Tag: news

It’s Time India’s Parliament Had A Calendar

by Derek O'Brien

The dates for the forthcoming Budget session of Parliament have been announced. Once again, at very short notice. We did some research and here is what we found. Historically, the Indian Parliament provided ample time for preparation. The first two Lok Sabhas (1952–1962) averaged a commendable 47 days between the time the notice was given, and the start of the session. Over the years, however, this gap has narrowed significantly. Under the current government, the average has plummeted to 17 days notice for summoning sessions—one of the lowest in the  history of independent India. This time around, the Parliamentary bulletin announcing the starting date (31 January) of the Budget Session, was announced on 17 January. Abysmal. 15 days notice!   

India’s Parliament has seen this troubling trend in the last two decades. The lack of proper planning hurts the functioning of a Parliamentary democracy. The diminishing lead time between the issuance of summons and the commencement of sessions is only one of the many ills that is ‘turning Parliament into a deep, dark chamber’. If schools and colleges can set up their calendars way in advance, why can’t Parliament? There are multiple advantages of preparing and then announcing a calendar for Parliament with sufficient lead time. Proper lead time will ensure higher quality of outputs from Members of Parliament (MPs). 

The Constitutional Gap

Unlike many other democracies, India does not have a fixed parliamentary calendar. Conventionally, Parliament meets for three sessions a year:

i. Budget Session (usually February-May),

ii. Monsoon Session (usually July-August), and

iii. Winter Session (usually November-December).

The only constitutional requirement is that there should not be more than six months between two sessions. The gap has enabled successive governments to carve out timing for sessions to suit themselves. This selfish tactic undermines the robustness of Parliament and raises serious questions. 

Can a Parliament that meets sporadically, with just two weeks notice, be an effective amplifier to voice concerns of citizens? Can a Parliament that gives MPs insufficient time to prepare, be a shining example of representative governance? Members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha are elected not just to legislate, but also to hold the government accountable, scrutinise its actions, and debate matters of national importance. These responsibilities will be fulfilled far better with a structured and predictable Parliamentary calendar.  

Efforts to address this issue go back many decades. In 1955, the General Purposes Committee of the Lok Sabha explored the idea of a fixed Parliamentary calendar. Then again in 2002, the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution, emphasised the need for a minimum number of sittings. Unfortunately, these proposals have still not been implemented.  

In 2019, your columnist introduced a Private Member’s Bill in Parliament to establish a fixed calendar for Parliamentary sessions and mandate a minimum of 100 sitting days annually. This aimed to enhance the functioning of Parliament by ensuring governments do not evade accountability by delaying sessions or cutting them short. A fixed schedule would allow Members of Parliament to plan their legislative and constituency responsibilities effectively, ensuring adequate time for debating and scrutinising bills, policies, and issues of public importance. By guaranteeing at least 100 sitting days, the bill sought to strengthen the democratic process, improve legislative efficiency, and uphold transparency and accountability in governance.

During the Constituent Assembly Debates, members like K.T. Shah argued that the flexibility of not having a fixed calendar should not lead to misuse, emphasising that Parliament must meet often to ensure proper oversight of the executive.India prides itself on being the world’s largest democracy. Yet, the strength of a democracy is measured not by its size but by the effectiveness of its institutions. Parliament is the cornerstone of this system, and its proper functioning is essential for ensuring that the voices of citizens are heard and their concerns addressed. A fixed Parliamentary calendar is not just a procedural reform, it will be a big step toward restoring some measure of the dignity and purpose of this institution.  

In countries like the UK and the US, Parliament and Congress have fixed session schedules. For instance, the UK House of Commons follows an annual calendar approved months in advance, ensuring MPs can prepare and balance their legislative and constituency duties.

This issue transcends political affiliations. It is about safeguarding the democratic framework and ensuring that Parliament fulfills its constitutional mandate. Seventy five years after adopting the Constitution, is as good a time as any, to give the world’s largest Parliamentary democracy a calendar with a well-planned schedule, and at least 100 days of Parliament being in session. 

Let’s get this done.

[This article was also published in NDTV| Monday, January 20, 2025]

Posted 19th January 2025 by Derek O'Brien

How laws are passed under NDA – in silence, without consultation

by Derek O'Brien

The release of the draft rules for the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act) for public consultation, more than 16 months after the Act was passed, has restarted discussions on the importance of public participation in lawmaking, particularly for pieces of legislation that significantly impact individual rights. Given its implications for privacy and digital governance, the delay in consulting the public on the implementation of the DPDP Act has drawn scrutiny.

This instance is emblematic of the broader issues surrounding the Pre-Legislative Consultation Policy (PLCP). In 2014, PLCP was formulated by the Ministry of Law and Justice. The policy is supposed to be followed by all departments and ministries before any legislative proposal is submitted for consideration. It has been a decade since the PLCP has come into effect. The question is: How many legislative proposals have actually undergone public consultation, and to what extent has the policy been effectively implemented across ministries and departments? The Union government was asked a pointed question in Parliament: How many Bills had been placed in the public domain for consultation before introduction? The response from Kiren Rijiju, then Union Minister of Law and Justice, was that the Ministry does not maintain any record relating to compliance with respect to the PLCP. (Another example of NDA – No Data Available!).

Non-obligatory Nature of PLCP: Paragraph 11 of the PLCP allows ministries and departments significant discretion to bypass the policy’s requirements if they deem public consultation to be “not feasible” or “undesirable”. This broad exemption creates a major loophole that undermines the very purpose of the policy. By granting government bodies the power to unilaterally decide when public input can be avoided, the provision weakens the commitment to transparency, accountability, and participatory democracy.

Such flexibility can be easily misused, leading to important legislation being passed without considering the views of those who may be affected. The ability to sidestep consultations without clearly defined criteria opens the door for arbitrary decisions, potentially resulting in laws that do not adequately reflect public needs or address stakeholder concerns. In essence, this undermines the fundamental aim of the policy: To ensure that the legislative process is inclusive, deliberative, and that voices of citizens are heard and considered before laws are enacted.

Poor Scrutiny and Quality of Legislation: The widespread public protests and strong opposition to controversial legislation, such as the CAA-NRC Bills and the Farm Bills, are examples of hurriedly legislating without meaningful consultations with key stakeholders. Several other significant pieces of legislation, including the Right to Information (Amendment) Act, 2019, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, 2019, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Second Amendment) Bill, 2021, were all tabled in Parliament without any prior engagement or consultation with the public. These instances reflect a broader trend of flippant legislative procedure without adequate public input.

Even when consultations do take place under the PLCP, there is no mechanism to ensure that they are conducted in all relevant languages and are well publicised, limiting accessibility for many citizens. Here are some startling statistics. As per PRS’s data from January 2022, three out of four bills introduced in Parliament bypassed any form of prior public consultation. Also, bills that were subjected to consultation, more than half (a whopping 54 per cent) did not comply with the mandated 30-day consultation period.

Best Practices: In South Africa, the constitution requires that all proposed legislation undergo a process of public engagement before being enacted. This mandatory public involvement ensures transparency and accountability in lawmaking, with any law that does not follow the prescribed consultation process being deemed unconstitutional and struck down by the courts. The emphasis is on inclusivity, allowing citizens to actively participate in shaping the laws that govern them.

Similarly, South Korea has institutionalised public participation in the legislative process by mandating that draft bills be published in advance. The draft legislation is made available for a minimum of 20 days before being introduced in the legislature, providing ample time for citizens to review and voice their opinions.

Even when consultations do take place under the PLCP, there is no mechanism to ensure that they are conducted in all relevant languages and are well publicised, limiting accessibility for many citizens. Here are some startling statistics. As per PRS’s data from January 2022, three out of four bills introduced in Parliament bypassed any form of prior public consultation. Also, bills that were subjected to consultation, more than half (a whopping 54 per cent) did not comply with the mandated 30-day consultation period.

Best Practices: In South Africa, the constitution requires that all proposed legislation undergo a process of public engagement before being enacted. This mandatory public involvement ensures transparency and accountability in lawmaking, with any law that does not follow the prescribed consultation process being deemed unconstitutional and struck down by the courts. The emphasis is on inclusivity, allowing citizens to actively participate in shaping the laws that govern them.

Similarly, South Korea has institutionalised public participation in the legislative process by mandating that draft bills be published in advance. The draft legislation is made available for a minimum of 20 days before being introduced in the legislature, providing ample time for citizens to review and voice their opinions.

[This article was also published in The Indian Express| Friday, January 17, 2025]

Posted 17th January 2025 by Derek O'Brien

The Modi Government’s 25 Things-To-Do in 2025

by Derek O'Brien

When Julius Caesar’s Senate fixed January 1 as the ‘first day of the year’, the idea wasn’t only to ‘start afresh’. It was also when those in civil office were to set in motion their responsibilities. In that tradition, coming down from 45 BC, let the existing coalition government headed by Narendra Modi set out to focus and do a lot better with this list: Top 25 Must Get Done In 2025.

1. Control inflation: Retail inflation reached a 14-month high of 6.21% and food inflation reached a 15-month high of 10.87% in October 2024. In 2023, savings by households dipped to a 50-year low.

2. Make the GDP grow: The Reserve Bank of India reduced GDP growth estimates from 7.2% to 6.6% in December 2024. The repo rate was not cut for eleven consecutive terms.

3. Attract foreign investment: 13 thousand crore (1.6 billion USD) worth of foreign direct investment has decreased between 2022-23 and 2023-24.

4. Make the rupee strong: In December 2024, the rupee stayed weak for the third straight session and settled at an all-time low of 85.27 against the US dollar.

5. Generate employment: Youth unemployment rate has been at 10% for the last two years. As per the Economic Survey, half of all individuals are not ready to be employed after graduating from college.

6. Favour the common man: In the last four years, Rs 5.65 lakh crore has been written off for the industrial sector. Agriculture, the largest employer in the country, received the least attention in terms of loan write-offs among all sectors from Scheduled Commercial Banks.

7. Provide food for all: Annually, 17 lakh Indians die from diseases related to insufficient food intake.

8. Ensure equal wages for all: Annual growth rate of real wages over the last decade has been close to zero at the all-India level. Rural real wages for the last five years have declined at 0.4% and agricultural wages have become stagnant at 0.2%. Four out of five people earn less than Rs 515 as of 2021.

9. Ensure dignity of life for farmers: As per the NCRB, 30 farmers commit suicide every day. Since February 2024, 22 farmers have lost their lives and over 160 have been injured while protesting for a legal guarantee for MSP.

10. Enable safety for women: Section 63 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita deals with the offence of rape but provides an exception for marital rape, stating that “sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under eighteen years of age, is not rape”.

11. Ensure dignity for the marginalised: Between 2018 and 2020, 443 people died cleaning sewers and septic tanks. Manual scavenging was banned in 2013.

12. Protect the press: Between 2014 and 2019, there were 200 serious attacks on journalists, along with arrests and interrogations. At least 194 journalists were targeted by government agencies, non-state political actors, criminals, and armed opposition groups in 2022 alone.

13. Ensure equitable representation: The representation of women in the 18th Lok Sabha is merely 13.6%. This is even less than the 17th Lok Sabha, which had 14.4% women. Only two out of 24 Parliamentary Standing Committees are chaired by women.

14. Allow legislative scrutiny: Since 2019, over 100 bills have been passed in less than two hours. In the 17th Lok Sabha, nine out of 10 bills introduced in Parliament have been marked by zero or incomplete consultations.

15. Select the Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha: The 17th Lok Sabha did not have a Deputy Speaker for its entire five-year term. The office of the Deputy Speaker continues to remain vacant even in the 18th Lok Sabha.

16. Allow criticism: The number of opposition MPs who have been suspended in the last five years has increased 13-fold. As many as 95% cases by the Enforcement Directorate in the last ten years have been filed against those from the Opposition.

17. Respect institutions: The National Commission for Backward Classes, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights do not have a Vice-Chairperson.

18. Support Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes & Other Backward Classes: As of March 2024, one out of 10 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBV) were not functional. Two out of five Eklavya schools were not functional as of July 2024.

19. Complete timelines: The 2021 Census has still not been conducted. This makes it the first Census to be delayed between 1887 and 2011.

20. Utilise funds better: As much as 80% of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’s total fund was spent on media advocacy, not for interventions on health or education.

21. Release dues owed to states: The government owes Rs 1,500 Crore under MGNREGS and Awas Yojana to West Bengal. The non-payment of the funds has directly affected the livelihood of 59 lakh MGNREGS workers.

22. Care about Manipur: The violence in Manipur has continued for more than a year, causing the displacement of 67,000 people, of which 14,000 are school-going students. The Prime Minister is yet to visit the state.

23. Safeguard minorities and their welfare: The NCRB recorded 378 instances of communal violence in 2021 and 272 such instances in 2022. In 2023, India witnessed 668 documented hate speech incidents against one community alone. One hundred and twenty-eight properties were demolished between April and June 2022, following communal violence and protests.

24. Build secure public infrastructure: There were 244 train accidents between 2017 and 2022. As many as 135 people died when a suspension bridge collapsed in Morbi. Fourty-one workers were trapped for 17 days after the Uttarkashi Tunnel caved in.

25. Enable a safer internet: Frauds relating to “digital arrests” in the first nine months of 2024 amounted to losses worth Rs 1616 crore. The Digital Data Protection Rules have not been notified despite the Act being passed over a year ago.

[This article was also published in NDTV| Thursday, January 2, 2025]

Posted 2nd January 2025 by Derek O'Brien

In Parliament this winter

by Derek O'Brien

You are reading this on the concluding day of the Winter Session of Parliament. Thoughts on the 21-day session.

Five proper nouns dominated: Common nouns like price rise, inflation, federalism, and unemployment were expected to dominate the debates in this session. But instead, only these proper nouns made headlines for all the right/wrong reasons: George Soros, Gautam Adani, and Jawaharlal Nehru.

In the concluding days of the session, it was B R Ambedkar and Home Minister Amit Shah who were trending. This columnist was sitting only a few seats away, on the same row, from where the Home Minister was delivering his speech. Here is what he said (translation): “It has become fashionable, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar… If you had taken God’s name so many times, you would have gone to heaven for seven lives”. The Leader of the Opposition, sitting on this columnist’s right, immediately responded (his intervention was not picked up on the microphone, nor was the camera on Mallikarjun Kharge who said) “Mr Home Minister, by what you just said it seems you have a big problem with Ambedkar. Why?”

Who spoke the most: As of December 18, Rajya Sabha ran for a total of 43 hours. Of this, Bills were discussed for 10 hours. The debate on the Constitution lasted for 17 and a half hours. Of the remaining 15-and-a-half hours, who spoke for four-and-a-half hours, or nearly 30 per cent of the remaining time? It was the Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President. Did Jagdeep Dhankar set a new record in Parliament?

Sparkling debut: Six MPs were sworn in earlier this week. Sana Sathish Babu (TDP), Masthan Rao Yadav Beedha (TDP), Ryaga Krishnaiah (BJP), Rekha Sharma (BJP), Sujeet Kumar (BJP), and Ritabrata Banerjee (AITC). Ritabrata even got the opportunity to speak on the Constitution the day after he was sworn in. While his party colleagues took each word of the Preamble as the theme for their speech, he spoke on Rabindranath Tagore and read out four stanzas from Tagore’s ‘Morning Song of India’. The first stanza of that poem was adopted by the Constituent Assembly as our national anthem. Ritabrata’s jugalbandi of Bengali and English gave us goosebumps.

Marathon speeches: During the debate titled ‘Glorious Journey of 75 Years of the Constitution of India’, someone murmured: “Listening to some of the speeches from the Treasury benches, was wondering whether we are discussing 75 years of the Constitution or 49 years of the Emergency!” A few members spoke for over one hour. Messrs Modi, Shah, Rajnath Singh, Kiren Rijiju, J P Nadda, and Nirmala Sitharaman. Mallikarjun Kharge was the only Opposition MP to speak for more than an hour.

My favourite speech by a BJP MP: In the government’s previous term, Bhupendra Yadav used to be the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change as well as Labour and Employment. Since June 2024, the Labour and Employment portfolio has been given to someone else. Enjoyed listening to him as he referred to a research paper by the University of Chicago that analysed life spans of constitutions around the world. Quoting from the paper, the Minister shared that 50 per cent of Constitutions are likely to be dead by age 80 and only 19 per cent survive until age 50. Seven per cent do not even make it to their second birthday. Intriguing.

Best birthday party: Several parties are hosted by MPs during a session of Parliament. It was Sharad (Uncle) Pawar’s 84th birthday on December 12. His daughter, Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule, organised a cosy birthday dinner. The celebration was not only for her father, but also for Pratibha Pawar, her mother, whose birthday was the next day. Among the guests in attendance were Telangana Chief Minister (CM) Revanth Reddy, former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav along with spouse MP Dimple Yadav, former Jammu and Kashmir CM Farooq Abdullah, and MPs Jaya Bachchan, Saugata Roy, and Abhishek Manu Singhvi. Wish more octogenarians had such a positive mindset.

An excerpt from my speech on the Constitution: The Constitution is more than a book in a library. It is a living, breathing document on the streets of India. We are a week away from Christmas. There is a Jewish bakery in Kolkata that makes delicious Christmas cake. All the 300 workers in that Jewish bakery belong to one community. They are all Muslims. And about a week before Christmas, you see long queues outside the bakery. If you go and ask the people standing in those queues, they will tell you their names: “Bhaskar, Reema, Arun”. It does not matter. They are all Indians. Cake for a Christian festival, made by Muslim bakers, and enthusiastically purchased by Hindu buyers. Come, celebrate Christmas in Bengal next week at the Kolkata Christmas Festival. Come again at the end of March to line up on Red Road and watch the Eid prayers. And, mark the date, April 30, 2025. Come to Digha to see the beautiful new Jagannath Temple.

[This article was also published in The Indian Express| Friday, December 20, 2024]

Posted 20th December 2024 by Derek O'Brien

Parliament Session: BJP Don’t Want To Answer Some Hard Questions

by Derek O'Brien

We are into the second week of the Winter Session of Parliament. The first week was washed out. MPs from Opposition parties, like the Trinamool Congress and the Samajwadi Party, are demanding ‘issues of national public importance’ be discussed on the floor of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha: price rise, unemployment, the situation in the North East and Manipur, states being deprived of funds by the Union government, and violence in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, among others. The principal Opposition party, the Congress, wants a discussion on the alleged financial irregularities of the Adani group. Deadlock.  

At the time of writing this article, there is news that the deadlock between the Opposition and the Union government has been broken. Media reports suggest that in exchange for a discussion on the Constitution to be taken up in mid-December (almost two weeks from now), the government and the Opposition will ensure Parliament functions smoothly. I find this ludicrous.    

How can you come to an understanding on December 2, about what will be discussed in mid-December on the floor of Parliament! What will happen in the interim? If an agreement has indeed been reached between the government and the Opposition, why wait for two weeks to implement it? Start the discussion this week itself. The Modi-led NDA coalition is being too clever by half.  

Let me put it straight up. It is the Union government that does not want Parliament to function. But do not take the view of this Opposition MP seriously. Here is what two BJP stalwarts had said about the functioning of Parliament:

“Parliament’s job is to conduct discussions. But many a time, Parliament is used to ignore issues and in such situations, obstruction of Parliament is in the favour of democracy.” – Arun Jaitley, 2011.  

“It is the government’s job to run the Parliament, not that of the opposition.” – Sushma Swaraj, 2012.

Disgraceful Record In Parliament

Even when Parliament functions, what is the track record of Mr Narendra Modi in the last decade. Consider this:

  1.  In the 15th Lok Sabha (2009-14), seven out of 10 Bills were sent to committees for scrutiny, in the 7th LS (2019-24), only two out of 10 Bills were sent for scrutiny.
  2. Nine out of 10 bills introduced in Parliament were marked by zero or incomplete consultations in the 17th LS.
  3. A total of 221 Bills were passed, of which over one-third were hurried through with less than a 60-minute discussion.
  4. No Deputy Leader was elected in Lok Sabha for the entirety of 17th LS. The current Lok Sabha still has no Deputy Leader.
  5. In the last eight years, not a single notice by a member of the Opposition has been accepted for discussion under Rule 267 in Rajya Sabha.
  6. The Prime Minister has not answered a single question on the floor of Parliament.

With such a disgraceful track record, it is not surprising that the ruling dispensation is trying to turn Parliament into a deep, dark chamber and choke the Opposition.  

Let us now handle the second issue in the headlines: the demand to set up a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC). A JPC only looks good on paper. Its very structure and track record suggests that it is most unlikely to deliver meaningful results, especially when the ruling dispensation enjoys a dominant majority in Parliament.  

Ruling Party Dominates The JPC

The composition of the JPC is determined by the strength of parties in Parliament. With the NDA’s majority in both Houses, any JPC formed today would be dominated by members loyal to the ruling party.

The chairperson, almost certainly a BJP MP, would steer the proceedings. Key decisions, from selecting witnesses to approving reports, would be controlled by the Treasury benches. This compromises the credibility of the entire process and makes the ruling dispensation a judge in their own case.

No Consensus, Only Dissent

JPCs rarely reach consensus on their reports. Opposition members are almost always outvoted by the majority. Any dissenting views are reduced to a footnote in the final report, which rubber-stamps the ruling party’s narrative.

Here are some examples. During the Bofors case, the committee, chaired by B. Shankaranand, was formed in 1987. It held 50 sittings and submitted its report in 1988. The committee concluded that there was no evidence of any violation of Indian law concerning the Bofors payments. However, it faced a boycott from Opposition members.  

For the Harshad Mehta scam in 1992, a committee was constituted following the discovery of irregularities in banking and securities transactions at the State Bank of India. The committee held 96 sittings and submitted its report in which included 273 recommendations. The report failed to address systemic market

issues, leaving room for future financial scandals. Of the 273 recommendations, the government accepted only 87 in its action taken report, presented in July 1994.

In many such instances, including the Ketan Parekh scam in 2001, Opposition members either boycotted or dissented from the final JPC reports because they were biased towards the ruling party.

Recommendations Go Nowhere

Even when JPCs make good recommendations, they are often ignored. The 2001 JPC on the stock market scam suggested stronger regulations, but many of its proposals were diluted or ignored. The 2011 JPC on spectrum allocation saw its findings mired in controversy, with little meaningful reform.

Bread and butter issues need to be discussed this Winter Session of Parliament. Why are the prices of onions, tomatoes, and garlic so high? Why are four out of ten youth unemployed? Why are States who oppose the BJP deliberately penalised? Why is Prime Minister Modi so skittish about visiting Manipur? These are just some of the hard questions the BJP refuses to answer on the floor of Parliament.  

[This article was also published in NDTV| Tuesday, December 3, 2024]

Posted 3rd December 2024 by Derek O'Brien

India Is Failing Its Young. But Happy Children’s Day, I Guess

by Derek O'Brien

As the nation celebrates Children’s Day, can we look a child in the eye and say: ‘Happy Children’s Day’. Have we let the kids of our nation down.

The Union government had sanctioned an Eklavya school near 11-year-old Sulekha’s home. Today, Sulekha is 16. The school in her neighbourhood is still not functional. This is true for two out of five schools sanctioned under the Eklavya Model Residential School scheme. Sulekha is forced to enrol in the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) located in an ‘educationally backward area’. Her favourite class isn’t held because the teacher’s position has not yet been filled by the administration that reports to the Union government. As of July 2024, there are over 4,000 teacher vacancies in KGBVs. The highest vacancies are in Uttar Pradesh. Even for subjects with assigned teachers, classes do not take place daily—teachers are frequently absent. It is common practice that even for a five-day week, teachers take an extra day off.

A Grim Childhood

Sulekha is in class 10 now. She struggles to read texts of what a student in class 2 should know. She is unable to solve maths problems that are from the class 3 level. One out of four rural youth, between the ages of 14 to 18, demonstrate a similar gap in learning. Research suggests that half the students in this age group are unable to solve arithmetic that is taught in class five.

To support her family, Sulekha has been forced to drop out of school. One in every five students is compelled to do so. As an alternative to school education, she then enrols herself in the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)—a “flagship” scheme by the Union government, launched to upskill youth in order to improve the employment opportunities available to them. Sulekha completes all the requirements of the programme. She is even awarded with a certificate. But nothing changes. Like half of the certificate holders, she finds no job.

Coping with all this pressure at a young age can be traumatic. On paper, teenagers with mental health issues can seek help through Manodarpan, a mental health support helpline launched by the Union government during the pandemic. A good idea but poorly implemented. Calls to the helpline (844 844 0632) almost always go unanswered. There are just 366 counsellors listed in Manodarpan’s directory across the country. The District Mental Health Programme is no better. Just 1,178 psychiatrists and 513 trained psychologists in total.

Thousands Of Sulekhas

Sulekha’s story is not a one-off. It is the story of hundreds of thousands of youngsters in India. Thirty-five students commit suicide every day (the actual numbers could be even higher).

Many such students depend on schemes like Samagra Shiksha, which provides for teacher salaries, fees for those enrolled under Right To Education, uniforms and school infrastructure. However, the funds under the scheme for states ruled by non-BJP parties like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Punjab, West Bengal, and Delhi have either been stalled or denied. Why? Is it because they objected to a certain suffix in the name of the scheme? The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 advocates for an allocation of 6% of the GDP to education. Good intentions, but the reality is a mirage. In 2023-24, the Union allocated 0.44% of GDP to education. This was reduced to 0.37% in this year’s Budget. Sorry Sulekha, we failed you.

[This article was also published in NDTV| Thursday, November 14, 2024]

Posted 14th November 2024 by Derek O'Brien

Big Poll Promises From Maharashtra To Michigan – But Where Are The Jobs?

by Derek O'Brien

Eight thousand miles away, across an ocean, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have desperately tried to woo youth and women before election day. Also in November, in the country of Kamala Devi Harris’s maternal ancestors, political parties are reaching out to 6 crore women voters and 2.5 crore youth in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. Raise your hand if you are a woman or between the ages of 18 and 30. They want your vote.

Campaigns of political parties in these two states are focused, from ‘Mati, Beti, Roti’ and ‘Ladki Bahin Yojana’, to ‘Maiya Samman scheme’ and a youth unemployment benefit scheme. The 8.5 crore voters in the youth and women demographic can clearly be the inflexion point.

But for all the pre-poll promises to youth and women, these statistics tell a story.

  • About 75 lakh youth enter the labour force every year in India
  • Youth unemployment rate has been at a high 10% for the last two years
  • One in three youth are neither in education, employment, nor training. Women account for a staggering 95% of this group
  • The urban female unemployment rate for 2023 averaged at nearly 9%. For young urban females, it was 20%
  • In 2022, the unemployment rate was six times higher for individuals with secondary or higher education, and nine times higher for graduates, than those who could not read or write
  • In 2023-24, the unemployment rate for graduates was at 13%, and postgraduates at 12%
  • Unemployment rate among educated females is among the worst in the country, with 20% of graduates and 22.5% of post-graduates unemployed
  • The Economic Survey reveals that half of all individuals are not ready to be employed upon graduating from college
  • Only four out of ten youth in the workforce possess formal skills
  • The female labour force participation rate is at 32%, compared to 58% for men. In urban areas, it is 28% for women compared to 60% for men
  • The Union government introduced a new internship scheme in October 2024 to reduce the unemployment rate in the country. A top company needs to train 4,000 people a year to achieve the target set by the Union government. Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that a private firm will need to spend ₹ 20 crore every year to train youngsters. How many companies will?

Even after training, there is no guarantee that the trainees will be retained or find a job in the formal workforce. This is especially worrying since this scheme comes at a time when there have been job cuts by major companies across the globe.

Three Constructive Suggestions

Experts have suggested that a better way to roll out the scheme would have been by engaging Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) instead of big firms. Interns often gain more practical experience in smaller firms, and these businesses, in turn, benefit from an extra set of hands. Additionally, the likelihood of retaining interns and converting them into medium- to long-term employees would be significantly higher, creating a more sustainable model for both interns and MSMEs. This would also encourage and ease the transition of an own account establishment (establishment operated without any hired employees) to a hired worker establishment (establishment operated with at least one hired employee), which would benefit the economy more.

To tackle urban unemployment, the Union government should accept what many states have done, and the parliamentary standing committee on labour had suggested in its 25th report: create an employment guarantee programme for urban areas with special emphasis on women. States like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Telangana, and West Bengal already run similar schemes.

An urban unemployment guarantee programme will be a step in line with the Right to Livelihood, which has been read into the Right to Life through judicial interpretation. Moreover, it will be a step towards turning the Right to Work (Article 41), currently a directive principle, into a fundamental right.

Joyce Banda, former President of one of the world’s poorest countries, Malawi, put it well, “The seeds of success in every nation on earth are best planted in women and children”.

[This article was also published in NDTV | Monday, November 4, 2024]

Posted 4th November 2024 by Derek O'Brien

When Parliament isn’t in session, standing committees are where the action is

by Derek O'Brien

135 down to 55! The average number of days Parliament sits annually has gone down from 135 days in the first Lok Sabha to 55 days in the 17th Lok Sabha (2019-24). So what happens during the remaining 300 days? Standing Committees, which consider and report on Demand for Grants, Bills, annual reports, and discuss national basic long-term policy documents of the concerned department/ministries, are where most of the action takes place when Parliament is not in session. Unfortunately, these committees have been undermined by governments not open to deliberation and debate.

After much delay, the 24 Departmentally Related Standing Committees (DRSC) were recently reconstituted and their chairpersons appointed. Each DRSC consists of 31 members from across parties, 21 from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha. In the last few weeks, these committees have started holding their first meetings. (Just to clarify, the intense deliberations on the Waqf Bill are taking place in a Joint Parliamentary Committee — not to be confused with a DRSC.) As we go to press, there are conflicting opinions on whether regulatory bodies like SEBI can come under the scrutiny of the Public Accounts Committee.

Despite all the activity, Standing Committees are not performing as they are mandated to. Take the Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment: It oversees three vital ministries — Minority Affairs, Tribal Affairs, and Social Justice and Empowerment. Yet, in 2023, some MPs attended only one or two of its 16 meetings. Only two out of 24 committees are chaired by women. The Standing Committee on Women Empowerment, an administrative committee to recommend measures to improve the status of women, has not yet been constituted for the 18th Lok Sabha. The Departmentally Related Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth, and Sports hasn’t had a woman chairperson in the last two decades.

In the 15th Lok Sabha, seven out of 10 bills were sent to committees for scrutiny. Fast forward to the 17th Lok Sabha, and that number dropped to just one out of five. Bills are now wrapped up in an average of only nine sittings, with the three Criminal Law Bills discussed together in just 12 sittings. For committees to be taken seriously, their reports need to be regularly tabled and discussed in Parliament. The Committee on Papers Laid on The Table has repeatedly flagged ongoing delays in tabling reports. In 2018, the Committee on External Affairs had its findings on the Doklam issue stalled for months due to opposition from MPs of the ruling dispensation.

When asked if committee recommendations should be made binding on the government, former Lok Sabha Speaker and legendary Parliamentarian Somnath Chatterjee replied, “No, they should not. But I would like the government to give good reasons for not accepting a recommendation.” Your columnist thinks it is time for an overhaul. Here are five specific suggestions.

One: According to the rules, the government is required to respond to committee recommendations within six months. This should be brought down to 60 days, as practised in the British House of Commons.

Two: MPs serve in committees for just a year, leading to constant reshuffling and lack of expertise. Take a cue from the US Congress’ permanent Standing Committees or Kerala’s Legislative Assembly, with a 30-month tenure. A longer tenure will work better.

Three: A Parliamentary Committee on National Economy should be formed to annually examine the state of the economy. Short-duration discussions should be initiated in both Houses of Parliament to discuss the reports. This should be followed by a response from the Minister. Public borrowing, as it affects future governments, should also be reviewed by this committee.

Four: In a federal democracy, the responsibility of the Parliament while passing Constitution Amendment Bills is immense. Therefore, a Constitution Committee should be established for prior scrutiny to check if these are ultra vires to the Constitution, and strengthen the credibility of constitutional amendments.

Five: Pre-budget scrutiny and proper examination of Demand for Grants (DFGs) must not be sidelined because of elections. Following the constitution of Lok Sabhas in 2014, 2019, and 2024, DFGs were not sent to Standing Committees. The precedent set in the 11th Lok Sabha (1996) should be followed. The Union Budget was presented on July 22. The House adjourned on August 2 and was reconvened on August 26, for committees to review the Demand for Grants.

P.S. Some observers suggest that proceedings of committee meetings should be telecast live on Sansad TV, just as Parliamentary proceedings are. Not a good idea. Why? That is a subject for another column.

[This article was also published in The Indian Express | Friday, October 25, 2024]

Posted 25th October 2024 by Derek O'Brien

When Will Centre Understand That India’s Malnutrition Problem Is Real?

by Derek O'Brien

This fortnight’s column is on a subject that will never make the 9 o’clock news: Malnourishment.

In 2012, Gujarat was grappling with one of the highest numbers of underweight children in the country. When asked about this alarming statistic in an interview to the Wall Street Journal, then Chief Minister Narendra Modi had a bizarre explanation: “If a mother tells her daughter to have milk, they’ll have a fight. She’ll tell her mother, ‘I won’t drink milk. I’ll get fat.’ They have money but she’s beauty conscious, she’s not health conscious.”

It’s been a decade since the Chief Minister became the Prime Minister. The same behavioural pattern persists. Is this what medical professionals refer to as AVPD (Avoidant Personality Disorder) – a condition where a person is extremely sensitive to criticism? Are you surprised then that in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government’s ‘100-day agenda’ and the Finance Minister’s Budget Speech, the words “hunger” and “nutrition” were not mentioned even once!

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Here are the harsh realities:
● One out of three of the world’s malnourished children live in India. The percentage of people suffering from chronic hunger rose from 10% in 2014-16 to almost 14% in 2021-23 – an increase of five crore people.

● Income inequality, inflation, and unemployment have left 70% of Indians unable to afford a basic, healthy diet. A home-cooked veg-thali costs 8% more year on year. Annually, 17 lakh Indians die from diseases related to insufficient food intake.

● The Global Nutrition Report 2024 says, “No progress has been made by India towards achieving the target of reducing anaemia among women of reproductive age. Meanwhile, there is insufficient data to assess the progress that India has made towards achieving the low birth weight target, nor is there adequate prevalence data. India has made no progress towards achieving the target for wasting, with 17% of children under 5 years of age affected. This is higher than the average for the Asia region and among the highest in the world.”

● Even if the Indian government disputes the findings of a report prepared by five international organisations, its own National Family Health Survey paints a disturbing picture of the country’s nutrition status: 32% children are underweight, 35% children are stunted, and 59% children under the age of five years, and 53% women are anaemic.

● The state that has a massive cricket stadium named after the Prime Minister, is ranked among the bottom four states in the country in tackling hunger. (Source: NITI Aayog’s 2023-24 report)

● Varanasi, the constituency Narendra Modi represents in Parliament, recorded a 13% prevalence of children with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM). (Source: National Family Health Survey)

● Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have topped the list for the highest number of children under five years with medical complications in Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres. Sadly, these numbers have doubled in the last three years.

● More than 10 lakh people suffer from sickle cell anaemia, a disease primarily prevalent in tribal populations, largely due to malnutrition.

● 14 lakh children are severely malnourished in the country, according to the Union government’s Poshan Tracker. These children are also nine times more likely to die due to their weakened immune system.

● Over the last few years, the reduction in food subsidies has created a ripple effect on nutritional security across the country. The Ministry of Women and Child Development saw a marginal 2.5% increase in the 2024-25 Union Budget. Additionally, the revolutionary Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) and the mid-day meal programme faced a budget cut of 2%, jeopardising the nutritional support for millions of children.

During the Lok Sabha elections this year, one of Narendra Modi’s colleagues in the Cabinet, the former Minister of Women and Child Development, declared, “Governance is a continuous effort. Health and nutrition are left for states to deliver.” Seriously! Uttar Pradesh tops the list in zero-food children. Madhya Pradesh allocates a meagre ₹ 12 daily to tackle malnutrition. An elderly disabled woman crawls in Odisha to collect her pension and rations.

When will this government step out of the constructed silos of illusion that claim malnutrition is a myth in India?

[This article was also published in NDTV | Monday, October 7, 2024]

Posted 7th October 2024 by Derek O'Brien

An excess of cess

by Derek O'Brien

“Chief Minister Narendra Modi today accused the Centre of adopting a policy of coercive federalism and thus pushing states to a subordinate position by monopolising all powers of financial allocations, reducing even the constitutional rights of states,” (IE, January 16, 2012).

Your columnist distinctly remembers the then finance minister, the affable Arun Jaitley, inviting about half a dozen fellow MPs to his room in Parliament for a hearty lunch sometime in 2015. Our gracious host wanted to celebrate the good news: The 14th Finance Commission had recommended increasing the devolution of the divisible tax pool to states from 32 per cent to 42 per cent. We all saw this as a big win for federalism. But Jaitley’s boss, the former chief minister of Gujarat, had other ideas. A dirty, four-letter word that damages federalism: Cess.

As any undergraduate in commerce will tell you, cess is not a part of the divisible pool; that is, the money collected is not shared with state governments. A cess is a specific tax imposed by the Union government to raise funds for a designated purpose. The Union government currently levies a GST compensation cess, a cess on health and education, road and infrastructure, agriculture and development, Swachh Bharat, exports, and crude oil, among others.

Consider this. In 2012, cess formed 7 per cent of the Union government’s total tax revenues. In 2015, this rose to 9 per cent. In 2023, cess contributed to 16 per cent of the total tax revenue. From 2019-23, the Union government has collected a whopping Rs 13 lakh crore as cess. This excludes GST compensation cess. In the last five years, it has collected Rs 84,000 crore as cess on crude oil.

The share of cess as part of the Union government’s gross tax revenue has tripled, up from 6 per cent in 2011 to 18 per cent in 2021. This rise in cess and surcharge has inversely led to a reduction in the divisible pool of taxes. The divisible pool has shrunk from 89 per cent of gross tax revenue in 2011 to 79 per cent in 2021. This, despite the 10 per cent increase in tax devolution to states as recommended by the 14th Finance Commission.

A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report exposed that in 2018-19, the Union government withheld Rs 1 lakh crore of the Rs 2.75 lakh crore collected through various cesses in the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI). Rs 10,000 crore of the Road and Infrastructure Cess collected during the year was “neither transferred to the related Reserve Fund nor utilised for the purpose for which the cess was collected”. More alarmingly, Rs 1.24 lakh crore collected as cess on crude oil in the past one decade “had not been transferred to the designated Reserve Fund (Oil Industry Development Board) and was retained in CFI”. The report further stated that “non-creation/non-operation of Reserve Funds makes it difficult to ensure that cesses and levies have been utilised for the specific purposes intended by the Parliament”.

The key reason for the imposition of cess and surcharge is for the Union government to increase its revenue. One major criticism has been its inability to increase revenue substantially, despite increasing cess. Revenue receipts have increased only marginally in the last 10 years — from 8.8 per cent of GDP in 2014 to 9.6 per cent of GDP in 2024. Less than one percent.

A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report exposed that in 2018-19, the Union government withheld Rs 1 lakh crore of the Rs 2.75 lakh crore collected through various cesses in the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI). Rs 10,000 crore of the Road and Infrastructure Cess collected during the year was “neither transferred to the related Reserve Fund nor utilised for the purpose for which the cess was collected”. More alarmingly, Rs 1.24 lakh crore collected as cess on crude oil in the past one decade “had not been transferred to the designated Reserve Fund (Oil Industry Development Board) and was retained in CFI”. The report further stated that “non-creation/non-operation of Reserve Funds makes it difficult to ensure that cesses and levies have been utilised for the specific purposes intended by the Parliament”.

The key reason for the imposition of cess and surcharge is for the Union government to increase its revenue. One major criticism has been its inability to increase revenue substantially, despite increasing cess. Revenue receipts have increased only marginally in the last 10 years — from 8.8 per cent of GDP in 2014 to 9.6 per cent of GDP in 2024. Less than one percent.

[This article was also published in The Indian Express | Friday, September 27, 2024]

Posted 27th September 2024 by Derek O'Brien