The Hindu : RS makes question hour more effective

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 02, 2003

National

National

RS makes question hour more effective

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JUNE 1. In its quest to make the working of the Rajya Sabha more meaningful and effective, the House has made a smooth change while opening the innings — question hour.

A number of measures, initiated to alter existing practices, were successfully put into effect during the Budget session which concluded earlier this month.

The Rajya Sabha Chairman, Bhairon Singh Shekawat's effort to get almost all the `starred' questions answered during the 60 minutes has set a record of sorts. At least on 10 occasions, the House has gone through the listed questions as against the previous practice when barely three or four questions got a look in. Mr. Shekhawat insists that members ask direct questions to the Ministers instead of long-winding sentences peppered with observations.

The efficacy of the move can be gauged by statistics which showed that during the just-concluded session, the House had taken up 305 of the 700 starred questions that were admitted, compared to 131 of 702 starred questions admitted in the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha Secretary General, Yogendra Narain, told The Hindu.

Each day, the House takes up about 20 starred questions (orally answered by Ministers along with supplementaries) and 155 unstarred questions (usually brief written replies are tabled). This proves to be effective interface between the Government and the representatives of the people as also making it accountable to Parliament. The importance of question hour can be gauged from the presence of all Ministers, including the Prime Minister on days when questions relating to their portfolios are scheduled.

In addition, other changes have been made. The system of eliciting response from various Ministries to each and every question submitted by the Members has been done away with. Instead, questions have to stand a scrutiny done by a Committee headed by the Chairman. The vetting is also aimed to eliminate overlapping.

Now, after the scrutiny the starred questions are put up for admission through draw of lots to which the Members are invited. The House has changed the lottery system from a random pick by computer to the manual method. Reverting to manual system was resorted to when it was noticed that questions from a few members found their way into the quota of 20 starred question almost every day.

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