Most people often don?t realise just how difficult it is to be a member of Parliament, especially of the Lok Sabha. And one isn?t referring to the lengthy, tiresome and tough process of getting a party ticket (independents are only a handful) and then getting elected, which by itself is daunting enough. The really difficult job, as the first timers in the 15th Lok Sabha will figure out from this week onwards, is juggling?with efficiency and competence?the various hats that a single MP wears.
Members of the Lok Sabha are, without exception, the New Delhi-based representatives of the individual constituencies they represent. So, they must voice the concerns of their constituents at appropriate forums. And they are also expected to directly work for the development of their constituencies. A huge majority of MPs are also members of political parties and are thus accountable to their parties and the party?s agenda. The party line may not always match their constituency interests. MPs must also be able to move beyond constituency and party interests and speak about national issues. As lawmakers, they play an important part in the discussion and passing of legislation. As a part of this process, they are members of key parliamentary committees which discuss area-specific legislation and hold individual government departments to account.
Since a huge majority of Lok Sabha MPs are not ministers, they do not have the services of a vast bureaucracy to assist them in their duties. So, they must carry out all their very different duties with minimal support infrastructure, at least compared with ministers.
No wonder then that there is a desperate clamour for ministerships by ruling party MPs. Apart from all the power of a ministerial position, holding a ministerial office and all its perks also helps occupants manage their various different roles as MPs more effectiv-ely?ministerial patronage helps with constituency work and all legislative work is put to paper by a professional bureaucracy. Unfortunately for the majority of MPs only around one out of ten members of the 15th Lok Sabha will have this privilege. However, in our system of parliamentary democracy, Parliament (and not the executive) is still the supreme body of government. Unfortunately, many of our MPs seem to forget the important and constructive role they have to play in the governance of the country. Typically, in recent times, Parliament has ended up neatly divided between the treasury benches and the opposition benches, with each side adopting an often irrational adversarial stance (based not on individual issues, but the general political divide in the House). This has ended up reducing Parliament to a stage for drama/theatrics (or recess, more often than not) rather than a forum for engaging with crucial legislation?the opposition does not have to oppose every important Bill that the government introduces? and for holding the government accountable (not by walking out, but by asking serious questions). In fact, some of the most important legislation ought to be passed with bipartisan support (if desirable, with inputs from MPs who are not part of the executive). For example, many of the pending Bills on economic reform issues ought to command the support of the apparently centre-right BJP, if it wishes to play the role of a constructive opposition.
Even ruling coalition MPs (the more than 200 who are not ministers) must play their constructive part. Of course, they cannot defy party whips (in favour of government legislation) on crucial votes but they can and must play their part in parliamentary committees?they should ask questions to keep their own executive on its toes: their re-election depends on the performance of the executive. They could also contribute ideas to improve the design and content of legislation. It isn?t good enough for them to abdicate these important duties and just spend time in their constituencies or spend all their time lobbying for a ministerial berth.
While on the subject of time in constituencies, the one thing which still isn?t satisfactorily resolved is how best MPs can go about the job of promoting development in their own constituencies. Strictly speaking, it is the job of the executive (at the Centre and in the states) to implement developmental works. MPs should at best play an advocacy role (and a monitoring role).
An attempt to marry the two is the MP local area development scheme (MPLADS), a scheme which allocates a sum of Rs 2 crore a year to every member of Parliament to spend on developmental projects in their constituency. But the money must be spent through the official machinery of the local government?all projects have, therefore, to be cleared and implemented by the district collector.
Interestingly (and arguably unjustifiably since they are not directly elected by a single constituency), the scheme is also available to all Rajya Sabha members (they can choose any district or two from the state they represent, or in the case of nominated members, any district or two in the country).
So, between the 800 MPs of the two Houses, the scheme costs Rs 1,600 crore a year, not an insignificant sum. Especially when one considers the relatively dismal record of projects being undertaken using this money. Ironically, the sum may not be enough for big projects in any case. In practice, the MPLADS has been a cesspool of corruption, graft and misgovernance. It?s time that there is a rethink on this scheme, which is in effect a distraction for MPs, and delivers no real change on the ground. MPs, as highlighted earlier, have far more important tasks to look into than distributing contracts worth Rs 2 crore each year.