By Saturday, India will have a new Vice President. In the following week, it would bring to an end the long parliamentary journey of M. Venkaiah Naidu and his tenure as the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, the other role for the post in the Constitution.
Work done during the term of the outgoing Chairman and progress achieved by the House is documented at the end of every session. Mr. Naidu’s term reflects on the progress of the legislative work; increased productivity at 70%; greater oversight of the work done by Parliamentary Committees; and a step-up in its primary role as a deliberative chamber.
Statistics show that in the five-year period of Mr. Naidu, the House held 261 sittings over 13 sessions, passing or returning 177 Bills, including the abrogation of Article 370 with regard to Jammu and Kashmir, Triple Talaq, Transgender Persons and the now repealed contentious Farm Bills.
Chairman Naidu entered the office with the unique advantage of having served in the House for 19 years – as a member of the Union Council of Ministers including a decade-long stint in the Opposition. This across–the–aisle experience guided his work, providing him with an innate ability to understand and appreciate the compulsions of all members.
This period was marked by both continuity and change. Chairman Naidu retained the practice of holding the Question Hour at 12 noon, a major Rule change effected by his predecessor M. Hamid Ansari. The changes suggested by the Rules Committee advanced the Zero Hour. Functioning of the Question Hour suggests that the shift had a positive effect and reduced the incidence of it being washed out.
Early in his tenure, deciding on a complaint under the 10th Schedule, Mr. Naidu disqualified members Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar Ansari of the Janata Dal (United). In disposing of the petition, he suggested presiding officers tasked to adjudicate such complaints should avoid a tendency to delay a decision.
Another significant step was to bring greater accountability to the Parliamentary Committees by monitoring its workings. Periodic reports on the duration of meetings held, attendance of its members, and studies undertaken sent a message of strong oversight by the Chair. In order to encourage members to speak in their preferred language, the existing infrastructure was strengthened.
Drawing upon his vast parliamentary experience, he ordered a comprehensive study of the Secretariat with the aim of bringing about systemic improvement and making its work more transparent, accountable and subject to periodic scrutiny.
After extensive interactions with members and staff, the in-house panel came up with 130 recommendations. One path-breaking suggestion is to dedicate an hour in Parliament to discuss select reports of Committees. This move would result in the Houses evaluating the work done by its panels.
Chairman Naidu’s tenure also witnessed an unprecedented situation of a world in the grip of a global health pandemic. The working of the Parliament came under strain with both the Houses evolving a common protocol to fulfil its constitutional obligation.
With a strong commitment to scrutiny, the Chairman, as a veteran parliamentarian, could have guided the Houses to usher changes in the Rules allowing Committees and even the chambers to meet in a virtual and/or hybrid mode.
Just as shifting the Question Hour led to improving its efficacy, holding meetings at least of the Committees in a digital format should be a step in the right direction.
Another area where the Council of States could have taken a lead is expanding its institutional reach through social media. Rajya Sabha could have been a pioneer in this regard under Chairman Naidu who is well-versed with the media and its new avatar.
Following its guidelines on the use of social media published a few years ago, the Inter-Parliamentary Union in its latest Global Parliamentary Report in collaboration with UNDP identified four trends parliaments should embrace to engage with citizens. These were growing reliance on digital tools; listening and not informing; visibility in the blizzard of information; growing public demand to influence decision making.
With its own Rules, Rajya Sabha could come up with a stand-alone policy and grant seamless access to people to this deliberative body discharging legislative obligations at its own pace.
K.V. Prasad is a senior journalist and former Fulbright-American Political Science Association Fellow in the U.S. Congress
