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©Jatin Verma All Rights Reserved. https://www.jatinverma.org
SYNOPSIS
Intro
• The Pre- Legislative Consultation Policy was formulated taking
into consideration the recommendations of the National Advisory
Council and the National Commission to Review the Working of
the Constitution in February 2014.
• The policy lists out various mandates requiring departments to
proactively publish proposed legislations on the internet and/or
other public domains with additional details such as a brief
justification for the legislation, its' essential elements, broad
financial implications, an estimated assessment of the impact of
such a legislation on the environment, fundamental rights, lives
and livelihoods of the concerned/affected people, etc.
• These details are required to be kept in the public domain for a
minimum period of thirty days, accompanied by an explanatory
note on the key legal provisions in a simpler language.
Body Part
Significance • Will foster, vibrant, rights based participatory policy making process
in India
• Will enable discourse across multiple stakeholders as well as a fuller
realization of citizen rights and human potentials.
• Proper consultation results in the enhancement of the quality of
parliamentary discourse and legislature.
• The Second Administrative Reforms Commission had emphasised
that public consultation in decision making and social auditing through
institutionalized mechanisms is vital for the effective functioning of a
democracy.
Debates on the Kerala Police Legislation, Land Acquisition Bill 2013,
Lokpal Bill 2011 etc. have successfully demonstrated the same.
However, the transition from a representative democracy to deliberative
one has failed to take off.
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Q1.What do you understand by the term ‘Pre-legislative
consultation policy’? What are its significance? Do you agree
with the view that Pre-legislative consultation policy is being
ignored while policy making. Comment.
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Recent Examples: Where Pre-legislative consultation is neglected
1. The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019,
o Government deemed a consultative process outside
of the government as unnecessary since the
"proposed amendments did not involve any social or
financial costs".
2. The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill,
2017 was drafted behind closed doors.
3. The electoral bond scheme; no civil society organisations were
consulted for the same.
4. Since 2014 a total of 186 bills were introduced in the
Parliament, out of which 142 saw no consultation.
5. In most cases, other aspects of the PLCP were also completely
ignored such as the addition of explanations of key provisions,
summary of feedback received etc.
Way forward
• The TRAI consultation model which uploads comments to
solicit comments and the like could be developed.
• In order to enable wider comprehensibility, the policies and
their addendums ought to be made available in regional
languages too.
• Finally, the country needs to develop a social audit legislation
which imposes a legal obligation on policymakers to consult the
public, thereby providing citizens, a right to participate in the
policymaking process while at the same time penalising officers
for finalising the bill without scrutiny or invalidating the laws
for flawed policy making process etc.
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SYNOPSIS
Intro
Earlier, the Parliamentary panel had summoned Dorsey chief executive
officer (CEO) of Twitter to appear before it over concerns that, Twitter
may be used to interfere in the Lok Sabha elections.
Body Part
• The Committee apparently felt humiliated, when Dorsey refused to
appear following, an earlier summons issued to discuss the issue of
'safeguarding citizens' rights on social/online news media
platforms’. In this context, it is pertinent to examine the functions
and powers of Parliamentary Committees
• Departmentally Related Standing Committees of Parliament are
formed with the broad objectives to give expert opinion on drafting
of bills, and to exercise parliamentary review of executive actions.
• In other words, they function to support legislative actions, and to
check executive decisions.
Their functions, as stated in Rule 331E of the Rules relating to
Departmentally Related Standing Committees, are:
• To consider the Demands for Grants of the concerned
Ministries/Departments and make a report on the same to
the Houses.
• To examine such Bills pertaining to the concerned
Ministries/Departments as are referred to the Committee by
the Chairman, Rajya Sabha or the Speaker, Lok Sabha as the
case may be, and make report thereon
• To consider annual reports of Ministries/Departments and
make reports thereon.
• To consider national basic long term policy documents
presented to the Houses.
• The Parliamentary rules and procedure further state that
Committees should not consider the matters of day-to-day
administration of the concerned Ministries/Departments
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Q2.The parliamentary panel has summoned the chief executive
officer (CEO) of Twitter, Jack Dorsey .In this context Examine
the functions and powers of Parliamentary Committees.
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In order to carry out the above functions, the Committee has
the power to
• Summon officials of the government and also private
individuals, largely with the objective of obtaining expert
opinion on its assigned area.
• A Committee can take evidence of experts, public bodies,
associations, individuals or interested parties suo motu or on
requests made by the persons or bodies interested in or affected
by the subject matter under consideration or examination of the
Committee (Rule 269).
• The Committee has the power to issue summons to a
representative of a Ministry, Department, Public Undertaking or
any Organisation or any other person to give evidence before a
Committee and/or to produce before it any document required
by the Committee. For example,
o The standing committee which examined the Citizenship
Amendment Bill solicited views and suggestions from
various stakeholders before giving its views on the bill.
o The Standing Committee on demonetization had questioned
the former RBI Governor Urjit Patel regarding the policy.
• Often, committees undertake enquiry, much like a quasi-judicial
proceeding. Joint Parliamentary Committees have enquired
issues like
o Bofors scam, 2G scam, Harshad Mehta stock exchange
scam, VVIP Chopper scam etc. These were cases of
alleged abuse of power by executive on a major scale,
involving the complicity of ministers and high ranking
executive officials, affecting larger interests of the country
as a whole.
Conclusion
Enforcement and protection of fundamental rights are functions of the
executive and judiciary. The legislature's function is only to lend
statutory support in that exercise. The Committee, which is a subset of
the legislative body, cannot seek to exercise executive or quasi-judicial
functions over this issue of perceived arbitrariness by a social media
platform.
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SYNOPSIS
Intro
Article 142 of the Indian Constitution gives the Supreme Court a power to
pass suitable decree or order for doing complete justice in any pending
matter. Based on this the Supreme Court has brought changes in
significant policy issues to affect the public at large.
Body Part
Article 142 has been invoked for the purpose of doing tremendous good to
large sections of the population. For example,
• The cleansing of the Taj Mahal, -whose marble was yellowing
on account of sulphur fumes from the surrounding industries.
Today, on account of the court’s efforts over a period of years, we
have had our heritage restored to its original beauty.
• Similarly, under trials were rotting in jails for greater periods than
the maximum punishment which could have been inflicted on
them, as their very existence was forgotten by the criminal justice
system. With a single stroke of the pen, thousands of them were
released.
• The Union Carbide case: Supreme Court, while awarding
compensation of $470 million to the victims, went to the extent of
saying that to do complete justice, it could even override the laws
made by Parliament by holding that, “prohibitions or limitations or
provisions contained in ordinary laws cannot, ipso facto, act as
prohibitions or limitations on the constitutional powers under
Article 142
However, in recent years, several judgments of the Supreme Court were
interfering into other domains of which had long been forbidden to the
judiciary by reason of the doctrine of ‘separation of powers’, which is part
of the basic structure of the Constitution.
For example,
• In State of Tamilnadu v K. Balu, the Supreme Court banned
liquor shops within 500 m of highways, which was a legislative
order.
• In K. Puttaswamy v. Union of India, it created a right to privacy,
which is nowhere mentioned in the fundamental rights laid down
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Q3.Law-making should be left to the Parliament and judges
should respect the constitutional principle of separation of
powers. Comment
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in the Constitution. In Subhash Kashinath Mahajan case it
amended the SC/ST Act.
• In the NCT, Delhi, Sabarimala and LGBT cases it laid down the
‘constitutional morality’ test.
• In other decisions, the court fixed timings for bursting crackers on
Deepavali, directed interlinking rivers and laid down regulations
for the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
• In the Judges cases it created the collegium system for judicial
appointments.
Conclusion:
• There is no dispute on the fact that the judiciary should also
self-regulate itself. It should also put some restraints on its
powers, whenever it is required.
• The Supreme Court in Divisional Manager, Aravali Golf
Course Chander Haas observed that: “Judges must know their
limits and must not try to run the Government.
• There is broad separation of powers under the Constitution and
each organ of the State-the legislature, the executive and the
judiciary must have respect for the others and must not encroach
into each other’s domains
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SYNOPSIS
Legislative Functions of the Parliament:
• To make rules and regulations for good governance of the country.
• The constitution also provides certain powers to the parliament to
make laws on the subjects enumerated in the State list under some
irregular circumstances which include situations
o When Rajya Sabha passes a resolution to that effect,
o when a proclamation of national emergency is in effect,
o when two or more states make a collective appeal to the
parliament,
o when it is essential to give effect to international
conventions, agreements, and treaties,
o When President’s Rule is imposed in the state.
• Ordinance making power of the parliament.
Executive Functions of the Parliament:
• The Parliament of India performs supervision over the Executive
through question-hour, zero hours, half-an-hour discussion, short
duration, calling attention motion, censure motion and contrasting
discussions.
• In addition, it also supervises the movements and actions of the
Executive with the aid of committees like committee on government
assurance, the committee on subordinate legislation, the committee on
petitions, etc.
Financial Functions of the Parliament:
• The parliament possesses powers over the control of the financial
matters.
• It operates in two stages, namely the “budgetary control” which
means that the parliament would have control before the
appropriation of grants through the enactment of the budget and
“post-budgetary control” which means that the government would
exercise control after the appropriation of grants through the three
financial committees.
• The Parliament of India has some exclusive powers to provide
sources and ways via which revenue has to be raised for public
services. For that, it imposes taxes and also safeguards that the
money authorized for expenditure to different departments of the
government has been spent on the endorsed aspirations.
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Q4.Enumerate the essential functions of the parliament of
India?
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Judicial Functions of the Parliament:
• The Parliament is endowed with some competence of the utmost
importance to perform certain judicial functions.
• These powers of performing the judicial functions enable the
parliament to have a power of impeaching the President of India
for acting against the provisions or not acting in accordance with
the Constitution of India.
• The Parliament also holds the power to detach the Vice-President
from his office for not performing his/her duties in accordance
with the constitution of India.
• The Parliament of India can recommend the removal of judges
(including Chief Justice of India, Chief Justice of High courts)
Chief Election Commissioner, Comptroller and Auditor General to
the President. In addition, the Parliament of India also has the
power to mete out punishment to its members or outsiders for the
breach of its privileges or its contempt.
Electoral Functions of the Parliament:
• The Parliament of India participates in the elections of the
President and Vice President of India.
• All the Members of the Parliament goes on to vote for the election
of the President and the Vice President of India.
• The Lok Sabha which is also known as the house of the people and
the lower house of the Indian Parliament elects its speaker and
Deputy Speaker and the Rajya Sabha which is also the council of
states and the upper house of the Indian Parliament elects its
Deputy Chairman.
There are many other salient functions of the Parliament of
India such as the following ( value addition)
1. Parliament of India serves as the highest deliberative body
in the nation.
2. It engages in the discussion of varied issues having national
and international significance.
3. The Indian Parliament gives assent to all the three kinds of
Emergency which are National Emergency, State
Emergency and Financial Emergency which are proclaimed
by the President of India.
4. The Parliament can also make or remove the state legislative
councils on the advice of the concerned state legislative
assembly.
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5. The Parliament also performs the function of increasing or
decreasing the area, alter the boundaries or rename the states
of Union of India.
6. The Parliament of India is also responsible for regulating the
jurisdiction and organization of the High Courts and
Supreme Court of India and also owns the power of
establishing one common high court for two or more states
of India.
7. The system of the Parliament of India puts together the
legislative and the executive organs of the state as much as
the executive power is exercised by a group of Members of
the Legislature who control a majority in the Lok Sabha.
8. To come up in a more specified manner the government
functions through different ministries under the control of
different Ministers. The Indian Parliament has provisions for
the Ministers and considers them accountable to the elected
representatives of the people. The Ministers could be
Member of either of the two Houses of the Parliament. The
true implementation of the policies of the government as
determined by the Parliament is carried out by the
bureaucracy supervised by a Secretary of the Department.
9. The Parliament has provisions for the forum by way of
which it is shielded that the Cabinet stays in power only as
long as it possesses majority support in the Lok Sabha
which consists elected representatives of the people. It is
one of the most vital and essential duties of the Parliament
to bring about consultations, deliberations and reproving
analysis of the functions of the government departments.
10. The discussions safeguards that the flaws in terms of
performance are brought to notice of the Ministers and
through them the collective executive machinery functions
in a good manner.
11. The existence of opposition is also necessary as it certainly
ensures that the entire population of the country gets to
know about the other substitute and possible thoughts.
12. The Indian Parliament is the strongest organ as far as the
information about the performance of the duties and tasks of
the government is concerned. The information presented in
the Houses is reliable and dependent and it is obligatory for
the ministers to provide information on affairs concerning
government when so wanted and preferred by the members.
13. The power to amend the Constitution vests with the
Parliament. It is essential for the constitutional amendments
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to be passed by each house by a majority of the total
membership and by the two-thirds majority of members
present in voting as well.
14. In some cases, amendments need ratification from half of
the Legislative Assemblies of the States.
15. The Parliament of India can as well penalize a person for
defamation or contempt of the House.
16. The Indian Parliament also possesses a power to form new
states or make changes in the boundaries of the states which
are in existence by legislation.
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SYNOPSIS
Intro
• Parliamentary privileges are defined in Article 105 of the Indian
Constitution.
• The members of Parliament are exempted from any civil or
criminal liability for any statement made or act done in the course
of their duties.
• The privileges are claimed only when the person is a member of
the house. As soon as he ends to be a member, the privileges are
said to be called off.
• The privileges given to the members are necessary for exercising
constitutional functions.
Body
The privileges individually enjoyed by the members are
1. Freedom of speech in parliament: anything said by them expressing
their views and thoughts are exempted from any liability and cannot be
tried in the court of law.
o This right is given even to non-members who have a right to speak
in the house. Example, attorney general of India.
2. Freedom from arrest: The members enjoy freedom from arrest in any
civil case 40 days before and after the adjournment of the house and also
when the house is in session.
o No member can be arrested from the limits of the parliament
without the permission of the house to which he/she belongs so
that there is no hindrance in performing their duties.
3. Freedom from appearing as a witness: They are given complete
liberty to attend the house and perform their duties without any
interference from the court.
Privileges enjoyed by the members collectively as part of parliament.
Right to prohibit the publication of proceedings: If any deleted
proceedings are published or any misrepresentation or misreporting is
found, it is held to be the breach of the privilege and contempt of the
house.
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5. Discuss the powers, privileges and immunities of the Indian
Parliament.
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Right to exclude strangers: the members of the house have the power
and right to exclude strangers who are not members of the house from the
proceedings. If any breach is reported then the punishment in the form of
admonition, reprimand, or imprisonment can be given.
The right to punish members and outsiders for breach of its
privileges: This right has been defined as ‘keystone of parliamentary privilege’
because, without this power, the house can suffer contempt and breach and is
very necessary to safeguard its authority and discharge its functions
o The house can put in custody any person or member for contempt
till the period the house is in session.
The right to regulate the internal affairs of the house: Under Article
118 of the Constitution, the house have been empowered to conduct its
regulation for proceedings and cannot be challenged in the court of law on
the ground that the house is not in accordance with the rules made under
Article 118.
o The Supreme Court has also held that this is general provision and
the rule is not binding upon the house. They can deviate or change
the rule anytime accordingly.
Conclusion
The privileges are conferred on the members for smooth functioning of the
parliament. The members should also use their privileges wisely and not
misuse them. They should always keep in mind that the powers do not
make them corrupt.
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SYNOPSIS
Intro
The term ‘knowledge economy’ was coined in the 1960s to describe a
shift from traditional economies to ones where the production and use of
knowledge are paramount.
Academic institutions and companies engaging in research and
development are important foundations of such a system.
According to the World Bank, knowledge economies are defined by
four pillars.
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Q6. What is Knowledge-Based Economy? What are its benefits
for India?
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Benefits for India
1. India with the onset of globalization, gigantic youth population and
massive growth in IT sector perfectly fits the bill for evolving into a
knowledge based economy. It will help in creating new better
paying jobs, good infrastructure and technology upgrade.
2. The knowledge based economy uses modern Information
&Communication Technologies principles, innovation and research,
specialized skills to create, disseminate and apply knowledge. It
works towards reducing poverty through inclusive economic
growth.
3. All the leading developed countries like USA, Japan, South Korea,
France have either migrated or migrating towards Knowledge
economy in order to make the most of their resources and brightest
minds.
4. Indian Economy will rely more on intellectual capabilities than on
physical inputs or natural resources. The overall ability of
employees acts as the business product as well as the asset. It
promises to be more stable than the other two forms of economy.
5. With the advent of newer and advanced technologies like Artificial
Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Internet of Things
(IOT), conventional manual jobs would easily get replaced. Newer
jobs requiring specialized skills will be created. Therefore,
Knowledge economy is the way ahead for India as well as the
globe.
6. Knowledge economy will foster the ever growing entrepreneurial
spirit among the Indian people. It will help in establishment and
growth of many startups especially service based startups and IT
focused startups.
7. With Earth’s depleting natural resources and value of typical
manual labor going down. An economy that relies on knowledge,
innovation and problem solving abilities only makes much sense.
8. Successful places or trade zones where Knowledge based economy
has thrived are -Silicon Valley in USA, Aerospace and Automotive
Engineering industry in Munich, Germany. Electronics and Digital
media industry in Seoul, South Korea and Biotechnology industry
in Hyderabad, India they are also successfully working in
Knowledge based Economy model.
9. A shift to Knowledge based economy is required for India since
with changing times it is comparatively advantageous in Labor
intensive and Capital intensive markets which are fading.
10. New technologies most notably, Robotics and increasing stress on
resources like water and energy, have emerged as threat to India’s
competitive edge. A proper shift to knowledge based growth will
allow India to rise over the problems of middle income trap and
income inequality.