Overview for The Parliamentary System
With 99 per cent of legislators getting elected by a minority of electors: with scores of them getting elected on 15-20 per cent of the votes cast-that is, by 7-10 per cent of the population, how representative is our parliamentary system? Does the present system not induce political parties to go on splintering our people? Can the country cohere when the people are splintered? Are those in government accountable to Parliament? Or are they the government precisely because they, and those who control them, control Parliament? With 39 parties in the Lok Sabha; with governments consisting of 14 parties, is this system yielding the strong, cohesive, effective governments our country needs? Is the system placing power in the hands of persons who have the capability, dedication and integrity to run ministries, to assess legislative proposals, to assess alternate policies? Or is it bringing a worse and worse lot into legislatures and governments? Is it inducing them to do well by the people when they are in office, or does it tell them that performance does not matter, that stitching 'alliances' is the substitute for performance? Does it not make adversarial and obstructionist politics inevitable? How much lower must governance sink before we will conclude that this system has run its course? That we must devise an alternative? What could that alternative be? What happens when these legislators claim, and appropriate 'sovereignty'? is the dyke that the Judiciary has constructed-that the Basic Structure of the Constitution cannot be altered-not a necessary protection against the political class? But can an alternate system be devised which well not breach this necessary dyke? Who is to champion that alternative? In this searing critique, Arun Shourie, takes on these question, and more. A must for our times. A must for strengthening our country.
Arun Shourie (Author)
Arun Shourie, among India's best known commentators on current and political affairs, backs his distinctive writing, his conscientiously independent perspectrive with rigorous analysis and meticulous research. Born in Jalandhar in 1941, he studied at Modern School and St. Stephen's College in Delhi, and obtained his doctorate in Economics from the University of Syracuse, USA. He has been an economist with the World Bank, a consultant to the Planning Commission and Editor of The Indian Express. His writings have gained him a vast following across the country, as well as several national and international honours. Among these are the Padma Bhushan, the Magsaysay Award, the Dadabhai Naoroji Award, the Astor Award, the K.S. Hegde Award and the International Editor of the Year Award. The Federation of Indian Publishers recently conferred The Freedom to Publish Award on him. At present Arun Shourie is a member of the Rajya Sabha.
Bagchee
