Congress, BJP virtually monopolise Parliamentary panel proceedings

The MPs of the ruling BJP and the main Opposition party Congress have virtually "monopolised" the meetings of the Parliamentary Standing Committees while participation of regional parties is way below the mark, according to a study by the Rajya Sabha's research wing.

Other than BJP and Congress, five parties: DMK, BJD, SP, CPM and CPI have availed opportunities more than their respective strength on the eight committees of the Upper House while the participation of 18 parties, including Trinamool Congress, AIADMK, JD (U) and Shiv Sena have been lesser than their share in the strength.

The poor attendance by the "middle parties", as per the analysis done on the instructions of Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, said, is "further reducing the diversity of political participation" in the deliberations of these committees while wondering whether these panels have become a "two-party show".

Parliament has 24 Department related Standing Committees out of which eight are with Rajya Sabha and the rest with the Lok Sabha. Out of the 34 parties represented in Rajya Sabha, 25 parties and independents are nominated on the eight Committees of the Upper House. On the committees under Rajya Sabha, there are 239 members of both the Houses.

According to the analysis of the 100 meetings of the eight Committees between September 2019 and March 2020, BJP and Congress accounted for two-thirds of the 1,586 interventions by the MPs. These two parties alone have a total strength of 57% in these committees.

MPs from the remaining 23 parties in these panels account for around 33% of the interventions. Among the rest, MPs from five parties have intervened more than their strength in the committees.

The analysis illustrated the "inadequate participation" of the middle parties in these meetings. A lone member of BSP did not attend any of the 11 meetings of the Committee on Transport and Tourism during 2019-20 while another member from the same party did not attend any of the 19 meetings of the Committee on Home Affairs. A BSP member who is part of the panel on Commerce skipped 20 meetings.

Shiv Sena and TRS with one MP each on the Committee on Health and Family Welfare skipped all the 21 meetings while Akali Dal's MP in the committee on Commerce did not attend any of the 20 meetings of the Committee on Commerce. Two MPs of Trinamool Congress skipped all the meetings of the Committee on Industry while it was the same case with one each MP of LJSP and National Conference who skipped all nine meetings of the panel on Personnel, Public Grievances and Law and Justice. The SDF member also skipped all the 11 meetings of the Committee on Science and Technology, the analysis said.

"The ruling BJP seeks to ensure proper attendance of its members so as to articulate the Government's position on various issues as and when required while the Congress does so to justify its role as the principal opposition party, resulting in virtual monopolisation of participation by these two parties...In effect, the deliberations in the meetings of these Committees are primarily limited to about 5 to 6 parties given the overall attendance as earlier flagged by the Chairman," a senior official said quoting the analysis.

Earlier, Naidu had written to various party leaders to ensure proper attendance of MPs in the deliberations of the committees.