Citizens Want Parliament Session Extended for the Number of Disrupted Days

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• 92% Citizens want Parliament session to be extended to account for disrupted days.
• 86 % Citizens want the opposition to be given dedicated days for presenting their agenda.
• 97 % citizens want Parliamentary procedures to be reformed to prevent disruption of the functioning of the Parliament.

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New Delhi, Delhi , India

LocalCircles (www.localcircles.com), India’s largest citizen engagement platform today announced the results of the largest survey on the winter session of the Parliament. With over 19,000 citizens responding to the poll questions, it provides collective pulse of how common citizens feel about the winter session of the Parliament.

The winter session opened on November 26, 2015 and the Parliament barely functioned with a total of four bills passed till today. The last two sessions of the Parliament – summer and monsoon sessions were a complete washout. As a result not a single bill was passed in the Parliament nor was any official business carried out in these two sessions. The winter session has almost been a washout as far as the important reform bills go.

To effectively gauge, what the common citizen feels about a Paralysed Parliament, Localcircles.com, the largest citizen engagement platform, carried out polls asking citizens questions about how the functioning of the Parliament could be improved. Several suggestions came and a simple one was that the session should be extended by as many days as are disrupted. 92 % of the citizens polled, said this should be implemented.

Citizens also feel that the opposition should be given time to present its issues and even bills. 86 % citizens wanted ‘Opposition Days’ in the Parliament for the same.

A massive, 97 % citizens want the Parliament procedures to be reformed so that disruption do not affect passage of crucial bills.

LocalCircles poll before the winter session had shown that the bulk of citizens are disappointed by the functioning of the Parliament. And 92 % of them feel that it is affecting the economy at large. Around 94 % feel that it is also affecting the functioning of the government, emphasising thereby that it is the role of the government to make it functional. Below are the key suggestions by citizens :

SOME KEY SUGGESTIONS BY CITIZENS

1. The non-disruption hours where crucial bills can be passed and discussed should be maximized.
2. Opposition must be given clear days to drive and discuss the issues that it wants.
3. On ‘Opposition days’ the agenda should be decided by opposition parties for discussion, Opposition can introduce bills on these days.
4. Each day a specific time frame shall be maintained for discussion on any new or urgent issues in concurrence with the Speaker.
5. The opposition could also be allotted a couple of hours at the starting or at the end of the day to put their views forward.
6. Joint session of both the houses could be held and bills being held up must be passed immediately to stop further loss of tax-payer money.
7. Laws should be made to avoid members from disturbing smooth parliament working.
8. The constitution should be amended, making it incumbent for all political parties to ensure the Parliament functions and transacts business at least for a specified number of days.
9. Any party may be allowed to disrupt but it must be mandatory that the bills to be tabled, must be tabled in the same session and no ‘pass’ should be allowed.

More details are available under https://www.localcircles.com/a/index/core?press