to peerage. The UK has a second house for historical reasons. The USA has a very important and very different second house known as the Senate. It is a federal country which has 50 constituent states and the USA is a product of an agreement between these states. The Senate is created to protect the interests of the federating states.
The raison d’être of the Rajya Sabha
Like USA, India too has a federal system and today we have 29 states which are members of the Union of India. To protect their interests we have created the Rajya Sabha which is also known as the ‘Council of the states’. Each and every MP in Rajya Sabha represents a state of the Indian Union unlike an MP from Lok Sabha who represents a constituency. In other words, for our federal polity, we must have a Rajya Sabha.
This is why each state of the Indian Union has representation in the Rajya Sabha in proportion to its population. For example, big states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra have a big number of MPs in the Rajya Sabha. The most important feature of the Rajya Sabha is that it can’t be dissolved, and it is a permanent house. Each MP of the Rajya Sabha enjoys a term of six years and every second year 1/3 MPs retire and that many get elected from its states. Since it is a permanent house, India always has a House where the Council of Ministers has to appear and face the MPs. During the Kargil War in 1999, the Lok Sabha had already been dissolved and the new Lok Sabha was yet to be elected. But since we had the Rajya Sabha, Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee could go to the Rajya Sabha and explain our position.
This also brings into discussion the other dimensions of utility of the Rajya Sabha. Rajya Sabha is a body of election-shy and elderly people, free from political prejudices and passions. It acts as a brake upon the Lok Sabha which on occasion might seek to push Bills through Parliament with undue haste and without adequate consideration and debate. The cool and sane voices in the Rajya Sabha can act as a leash on the Lok Sabha.
Another practical dimension of the issue is the north-south divide of our country and the attendant uneven spread of MPs. In terms of numerical strength, North India is way ahead of South India. A political party can come to power by winning 272 seats from the North, West and East India. Such a party can easily ignore the interests of South India. It is the Rajya Sabha which ensures that all the states of the Indian Union are represented and heard.
Let us also not forget that when it comes to passing money bills, the Lok Sabha has been given absolute powers. A money bill passed by the Lok Sabha does go to the Rajya Sabha, but only for discussion and comments which are not binding on the Lok Sabha. Most important, a no-confidence motion against the government of the day can be moved only in the Lok Sabha and not in the Rajya Sabha. It simply means the fall of the government could take place only in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha has no role here.
Given this, it is quite clear that the Rajya Sabha has an important role in our polity. We must understand and respect this. If a political party ruling the country shows grace and magnanimity to take everybody on board, many bills could be easily passed. Sardar Patel used to say ‘never blame your tools, blame yourself for your inability’. We should keep in mind these words of that great son of India.
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Prof. Avinash Kolhe
Prof. Avinash Kolhe is Assistant Professor in Political Science at D. G. Ruparel College, Mumbai. [/column]