Mantriji, how about some business now?

NEW DELHI: A cat has nine lives, butsome bills of Parliament have proved to be resilient by far. Just why don''t theyget passed, or killed once and for all? Because shooting down some of them wouldbe political suicide. Passing some would be simply suicidal. So they hang inlimbo year after year.The Lok Pal bill has been hanging fire since1968. It was first tabled by the then Home Minister YB Chavan. But, from thefirst day it became apparent that no government was interested in setting up anombudsman body which can make parliamentarians, including the prime minister,accountable. A senior Congress MP said on condition of anonymity, "ALok Pal has the powers to investigate cases of corruption at all levelsincluding the PMO. With corruption rampant, no government wants to be hauledover coals. The bill has been put indefinitely on the backburner bybeing referred to a Joint Select Committee ofParliament."The Women Reservation Bill (WRB) enjoys the distinctionof being the second oldest bill to remain on hold by Parliament and has beentabled three times having been first tabled by the then Law Minister RamakantKhalap in 1996. The bill seeks to ensure 33 per cent reservation forwomen in the Parliament and the state assemblies. Somnath Chatterjee, CPI(M) MPsays, "Some BJP MPs want us to believe that because the Samajwadi Party andLaloo''s Rashtriya Janata Dal are opposed to WRB, all male MPs must be opposed toit. This is only for public consumption. The BJP is deeply dividedover the bill. Vajpayee keeps calling an all-party meeting to discuss the billbut he is doing it simply for public consumption. He to has little interest ingetting itpassed."Parliamentarians are equally suspicious about the TwoChild Bill which was tabled in 1992 in the Rajya Sabha under the title ofConstitution 79 Amend-ment Bill by the then Minister of Health ML Fotedar.The bill sought to restrict persons with more than two children fromcontesting elections to Parliament and the Assemblies. Several states includingMadhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh have subsequently introduced laws restrictingpersons with more than two kids from contesting local body elections.But no leader is willing to put this into action. The reason issimple. A large number of our leaders have more than two kids. Three senior BJPLok Sabha MPs - including the Minister of State for Home ID Swami - between themhave 23 kids. Says Swami tactfully: "In our days the number ofchildren did not matter but of course, today it has become a very seriousmatter." Parliamentary Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj says: "The bill is pendingbefore the Rajya Sabha and if there is consensus among all political parties, wewill introduce the bill in this sessionitself."The Cinematographic Amendment Bill was introduced inthe Lok Sabha on February 26 1993 by BJP MP Harin Pathak. An equally contentiousbill, it seeks to update and modernise the antiquated Cinematographic Act of1952 and deals, amongst other subjects, with the controversial issue of filmcensorship. The Airports Authority Amendment Bill to enable airportsto be managed by private parties was introduced by the then Civil AviationMinister Sharad Yadav in 2000. But even today, a large cross-section of MPsbelieve privatising airports will compromise the country''ssafety.The number of private members bills pending inParliament run into several hundred. Last Thursday, Swami Adityanath, the BJPtrouble-shooter moved a private member''s bill to introduce a Uniform Civil Code(UCC) and to ban cow slaughter. Both these bills, which are part ofthe BJP national agenda, were once again brought into the limelight in an effortto put the Opposition on the defensive since the likelihood of their beingpassed is unlikely. The earlier Muslim Women Protection of Rights on DivorceBill (1986) which looked into one aspect of the UCC for the minority communitywas tabled by the then Minister of Law AK Sen. Several BJP MPs triedto persuade Adityanth not to introduce the bill but he remain unconvinced. "Evenwhen I tabled the UCC in 2000, 46 members voted in favour of the legislationwhile another 44 opposed it," hesaid.Abhishekh Singhvi, former Additional Solicitor Generalbelieves, "There is no single villain of the piece for these legislation delays.The principle reason remains a lack of political consensus. Also, Parliamentneeds significant restructuring. It meets for only about six months during whichthere is a heavy demand on its time. But several legislative measures by theirvery nature attack some entre-nched and vested interest which carries on asustained campaign to delay these bills". Singhvi maintains the onlyway out is by building sustained public pressure which will ensure pending billsare pushed through. "The delay is because the public has abdicatedresponsibility. The public needs to come together to mount sufficient pressurein order to sustain a campaign over a long period of time," he says.Arun Jaitely minister of commerce, of course, defends thegovernment: "There will always be a lot of bills which will remain pending. Weneed to focus on the bills we have passed. During the last winter session, wepassed more bills than during any other session of Parliament," he claims.