Short-Circuiting Parliament

On September 20, Parliament passed two contentious farm bills—Farmers’ Produce Trade & Commerce (Prom­otion & Facilitation) Bill and the Farmers’ (Empowerment & Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance & Farm Services Bill.

- Kaushik Deka

The Rajya Sabha cleared both by voice vote; the Lok Sabha had passed them three days earlier. While farmers and Opposition parties protested the ‘anti­farmer’ provisions in the bills, the unseemly haste on display in rush­ ing the bills through Parliament, without further reference, discussion or debate, have raised unsettling questions on this government’s commitment to upholding parliamentary democracy.

The business advisory committee of the Rajya Sabha had set aside four hours to debate and pass the bills. Besides seven amendments to the bills, including one to send them to a select committee, the opposition leaders had also moved two statutory resolutions to get the bills dis­ approved. The debate continued beyond 1 pm, when the House was scheduled to be adjourned in keeping with Covid­19 protocol. Opposition leaders demanded the House be adjourned as per schedule and the bills taken up the next day, but the government insisted on continuing the proceedings. “When the House has to extend its sitting beyond the scheduled time, the sense of the House is taken by the chairperson,” says P.D.T. Achary, for­mer secretary general of the Lok Sabha. “If there is no consensus on an extended sitting, the chair normally adjourns the House for the next day.”