'Before 2014, referring bills to the Parliament Standing Committees was necessary'

A BJP leader stated that sending bills to the Parliamentary Standing Committees 'is no measure of democracy'

Countering the Opposition's allegation of passing bills without consideration of the Parliament Standing Committees, the ruling BJP on Tuesday said that for 25 years before 2014, referring bills to the committee was necessary due to the prevailing non consensus and difference of opinions within the ruling party itself.

The opposition parties have been demanding that bills should be sent to the standing committee before being tabled for discussion in the Parliament. Alleging India's declining democracy index, the Opposition said that during 2004-2009 about 60 per cent of the bills were sent to parliamentary committees, while after 2019 only 12 per cent were sent to the committees.

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"For 25 years before 2014, the governments formed at the Centre were weaker and a coalition one. Thus, referring bills to the Standing Committee was necessary due to the prevailing non consensus and difference of opinions within the ruling party itself," a BJP source said.

The saffron leader claimed that since 2014, the ruling dispensation has an absolute majority and hence, there exists a broad consensus amongst the majority members when a bill is put for discussion. Hence, there may be little scope for sending them to Parliamentary Standing Committees

The BJP leader stated that sending bills to the Parliamentary Standing Committees is 'no measure of democracy'. "The Parliamentary Standing Committees were constituted in 1993 and prior to the formation of the Committee, for 41 years (first Lok Sabha session commenced on April 17, 1952) the bills were presented directly in Parliament for deliberations," a senior BJP leader said.

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The BJP leader asked if this means that there was no democracy in India for 41 years. "Bills passed by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi were all wrong legislations. The Constitution made by Babasaheb Ambedkar was not sent to a Select Committee. These committees are subset of Houses, they themselves cannot approve any bill, Parliament is the ultimate authority. All laws have been approved by the Parliament only," the BJP leader said.

He further claimed that despite being a government of absolute majority, the NDA govt has spent more time on debate in the Parliament to ensure that bills are passed with consensus.

"During 16th Lok Sabha (2014-19), 32 per cent of the bills were discussed for more than three hours in the Lok Sabha, higher than the previous two terms (22 per cent and 14 percent in the 15th and 14th Lok Sabha). During the 15th Lok Sabha (2009-14), 36 per cent of the total bills passed were debated for less than 30 minutes. Of these, 20 bills were passed in less than five minutes," the BJP leader said

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