Rushed Laws

Lok Sabha to send the Viksit Bharat - Guarantee For Rozgar And Ajeevika Mission Bill, 2025, to the Standing Committee for suggestions and changes. Opposition MPs said that the Bill was made available on the members’ portal at 5 pm, and amendments were sought by 545 pm. MPs said that they should be given at least one day to first read and understand the Bill.

- Aakar Patel

On December 17, Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra asked the Lok Sabha to send the Viksit Bharat - Guarantee For Rozgar And Ajeevika Mission Bill, 2025, to the Standing Committee for suggestions and changes.

The requests were turned down and the bill was passed by voice vote on December 18. MNREGA, one of our most important laws, has been finished off and we do not really know why.

This passing of bills without parliament, including the treasury benches, having any real understanding of what they contained through any rigorous process has accelerated through the Modi era. In the 14th Lok Sabha (2004-09), 60 per cent of the bills were referred to committees for scrutiny. In the next Lok Sabha (2009-14), this number was 71 per cent. In the first Modi government, this fell to 25 per cent. In the second Modi government (2019-2024) this fell to 16 per cent. It wilfully undid the parliamentary convention of referring bills to department-related parliamentary standing committees for scrutiny and examination.