The priorities for the new VP in Rajya Sabha
As chairman of the Rajya Sabha, the vice-president must ensure the smooth conduct of proceedings, while also strengthening deliberations on the floor of the House. This is key
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had a way with words. During the celebration of 50 years of Indian Parliament, he said that a river’s flow is good as long as its banks are strong. One bank of India’s parliamentary flow, i.e., our democratic process is the Lok Sabha, while the other bank is the Rajya Sabha. If these two banks remain strong, the flow of democratic traditions will proceed precisely. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recounted these words in 2019 during the 250th session celebrations of Rajya Sabha. These words gain significance because the Upper House of our Parliament will witness a change of guard in the next few weeks. Vice President (VP) M Venkaiah Naidu will retire and hand over the baton to a new VP, who will be at the helm of Rajya Sabha for the next five years, including through the next general election in 2024.
Our Constitution entrusts the VP with two responsibilities: To preside over the deliberations of the Rajya Sabha as its chairman and step into the President’s shoes, when required.
The last time a VP had to assume presidential duties was 1977, after the death of President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. But a President may also be temporarily unavailable for medical reasons. For example, in 1964, when President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was recovering from eye surgery for two weeks, VP Zakir Hussain was sworn in as President. Since the circumstances in which the President is unavailable are rare, this responsibility is not taxing.
The priority for the incoming VP as Rajya Sabha chairman should be on the smooth conduct of its proceedings and strengthening its deliberations. Over the last two years, Upper House Members of Parliament (MPs) have disrupted its proceedings. In the previous monsoon session, some MPs climbed on chairs and tables in front of the presiding officer while protesting on farmer’s issues. The protesting MPs’ stance was that they were not being allowed to put their views on three controversial farm laws and other agricultural problems. Allowing MPs to express themselves on national issues is central to solving the problem of parliamentary disruptions.
The government convenes Parliament for a limited number of days, which restricts the time it has to discuss national concerns. Parliamentary rules divide this discussion time between political parties based on their strength in the House. So smaller parties get less of an opportunity to make their points. Currently, 32 political parties have representation in the Rajya Sabha. Fifteen of them are single-member parties; ten have up to five members; another five parties have between six to 13 MPs, and then there are the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Outgoing VP Naidu was working on measures to ensure that smaller parties could have more of a say in House proceedings. The new VP will have to carry forward these plans and provide adequate time for debate in the Rajya Sabha.
Another aspect of parliamentary functioning is that the government gets to set the agenda for discussion. A regular complaint of Opposition parties is that the government shies away from debate on contentious issues. The government contends that the Opposition is not interested in debate but only wants to hold House proceedings hostage. To address these concerns, the new VP will have to steer Rajya Sabha toward procedural reforms allowing the Opposition space to set the agenda for House discussions.
While these measures will lead toward orderly debate in the House, other procedural reforms will be needed to strengthen its scrutiny of legislation and government functioning. Parliamentary committees do this work, and the rules of the Rajya Sabha limit their effectiveness. For example, committees only get to scrutinise government bills that the presiding officer of the Rajya Sabha refers to them. As a result, ministers often beseech the presiding officer not to allow committees to examine pieces of legislation they are piloting.
The incoming VP will also soon be presiding over Rajya Sabha proceedings in the new Parliament building, which will have access to better technology and infrastructure. In these circumstances, the new chairman must also catalyse changes regarding virtual committee meetings. Such changes would allow the committees to benefit from experts who cannot travel to Parliament to share their knowledge and experience on technical and policy issues.
The ongoing monsoon session of Parliament will end on August 12. It is expected that the new chairman will preside over the last day of the session. The chair of the presiding officer of the upper House faces a painting of Radhakrishnan, its first occupant. He set the mandate of the Upper House in the following words “There is a general impression that this House cannot make or unmake governments and, therefore, it is a superfluous body. But there are functions which a revising chamber can fulfil fruitfully…We are for the first time starting, under the new parliamentary system, with a second chamber in the Centre, and we should try to do everything in our power to justify to the public of this country that a Second Chamber is essential to prevent hasty legislation. We should discuss with dispassion and detachment proposals put before us.”
The new VP will have to work toward fulfilling this mandate.