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Parliamentary Democracy in Covid Times
Madras Management Association (MMA) in collaboration with KonradAdenauer-Stiftung (KAS) presented a panel discussion on the theme, “Parliamentary Democracy in Covid Times” through webinar on 23 June 2020. ORF and NGPL were the event partners. The panel comprised the following distinguished members:
* Mr N K Premachandran – Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha (From Kerala)
* Mr Naresh Gujral – Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
* Prof G Ramesh – Professor – Public Policy, IIM Bangalore
Group Captain R Vijayakumar (Retd), ED, MMA, welcomed the panellists and the participants. Mr Peter Rimmele, Resident Representative to India of KAS, delivered the introductory remarks. “Parliament is the beating heart in Germany,” he said and underlined that Parliament can never be independent of the Executive.
Mr M R Madhavan, Co-Founder and President, PRS Legislative Research, moderated the panel discussion. He highlighted the functions of Parliament and stressed that though Parliament’s monsoon session should commence in July, considering the extraordinary ground situation due to Covid19pandemic, the resultant economic crisis and other issues, Parliament should have been convened by now.
He listed out many countries whereParliaments meet through digitalplatforms.
Mr N K Premachandran, MP, pointed out that there has been no meeting of Parliament since 27 March. It is a big gap, he reckoned, citing various highly critical issues like the pandemic management; NRIs stranded abroad, Indo-China and Indo-Nepal border issues, financial package announcement, etc. Avoiding Parliament, he argued, will lead to autocracy and warned that ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely.’
He suggested measures like videoconferencing and meeting of Parliament on alternate days. Net connectivity in India and data security are big challenges but, he agreed, they can be managed.
Mr Naresh Gujral, MP, was also of the strong opinion that Parliament should meet immediately, preferably in an indoor stadium in New Delhi to ensure physical distancing. He felt video conference for 543 members may not be feasible yet. He batted for increasing the number of working days in a week and extending the working hours of Parliament, to manage disruptions due to the pandemic. “Democracy cannot be kept in suspended animation,” was his fervent pitch.
Prof G Ramesh highlighted the high attendance of Canada Parliamentarians when they participated through virtual meetings. He was firm in saying that technology and connectivity should not be a major issue as we now do many mission critical jobs including online banking and online stock exchange operations, in a secured manner.
“When Parliament works, all government departments work in a frenzied way. It has to be seen how these support staff can be mobilised,” he said and cautioned that people above 60 should be taken care of. Concluding the discussion on a very positive note, all the panellists agreed on the following:
* Parliamentary standing committees should be convened without further delay; this can be done digitally and if possible, through physical meetings.
* Parliament must be convened; the government has to deliberate on how it can be done and decide.
* We can learn how other Parliaments function, their outcome and challenges.
* We have never seen a pandemic of this magnitude since Independence. So we need to pool in and find a way out to see that Parliament functions and democracy in India is alive. Where there is a will, there is a way.
