Over 800 academicians, activists, and students write to Birla, Naidu to restore Question Hour

Over 800 academicians, activists, politicians and students write to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu to reverse the decision to suspend the Question Hour and run the Zero Hour for a full hour.

In separate letters to Birla and Naidu, they said that there exists no other platform like the floor of the Parliament for the people to question the executive, through their representatives.

"As per settled conventions also, it is only in very exceptional cases that Question Hour may be dispensed with as Presiding Officers are known to rarely exercise this power, and that too only when the Houses unanimously agree," the letter was written by 858 "concerned citizens" said.

The letters were signed by former bureaucrat Jawahar Sircar, historian Mridula Mukherjee, academicians Zoya Hasan and Jayati Ghosh, Annie Raja from CPI, Hannan Mollah from CPI(M) and RTI activist Venkatesh Nayak among others.

"It may also interest you to note that the rare past precedents of exercise of this power to suspend Question Hour indicate that the exceptional circumstances included a session called following aggression by Chinese (1962), a period when democracy itself was being tested (1975 and 1976) and when special sessions were called for the purpose of seeking a vote of confidence (November 1990 and July 2008)," they said.

The current situation, though unprecedented, shouldn’t become a reason for suspension of procedures which help advance deliberative democracy, they added.

They argued that several state Assemblies holding their session amidst the pandemic and many of them have not suspended the Question Hour. For instance, recently State Assemblies in Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana and Chhattisgarh held their sessions complete with Question Hour, the letter said.

"If the State Assemblies can put sufficient precautions in place to ensure smooth functioning of the House without suspension of any procedures, then Parliament ought to as well," they said.

"Transparency in the functioning of a government is a cherished ideal for a democracy and more so when the world is reeling under a pandemic and crucial information at the right time could be the key to take important decisions saving lives. A government open to answering questions also helps build confidence especially during times as troubled as the present circumstances," they said.

The letter also described as "problematic" the decision to bring down the time for Zero Hour, through which MPs are able to raise concerns of their constituency and issues of urgent public importance, to 30 minutes and demanded that it should be allowed to run for a full hour, if not more.