At least Parliament passsed a few key Bills
It may seem that the only take-away from the Winter Session of Parliament, which concluded this past Friday, is that it has been the most unproductive in the history of independent India. To be fair, the people cannot be faulted for this perception given the many unsavoury disruptions that happened in both Houses throughout the session which was reconvened between from February 5 to February 21 after being adjourned on December 18 last year. To make matters worse, there were many instances of vandalism and hooliganism in Parliament in recent weeks including the unprecedented use of pepper spray in the lok Sabha by a Congress MP. But while lawmakers have received a lot of deserved brickbats for their unparliamentary conduct inside the House, it will be incorrect to say that this Parliament merely wasted crores of public money on shouting matches. Indeed, in its last session before the general election, Parliament has passed a clutch of important Bills. Primary among these is The lokpal and lokayuktas Bill, 2011. This much-awaited piece of legislation, which establishes a lokpal at the Centre and lokayuktas in the States to investigate and prosecute cases of corruption, has come 40 years after the idea of such an ombudsman was first floated. The demand for a lokpal was also at the heart of the 2011 anti-corruption movement, and it was this direct pressure from the public that pushed the anti-corruption initiative to the top of Parliament's agenda. The passage of lokpal Bill, therefore, is a tremendous victory for the nation in its fight against all-pervasive graft. Augmenting efforts in this direction is The Whistle Blowers Protection Bill, 2011, which the Rajya Sabha passed on the last day of the Winter Session. It establishes a mechanism to receive complaints regarding the disclosure on any allegation of corruption and also provides for punishment of those who make false or frivolous complaints. This will go a long way in empowering citizens as they seek to check corrupt officials.
Another important piece of legislation approved by Parliament is The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2011. It increases the availability of morphine for medicinal purposes and will provide relief especially to terminally ill patients. Though a cheap, effective and non-addictive palliative, morphine is hardly prescribed in this country because of legal hurdles that make it difficult for medical institutions to access the drug. The Amendment to the NDPS Act eases many of these restrictions and allows for a single-window clearance. Other crucial laws that have gained parliamentary approval in this Session are The Street Vendors (Protection of livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill, 2013, the National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research (Amendment) Bill, 2013, and the Rani lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University Bill, 2012. Finally, there is the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2014, which has provided for the creation of the State of Telangana. A challenging and heart-wrenching process, it was made worse by the mishandling of the UPA regime which ignored not just the Opposition but sections within the ruling coalition for a long time. Nevertheless, Parliament deserves credit for bringing a sense of finality to the issue.