TAXPAYER MONEY WASTED, PUBLIC ISSUES ADJOURNED

SPEAKING in the Constituent Assembly on November 4, 1948, B R Ambedkar said if things go wrong it would not be because of a bad Constitution, but because "man was vile". India's political class it would seem is committed to illustrate the prescience of the observation. This winter session, the atrocious conduct of members of parliament ensured that political rhetoric thrived, while questions of governance were waylaid.

- SHANKKAR AIYAR

There has been much debate over the amount of wasted taxpayer monies. It is estimated that running a parliament session costs ₹2.5 lakh per minute, and that just the washout in Lok Sabha has cost over ₹97.8 crore. But the nation is paying a greater price in the neglect of issues. Growth is spluttering, food inflation is spiralling, job creation is petering out, the spectre of trade war is looming and geopolitics is at an inflection point. None of this seemingly mattered to the MPs. Those elected to represent their constituents have come to believe the party is the constituency.

A basic fact we need to remember while designing public policy to deliver prosperity is that over 54 percent of India's workforce that is engaged in agriculture and allied activities is dependent on 18 percent of the gross value added in the economy. There is the issue of resources and then there is the issue of the inefficiencies that haunt governance. The state of affairs is illustrated in the parliamentary standing committee reports. Here are some nuggets from the reports submitted this session.