Revamp functioning of Parliament

Why in news?

Bills to raise Lok Sabha strength to 850 have revived concerns that more MPs without more floor time weaken Parliament.

UPSC Relevance

Prelims: Parliament.

Mains GS2: Parliament – structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers and privileges.

Why do we need a Parliament at all?

A Parliament is where a nation argues with itself, so that it does not have to argue on the streets. In a country of over 140 crore people, everyone cannot sit in one room and decide. So we sent representatives. But sending them is only half the job. They must also be able to speak, question, disagree and finally decide. That is why Parliament has to be both representative (it must reflect the people) and deliberative (it must think and debate before it acts).

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar explained in the Constituent Assembly why India chose a parliamentary system: it gives more responsibility than stability. In a presidential system, the executive is assessed once every few years; in a parliamentary system, it is assessed every day – through questions, debates and votes. If Parliament stops doing this daily check, the whole logic of our system weakens.

Functions of Parliament 

• Law-making: Makes laws on Union and Concurrent List subjects (Article 245–246). 
• Executive accountability: The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha (Article 75(3)). Questions, motions and no-confidence votes are the tools. 
• Financial control: No tax without law (Article 265); no money from the Consolidated Fund without Parliament’s approval (Articles 112–117). 
• Representation and voice: Brings local problems – floods, crop failure, unemployment – to the national stage. 
• Constituent, electoral and judicial roles: Amends the Constitution (Article 368), elects the President and Vice-President, and removes judges and the President through special procedures. 

Challenges

A. Challenges to the representative role

• Unequal representation: Seats have been frozen on the 1971 Census since the 42nd Amendment (1976), extended by the 84th Amendment (2001) till the first Census after 2026. The result: Malkajgiri (Telangana) has 37.8 lakh voters while Lakshadweep has just 57,953. The average is about 18 lakh voters per MP (ECI 2024 Atlas).
• North–South debate: Delimitation purely on population could shift seats towards States with higher population growth, which southern States see as a penalty for successful population control.
• More MPs, same time: The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill and the Delimitation Bill, 2026 propose raising Lok Sabha strength from 550 to 850. Without more sitting time, each MP’s share of floor time shrinks further.
• Low representation of women: Women are only about 14% of the 18th Lok Sabha. The 106th Amendment (2023) reserves one-third seats for women, but it comes into force only after the next Census and delimitation.
• Anti-defection law: The Tenth Schedule (52nd Amendment, 1985) binds MPs to the party whip on almost every vote. An MP cannot vote according to constituency interest or conscience, which turns many MPs into numbers rather than voices.
• Criminalisation and money power: According to ADR, nearly half (46%) of the MPs elected in 2024 have declared criminal cases, and a large majority are crorepatis. This narrows who can realistically enter Parliament. 

B. Challenges to the deliberative role

• Fewer sittings: The Constitution only says the gap between two sessions cannot exceed six months (Article 85). It sets no minimum number of days, so sittings have steadily declined.

Source: PRS Legislative Research

• Question Hour losing ground: Only 20 starred questions get oral answers per day. In the 17th Lok Sabha, Question Hour ran for only about 60% of its scheduled time; in the 2026 Monsoon Session it ran for just 1% – about nine minutes in the whole session.
• Disruptions: Frequent adjournments waste time that could be used for debate. Disruption has become a tool of the Opposition, and lack of space for debate has become a reason for disruption – a vicious cycle.
• Weak financial scrutiny: A large part of the Union Budget is passed through the guillotine – voted without any discussion on the demands of most ministries.
• Shrinking space for backbenchers: Private Members’ Business is often skipped. Zero Hour, an informal practice since 1962, has no fixed protected time.
• Institutional gaps: The Deputy Speaker’s post (Article 93) stayed vacant through the entire 17th Lok Sabha. Mass suspensions of MPs, such as 146 MPs in December 2023, weaken the Opposition’s role.
• Lack of research support: Most MPs have little research staff, so they depend on party lines or ministry briefings.

C. Challenges to the legislative function

• Bills without scrutiny: Fewer bills now go to committees.

Source: PRS Legislative Research

• Hurried law-making: Many important bills are passed in a single day, sometimes within minutes, with little debate.
• Money Bill route: Using the Money Bill route (Article 110) for laws such as the Aadhaar Act, 2016 bypassed the Rajya Sabha. The issue is pending before a larger bench of the Supreme Court.
• Ordinance raj: Repeated ordinances (Article 123) make Parliament a rubber stamp. In Krishna Kumar Singh v. State of Bihar (2017), the Supreme Court held that re-promulgation of ordinances is a fraud on the Constitution.
• Excessive delegated legislation: Laws often leave key details to rules made by the executive, and the Committee on Subordinate Legislation rarely examines them closely.
• No post-legislative review: Parliament seldom checks whether a law has achieved its purpose after it is passed.
• Weak role of private members: Only 14 private members’ bills have become law since 1952, the last in 1970, so law-making is almost entirely government-driven.

Way forward – recommendations of committees and experts

For the representative role:

• Fair delimitation: Balance population with federal concerns, for example by weighing performance on population control, or by capping the net shift of seats across States.
• Free the MP’s vote: Restrict the whip to confidence votes and money bills so MPs can speak for their constituents on other issues.
• Faster women’s reservation: Delink the 106th Amendment from delimitation timelines so that it does not get delayed indefinitely.
• Clean entry: Implement Supreme Court directions on disclosure of criminal antecedents and push for internal democracy in parties.

For the deliberative role:

• Statutory sitting days: Expand Article 85 to include a minimum number of working days, as suggested by NCRWC.
• Protected instruments: Give Question Hour and Zero Hour a fixed, non-negotiable time slot; if the House is disrupted, the lost hour should be made up.
• Opposition days: Like the UK’s 20 Opposition Days, give the Opposition fixed days to set the agenda – this reduces the incentive to disrupt.
• Budget scrutiny: Create a Parliamentary Budget Office to give MPs independent analysis of spending.
• Research support: Expand fellowship programmes like LAMP that give MPs trained research assistants.
• Neutral presiding officers: Fill the Deputy Speaker’s post promptly and build conventions of neutrality, as in the UK where the Speaker leaves party politics.

For the legislative role:

• Mandatory committee scrutiny: Send all major bills to Departmental Standing Committees unless reasons are recorded; follow the Pre-Legislative Consultation Policy, 2014.
• Better drafting: Attach a legislative impact assessment to every major bill and strengthen expert drafting support.
• Check delegated legislation: Strengthen the Committee on Subordinate Legislation and lay all major rules before Parliament for review.
• Post-legislative scrutiny: Review major laws a few years after enactment, as the UK has done since 2008; use sunset clauses where suitable.
• Limit misuse of Money Bills and ordinances: Make the Speaker’s Money Bill certification follow clear criteria, and use ordinances only in genuine emergencies.

Increasing the number of MPs can bring Parliament closer to people. But a bigger House that sits less and debates less will only make the voice of each MP smaller. Real reform must give Parliament not just more members, but more time, more scrutiny and more space for disagreement.

Practice MCQ

Q1. Consider the following statements regarding the Parliament of India:

1. The Constitution prescribes a minimum number of sitting days for each House in a year.

2. The gap between the last sitting of one session and the first sitting of the next cannot exceed six months.

3. Zero Hour is provided for in the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha.

How many of the statements given above are correct?

(a) Only one

(b) Only two

(c) All three

(d) None

Answer: (a). Only statement 2 is correct (Article 85). The Constitution sets no minimum sitting days, and Zero Hour is an informal Indian innovation, not mentioned in the Rules.

Q2. With reference to Departmentally Related Standing Committees (DRSCs) of Parliament, consider the following statements:

1. They were set up in 1993 to strengthen parliamentary scrutiny of ministries.

2. A Minister is not eligible to be a member of a DRSC.

3. Reference of every government bill to a DRSC is mandatory.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer: (a). Referral of bills is at the discretion of the Speaker or Chairman, which is why fewer bills are now examined by committees.

Mains Practice Question

Q. “Increasing the number of MPs without increasing Parliament’s working capacity may weaken rather than strengthen representation.” In this context, examine the challenges to the representative and deliberative functions of the Indian Parliament and suggest reforms. (15 marks, 250 words)

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