The Anna Hazare movement has helped bring into sharp focus infirmities in the parliamentary democracy system being practised today.
This is how to Mr N. R. Madhava Menon, a former director of the National Judicial Academy in Bhopal, chose to put the social activist's stir in perspective.
The occasion was a lecture organised at the Legislative Complex here on Tuesday in connection with the diamond jubilee of Kerala Legislative Secretariat.
The issue of corruption aside, what seemed to be engaging the minds of all concerned is whether the system represents the one originally envisaged by the makers of the Constitution, Mr Menon said.
Effective governance calls for the enactment of effective laws. But Bills are passed these days without so much as a discussion in both Parliament and Legislatures.
Mr Menon quoted former Union Home Secretary Madhav Godbole, who had studied the functioning of parliamentary democracy, to show how Parliament has been marginalised in its role as an ultimate law-making institution. “Apart from continuous disruption of proceedings and consequent reduction in the duration of sessions, there has been hasty passage of legislations without any discussion, curtailment of Question Hour, open defiance of the Speaker and abuse of legislative privileges. “If in the 1950's the duration of Parliament sittings averaged 130 days a year, it has come down to less than 50 days in 2008…In 2008, on the last day of a session, eight Bills were rushed through in less than 17 minutes with no discussion whatsoever…”
“The story is not much different in many State Assemblies,” Mr Menon said.
The large gap between public expectations and performance of Legislatures was partly because neither Parliament nor State Legislatures thought it necessary to submit themselves to any independent scrutiny of their functioning.
They had also not taken cognisance of the ongoing reforms and prevailing best practices in other democracies.
The greatest challenge before law makers is how to accomplish systemic changes and structural reforms to suit the requirements of efficient law-making in a dynamically evolving polity, economy and society, Mr Menon said.
The times are such that some sections of the public have even started to doubt the relevance of the Cabinet system of parliamentary democracy for a large and diverse nation like India.
Lack of a strong and united Opposition and a truly representative Government has in some cases created an imbalance in the power equation within and outside legislatures.
This could weaken the parliamentary system, even leading at times to totalitarian tendencies and executive non-accountability.
It is for Parliament/Legislatures to arrest degenerative tendencies and restore people's confidence to be able to give responsive, participatory, and accountable governance.