Talk-shop In The Name Of Assembly!
By Firdous Syed
21 August, 2007
Countercurrents.orgElections to the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly in 1996 were billed as an important milestone towards the restoration of democratic order after a prolonged spell of presidential rule in the state. And, the much-talked about elections in 2002 were termed as "most transparent, participatory, and fairest of all" till date. Without going into how these elections were conducted or the quantum of public participation in them, let's assess the functioning of the Assembly. With the 10th Legislative Assembly in the state nearing end of its term, it's right time to evaluate how seriously do the people in power take the so-called peoples' institution which actually is the source of their power and privilege. In Jammu and Kashmir the term of the Assembly is for six years. The 9th Assembly that was constituted after 1996 worked only for 215 days in its six year term. The first session of the 9th Assembly that began on Oct 22, 1996, was held only for five days. Remember, first session of the Assembly usually sans any official business including Question Hour and is mainly devoted to the oath-taking of the newly elected members of the Legislative Assembly and election of the presiding officers - Speaker and Dy. Speaker of the House.
Now take a look at the year-wise break-up of the 9th Assembly sittings. In 1997, Assembly worked for 38 days at both places in Srinagar and Jammu; in 1998 for 37 days, for 37 days again in 1999, 43 days in 2000, which included a six days special session at Srinagar to discuss the Autonomy Committee report; in 2001 for 34 and in the election year 2002 merely for 26 days. Similarly, the current Assembly is in its fifth year and has worked for just 163 days until now (excluding the on-going session). The current session is of thirteen days and on an average 10th Assembly has not worked for more than 35 days a year, and if one includes 35 days +13 days of the current session, the 10th Assembly will be working approximately only for about 200 days.
For the past 11 years, the Assembly has not worked for more than 100 days [in Srinagar]; the usually six to eight days of Assembly sessions in Srinagar are to meet the constituanal requirement of meeting at least once in six months. The main business is transacted at Jammu during the Budget session that usually consists of 25 to 30 days.
A typical day's work for the Assembly when it meets is of four hours, and for some days it may assemble twice a day, but that is an exception rather than a rule. If one calculates 163 work days thus far into four hours a day and another 200 hours on account of the double-sittings, the total working time in five years comes roughly around 850 hours. Going by this estimate, in a House of 87 members, for the last five years a legislator would not have got more than 10 hours, which is more or less two hours a year. Then, if one discounts the time wasted in disruptions and pandemonium, a usual feature in the Assembly now- the quality time available for a legislator to highlight the problems of his electorate will be far less than the two hours a year.
Now if it is not a joke in the name of democracy then what is it? Can a legislator do justice to his job in such a little time? Does this genuinely not cast shadow on the working of this all-important democratic institution in the state? If it is not simple pretentiousness in the name of a working democracy, then how else this style of functioning could be explained?
The issue here is not only of the length of the time available to the Legislature for its effective functioning, but it's of how seriously the army of ministers or for that matter the Chief Minister himself takes the Legislature. Most of the times members of the Legislature are seen complaining that either the ministers are not available to attend to the issues related to their assigned departments, or even if they are available, they come to the House ill-prepared.
Ministers on the drop of the hat give assurances and then forget to follow-up. Even the current as well as past Chief Ministers have been caught on the wrong foot on the matter of assurances made on the floor of the House and then not delivering accordingly - hence, not being able to live up to their word. Even the time-to-time directions given by the presiding officers are not complied in latter and spirit. The Assurance Committee report for the year gone-by, has been highly critical of the government saying that it has not complied with its own assurances made on the floor of the House except a very few. The quality of the debate in the House is already a thing of the past since long, but the normal functioning of the Legislature is also hampered due to the lack of respect and sensitivity shown by the Executive to this seemingly high institution of democracy. The attitude of the government has turned the Assembly into a talk-shop, unable to deliver on the matters of public good. Going by such a casual attitude of the government, if people tomorrow start calling it a "Sham Assembly", it will not be far away from the truth of the day.
Tailpiece: Vote-bank politics has always been a murky and viscous affair. Even as it's routine for the politicians to employ dirty tactics to remain in power, but nobody could have imagined such stinking tactics stooping low to the level of a gutter. And interestingly the power-hungry politicians dividing people in the name of religion, caste, 'biradiri', and region are now drawing distinctions between 'your thief' and 'my thief'. Issues of empowerment and proper representation shall always be a of matter of great concern for the civil society, but one will hope that the civil society does not fell in the trap of politicians by speaking without applying its mind and linking issues of empowerment with corruption which will provide legitimacy to the nefarious designs of today's politicians. One will have to understand that by linking the legitimate questions of "empowerment" with the anti-corruption drive is akin to condoning the acts of plunder and loot of public wealth. By doing so they are doing no good to the society. They are only encouraging the corrupt and their corrupt practices. Let's not confuse the issues of identity and empowerment with the nexus between corruption and power-politics!
*(The writer can be contacted at firdoussyed@ yahoo.com).
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