I am not a great fan of the Indian left. My outbursts, in my previous blogs, against the left's attitude and ideology is ample proof to that.
So the title does not mean a change of heart.
Having said that, I should congragulate the left as they have demanded that parliament should be given more powers of supervision over the executive.
For the uninitiated, it looks like Parliament does not have any say when governments go about signing treaties that bind the country and the future generation to the "rules" of such treaty. Unlike in the US and other countries where Congress / Parliament / legislature should give their stamp of approval before it can take effect.
I am not a constitutional pundit. So, I dont know why such a big gap was left open in the rule books by our founding fathers. Nevertheless, it a big gapping hole that needs to be fixed urgently. Else the executive would take the legislature for a ride.
Case in point, the present Nuclear deal being negotiated between India and the US. The US law requires Congressional approval before anything can be done, but on the other hand in India, the government can go ahead and sign the treaty without Parliament even discussing it. At least thats the picture I get.
The lefts demand to amend the constitution to require all important treaties be approved by Parliament, is laudable. This would prevent the executive from walking over the head of the legislature.
I am sorry, but I have to mention this. ....
What in gods name is the principle opposition party doing ? How come the BJP is not coming up with such wise ideas.
At this rate, I am sure next time around, the left would form the government at the center and the Congress and the BJP would have to share the opposition benches !!
7 comments:
That's a nice point. You are right, the government can always take 'anyone' for a ride in the name of 'the common good'.
I think commies(not sure who i.e CPI or CPM) have not got just this right, but also in the reservation debate they were the only ones who insisted on 'reservations for financially-challenged folks'.
Look Anand...you dont have to bad mouth another country to show your country is great.
India should shine by originality than by contrast. Its does not help us anyway if a black or native became an american president, cause even the american people of all colors are not that preoccupied with it.
So lets just put our house in order to begin with.
Anand
Do you ever talk to yourself ? If you did, maybe you will realise how ridiculous you sound.
Prakash...thanks.
Siva....ouch !!
Hi Eshwar,
Because we are parliamentary democracy, the executive works at the pleasure of the parliament. The parliament can pull down the government if the executive is doing a bad job. That could be the reason why the Authors of the Constitution would not have added this clause. It will also make the government more bureaucratic.
If Left is really worried, they could do what Karunanidhi did in the Neyveli issue. Manmohan Singh would not have been able to sign this deal without Left tactical approval.
Karthik
Pulling down the government is fine. But we surely should have space between supporting a govt and not supporting it totally.
You could disagree on one item of policy and hence just vote against that measure. Like if the left did not approve of the Indo-US nuclear energy deal then they should be allowed to vote against it in parliament when it comes up for ratification. But that does not mean they would want the govt to go.
We need more flexibilty and more power to the elected reps. I suppose that is a flaw in the Westminister model of democracy that we have inherited from the British.
As reasonable as your request is, we have seen the sufferings of coalition governments.
Without the 'single-mindedness' of americans when it comes to their country, such amendment, will ONLY ensure that nothing moves forward !
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