I
welcome the recently elected Members of Rajya Sabha to this two-day Orientation
Programme beginning today. This programme is primarily meant to equip the new
members with a broad understanding of the rules and procedures of
the Council of States besides various windows available to the members
to effectively express themselves and discharge their responsibilities
as a Member of Parliament having been chosen for Rajya Sabha. In our
country, becoming a legislator is the most coveted assignment
in public life. There is intense competition to succeed in this aspiration. The
competition is much more intense than for the civil services. If the
prescribed syllabus is mastered, the chances of becoming an IAS officer are much
more than becoming a legislator120 for
which there is no definite curriculum. Another difference is that for an
officer, it is a secured job for140
life and not so for a legislator. On the contrary, the real challenge begins
for a legislator after becoming one. 160 To
be re-elected every five or six years by proving his worth and retaining the
confidence of the people is a big task in which many legislators fail.
In
this backdrop, I compliment all of you on becoming the Members of Rajya Sabha,
an integral part of the apex legislature of our country. This is no mean
achievement. You could become so based on your association and work with
the people of your area, your goodwill, reputation and other credentials. 240 You now have the
constitutional mandate of representing the interests of the State or the Union
Territory you have been elected from. For you to succeed in this noble assignment,
you need to perform well as a law280
maker, in raising the matters of public importance from time to time
in the House, seeking solutions, making quality contributions to the
debates in the House and in ensuring the accountability of the Executive
to the Parliament. These correspond to the320 legislative, representative, deliberative
and oversight functions of the Legislature. For any public servant or
other functionaries to effectively discharge their functions, proper
understanding of the functional domain, rules and regulations governing
the work environment and more importantly, right attitude and orientation360 are important. This
programme is aimed at providing such orientation. I hope that all of you
would make good use of this two-day interaction.
Since
Independence, the Parliament and State Legislatures have
been playing an important role in scripting the socio-economic
transformation of our nation. As a result, our country which was poor,
illiterate and technologically backward at420 the stroke of
freedom, has made huge strides and emerged as a nation to be reckoned with now.
Legislators across the country who contributed to this change over the years
can take pride for the same. Even as the vibrancy of our
democracy, the largest in the world, has been asserting itself with
every election in rising degree, some areas of concern480 have emerged with
regard to the functioning of our legislatures. These relate to the
functioning of legislators including the Members of Parliament, both
within and outside the legislative chambers resulting in increasing ‘negative
perception quotient’ about the law making bodies and law makers among the
people, the patrons of parliamentary democracy. This is not good
for the world’s largest democracy. This orientation programme is to
sensitise all of you to this rising concern and help you all in560 making a difference. I
have gone through the orientation module charted by the secretariat for this
two-day programme. I am happy to note that a few experienced Members of
Rajya Sabha will be interacting with you during these two days600 on various aspects
of functioning of Rajya Sabha highlighting the nuances, the rules, procedures
and conventions and the opportunities available for conveying your views and concerns.
With about 30 years of legislative experience and another three and a half
years as the640 Chairman
of Rajya Sabha, I would like to share with you a dozen tips to prove
yourself to be effective parliamentarians.
As I
said earlier, you have the mandate and
responsibility of a constitutional functionary. Our Constitution provides the
pathway for socio-economic transformation of our nation based on the principles
of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity. You need700 to equip yourself with
proper knowledge of these constitutional principles and the underlying
philosophy as they offer the operational matrix720 for you. The Constitution of India is the law of the
land which defines the functional boundaries for the Legislature, the Judiciary
and the Executive. As a Member of the Council of States, you are in particular,
required to be conversant with the scheme of distribution of powers
between the Centre and the States so that you can safeguard the
interests of the States and Union Territories as per the constitutional scheme.
Rajya Sabha has been vested with some special powers under800 the Constitution with
regard to legislation on subjects mentioned in the concurrent list,
creation of All India Services and ratification of President’s
Rule when Lok Sabha is not existent. So, you should be thorough with
the provisions of840 the
Constitution.
Rajya
Sabha is known as the ‘second chamber’ but is certainly not a ‘secondary
chamber’. This point was stressed during the debates in the Constituent
Assembly on the creation of Rajya Sabha. Except in the case of Money Bills,
both the Houses of Parliament are at par with regard to making of laws for
the country. This distinction has been made since the Executive is
accountable to the House of People in the Constitution. As I said a
little while ago, Rajya Sabha, in fact, has some special powers in the
matter of defending the federal scheme of things. Given the separate
provisions for election of members of the two Houses of Parliament and the
changes in the960 political
landscape of the country, the Governments of the day did not have
majority in the Rajya Sabha for 39980 of
the last 69 years since Rajya Sabha came into existence in 1952. However, you
should know that except on three occasions that required joint sittings
of both the Houses to sort out differences on law making, both the
Houses functioned in a spirit of shared understanding and harmony all these
years. This record has dispelled the fears expressed in the Constituent
Assembly debates that the second chamber might prove obstructionist.
This spirit of shared vision shall continue to guide the functioning of
Parliament. So, you should not conduct yourself in an obstructionist
manner in the House. Without rules of1080 social conduct, any society would be chaotic. It applies
to legislatures as well. Accordingly, an elaborate scheme of Rules of
Procedure for Conduct of Business in the Council of States has come
into being over the years. You should know1120 these Rules and in particular, those that are
frequently resorted to. These Rules provide for every possible contingency.
During my 20 years in Rajya Sabha and three and half years as its Chairman, I
have never witnessed a situation when inadequacy of Rules was felt in
addressing procedural matters in the House.
Knowing
the Rules and Conventions of the House is one thing and abiding by them
is another. Problems arise in the House when the well-established
Rules and Conventions1200 of
the House are either violated or sought to be twisted in their
interpretation. So, it is advisable to adhere to the Rules and Conventions
of the House. The House frequently runs into problems on account of
repeated recourse to certain Rules to make a point by some parties and
members. Rule 267 seeking suspension of Rules to take up1260 a particular subject
abandoning the listed business of the day is one such instrument causing
most of the disruptions and1280
forced adjournments of the House. Such rules are to be opted for in exceptional
situations only instead of as a daily routine. Similar is the case with raising
‘Points of Order’. I have found this provision being resorted to
increasingly even when there was no point. You should avoid raising such
pointless Points of Order as it only highlights the inadequate understanding of
the Rules of the House. In effect, it is better to know the Rules and
stand by them. The primary duty of Members of Parliament is making laws for
the country. There are clear provisions in the Constitution regarding the processes
to be followed in this regard. Every stage of passing a law
offers unique opportunities either1400 to
oppose or support a Bill under consideration and should be made
appropriate use of. This helps in better time management. Proper
understanding of these nuances would be helpful to new members.
For
making effective contribution as a Member of1440 Parliament, a thorough
understanding of the state of the nation is an essential pre-requisite for
enabling its rapid transformation towards the chosen goals. A developing
country like ours faces a set of complex challenges on the social, cultural, political,
economic and external fronts. You need to have an informed and critical
understanding of such issues and challenges for making effective interventions.
As our nation is emerging stronger, concerted efforts are being made to
place hurdles in our collective march to apply breaks. These include creating disturbances
along the boundaries, misplaced criticism of our country based on a few
sporadic incidents, discrediting our democracy, economic restrictions,
across-the-border sponsorship of terror etc. As Members of Parliament, it
is your solemn duty to defend the integrity and sovereignty of our
country besides speaking for the emerging India in every forum. For this, you need
to be alert all the time and thwart such insidious attempts. 1592
