As expected, the completeness of
the washout of the Monsoon session of the Parliament was complete today, on its
last working day - that was again a copy of every other day - the way it has
been this time since July 21, when the session began.
Reports says the washed out
session has wasted some 250 crore of taxpayers 'money. Reports also say a
failure to pass the Goods and Service Bill in this session means some 2-3% drop
in the markets. Reports also say the long term effect on the economy of nation
of stalled GST Bill or Land Bill would be severely negative.
But who cares!
Reports say there may be another session, the special
one, from August 30 to pass the GST Bill - because it is not done now, it will
become impossible to achieve its targeted implementation by April 1, 2016.
GST is an important tax reform
that will fundamentally change the concerned taxation structure in the country.
It requires the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha passing it separately and from
there it goes to the state legislatures and half of the Indian states need tom ratified
it before it could become a law.
Now, that can be done, as the BJP
is in government in many states and as the many non-BJP state governments are
supporting the Bill. The riddle lies in Rajya Sabha and the BJP will try to arrange
the numbers somehow if the special session is held.
The Congress party, that was the
principal force behind the washout this time, is in majority in Rajya Sabha,
with 68 members in the 245 member upper house. And, in the name of democracy,
it swept the entire 18 days without any result - as the PRS Legislative
Research analysis shows - the Rajya Sabha had an overall productivity of just
9% while its question hour could give an output of just 1%.
So, irrespective of political
statements about majority of numbers in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the developments
were as the respective political stands - Congress had points to raise
questions to score political points and disrupting the Houses, it thought, as
the political parties think, was its most visible representation. Rajya Sabha
where the BJP is in minority and where Congress is the largest party became the
main battle arena for it.
Similarly, the BJP, that is in
the government, has clear majority in the Lok Sabha and since as it in the
government this time, it has the responsibility to carry out business transactions
that reflects in 52% productivity of the lower house, much higher than Rajya
Sabha - though, on ground, and in reality, even the Lok Sabha could not work
properly.
Every day in the Parliament, in
its both Houses, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, witnessed similar
characters voicing similar jumbled voices charging the atmosphere to a new 'unruly high'
that was 'soap opera'-esque - shows running day in and day out on different
television channels - with no thought-worthy content but high on entertainment
quotient.
©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/
