Row over Parliament passing bills - Send them to Parliamentary Standing Committee or not?

The Opposition has repeatedly cried foul over bills being passed in the Parliament without the consideration of Parliament Standing Committees. On Monday, both Houses of the Parliament - the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha passed the Farm Laws Repeal Bill 2021. The opposition, which has been demanding that the farm laws should be repealed, yet again alleged that the bill was passed without a 'discussion or a debate'. Many have also claimed that India's is witnessing a declining democratic index.

However, it is pertinent to mention that the Parliamentary Standing Committees were constituted on April 8, 1993. Prior to that, all bills were presented directly in the Parliament. In addition, the first Lok Sabha commenced on April 17, 1952. Therefore, the narrative of 'no democracy' is a farce as bills passed under former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi were presented directly in the Parliament. The Parliamentary Committees are a subset of Houses and hold no authority when it comes to the passing of the bills. When it comes to approval, the Parliament has been the ultimate authority. Not all bills tabled in the Parliament are or were sent to the standing committees. Some noted examples are the Ordinance replacing Bills, Money Bills, important constitutional bills like revocation of Article 370 and 35A. 

From 2014 to 2019, out of the 18 bills introduced in Rajya Sabha, 11 bills (61 per cent) were referred to Standing Committees under the control of the Upper House of the Parliament - the Rajya Sabha. On the other hand, 5 bills (28 per cent) were referred to Standing Committees under the control of Lok Sabha. During the UPA I government, out of the 100 bills introduced in Rajya Sabha, 48 bills (48 per cent) were referred to Standing Committees under the control of Rajya Sabha while 30 bills (30 per cent) were referred to Standing Committees under the control of Lok Sabha. 

Meanwhile, during the UPA II regime, out of the 78 bills introduced in Rajya Sabha 40 bills (around 51 per cent) of the bills were referred to Standing Committees under the control of Rajya Sabha. Another 21 bills (27 per cent) were referred to Standing Committees under the control of Lok Sabha. However, sending of bills to the standing committee for scrutiny or approval does not ensure the Productivity of Parliament. 

Productivity of NDA vs UPA II 

As per the data, the productivity of the 16th Lok Sabha session (2014-19) stands at 84 per cent as compared to UPA II's 61 per cent. The 16th Lok Sabha worked for a total number of 1,615 hours which is 20 per cent more than the 16th Lok Sabha. Moreover, the time spent by the 16th Lok Sabha on legislation is 32 per cent higher than any other Lok Sabha. Bill was discussed in the 16th Lok Sabha for more time.

The productivity of the 1st session of the 17th Lok Sabha was 135 per cent while Rajya Sabha's was 100 per cent. In fact, the 15th Lok Sabha turned out to be the least productive in 10 years. The least number of bills were passed by the 15th Lok Sabha and 68 bills lapsed after its dissolution. 

Busting Opposition's claims on lack of discussions in Parliament

Despite being a government of the absolute majority, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has spent more time on the debate in Parliament to ensure that bill is passed with consensus. In the 16th Lok Sabha, around 32 per cent of the bills were discussed with the opposition for more than three hours in the Lok Sabha, higher as compared to 22 per cent and 14 per cent in the 15th and 14th Lok Sabha respectively. Moreover, the 15th Lok Sabha witnessed around 36 per cent of the total bills passed with less than 30 minutes of discussion. Among these, 20 Bills were passed in less than 5 minutes window. The bills passed within 30 minutes decreased significantly from 26 per cent in the 15th Lok Sabha to 6 per cent in the 16th Lok Sabha. 

Before 2014, the bills had to be referred to the Standing committee owing to coalition governments. Therefore, referring bills to the Standing Committee was necessary due to a difference in opinions. However, that is not the case right now as the ruling administration has an absolute majority, providing little scope for sending bills to Parliamentary Standing Committees.