India's New Subject-Based Parliamentary Standing Committees

Rubinoff, Arthur G.

doi:10.1525/as.1996.36.7.01p0152o

Cited by 5 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Others point to a trend towards constrained time affecting the quality of questions (Agrawal, 2005) and the structural weaknesses of the committee system because of their composition and lack of organizational heft (Kapur & Mehta, 2006;Rubinoff, 1996). Convergence of money power with the increasing presence of MPs with criminal cases deepens the sense of despair (Paul & Vivekananda, 2004).…”

Section: Srikrishna Ayyangar and Suraj Jacobmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…6 Decreasing Effectiveness? Much of the literature borders on despair when it reflects upon the quality of the institution in recent decades, with words such as 'decline' (Rubinoff, 1996), 'corrosion' (National Social Watch, 2009), 'atrophy' (Sanghvi, 1987), 'endangerment' (Banerjee, 2006) and 'death' (EPW Editorial, 2009) being used to describe its functioning. 7 Banerjee (2006) argues that the erosion set in with the seventh Lok Sabha when a new breed of rambunctious governing party MPs handpicked by Sanjay Gandhi started the trend of shouting down opposition MPs.…”

Section: Symbolic and Substantive Representation In The Indian Parliamentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Scholars point to decline in the number of Lok Sabha sittings because of frequent disruptions, chronic absenteeism, lack of debate and Indian Politics, 2, 1 (2014): 1-19 discussion during business hours or before the passage of bills (Kashyap, 1990;Wallack, 2008), and the decreasing importance of the Question Hour where members come with little background preparation and ministers provide casual and rudimentary answers (National Social Watch, 2009). Others point to a trend towards constrained time affecting the quality of questions (Agrawal, 2005) and the structural weaknesses of the committee system because of their composition and lack of organizational heft (Kapur & Mehta, 2006;Rubinoff, 1996). Convergence of money power with the increasing presence of MPs with criminal cases deepens the sense of despair (Paul & Vivekananda, 2004).…”

Section: Symbolic and Substantive Representation In The Indian Parliamentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Any chance of deliberative dissent is further prevented because of the anti-defection law. Kapur and Mehta (2006) and Rubinoff (1996) attribute the decline in executive accountability to party system fragmentation and the nature of party recruitment. Coalition politics has enabled smaller parties to extract concessions in lieu of credible threats to initiate no-confidence motions, so that such motions have become opportunities to hold the government to ransom rather than opportunities to hold it accountable.…”

Section: Studies Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Studying the Indian Legislature: What does Question Hour Reveal?

Ayyangar

Jacob

2014

Studies in Indian Politics

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This article explores legislator behaviour during the Question Hour in the lower house of India's parliament (the Lok Sabha) over a 30-year period . It establishes that there is considerable variation in the volume of legislator activity, with some Members of Parliament (MPs) remaining silent throughout their tenures (even as opposition MPs over full Lok Sabha terms), while others use the Question Hour much more effectively. Surprisingly, the activity of government backbenchers is only a little behind that of opposition MPs. The article constructs stylized facts regarding the relationship of three sets of covariates with the number of parliamentary questions asked by legislators: personal characteristics of MPs, legislative roles of MPs and the states represented by the MPs. The picture which emerges is that there is a disjuncture between symbolic and substantive representation. Despite increased symbolic representation, some groups-such as women and Scheduled Tribe MPs, but not Scheduled Caste MPs-still participate below par. At the same time, Question Hour is used more effectively by other groups-men and upper caste MPs, but also younger MPs and those with college education. Further, we uncover some puzzling state patterns: MPs from Orissa, Gujarat and Maharashtra seem to participate more than MPs from Punjab, Tamil Nadu and the Northeastern states.

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Section: Srikrishna Ayyangar and Suraj Jacobmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Symbolic and Substantive Representation In The Indian Parliamentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Symbolic and Substantive Representation In The Indian Parliamentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Studies Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Studying the Indian Legislature: What does Question Hour Reveal?

Ayyangar

Jacob

2014

Studies in Indian Politics

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“…46 In 1989 the Indian Parliament created three new subject-based standing committees: Agriculture, Environment and Forests, and Science and Technology. They were patterned after the experience of other Commonwealth countries, particularly Great Britain.…”

Section: The Subject-based Standing Committees Initiativementioning

confidence: 99%

The decline of India's parliament

Rubinoff

1998

The Journal of Legislative Studies

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Making Sense of the House: Explaining the Decline of the Indian Parliament amidst Democratization

Verma

Tripathi

2013

Studies in Indian Politics

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Although the Indian Parliament has witnessed progressive democratization in terms of representation of various sections of society, it has declined as an effective institution of accountability. Unlike in Western democracies, the decline of Indian parliament is not due to strengthening of the executive. Ironically both the executive and the parliament in India have remained weak during the ‘democratic upsurge’ era, while some non-parliamentary institutions have succeeded in asserting their autonomy. We find that existing literature on Indian parliament fails in explaining the paradox of declining parliamentary performance amidst its democratization. In this article, we highlight five such paradoxes. We bring in political parties as the main explanatory variable and argue that the changing character of political parties during the ‘democratic upsurge’ era in India lies at the heart of this debate: the emergence of new players representing sectional interests though increased representation of various sections of society, yet adversarial politics among these parties led to parliament’s decline.

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India's New Subject-Based Parliamentary Standing Committees

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Studying the Indian Legislature: What does Question Hour Reveal?

Studying the Indian Legislature: What does Question Hour Reveal?

The decline of India's parliament

Making Sense of the House: Explaining the Decline of the Indian Parliament amidst Democratization

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