Probably the first time the loud mouthed Samajwadi Party leader and Member of Parliament Naresh Agarwal raised an important issue in the Rajya Sabha when he attacked cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and actor Rekha, asking them to resign if they are not interested in the Parliament.
He questioned the Chair that why shouldn’t their membership be canceled from the House. Records show that while the national average attendance of an MP is 78%, Sachin Tendulkar’s average as an MP is 7% and Rekha’s average stands at 5%. It would be conducive to compare it to the average attendance of other ten nominations. Sambhaji Raje with 100%, tops the list, whereas Subramanian Swamy is close second with 92%. All other nominations have a record attendance above 60%.
Prior to Sachin Tendulkar and Rekha, several other nominated members have recorded poor attendance in Parliament sessions. Lata Mangeshkar was a Rajya Sabha MP from November 1999 to 2005, and she attended merely six out of over 170 meetings. She used her power as an MP only to express discontent towards the possibility of a flyover being built opposite her house on Peddar Road, Mumbai. When asked about her lack of interest in attending Parliament sittings, she claimed that she had in fact pleaded with those who urged her into the Rajya Sabha to let her off; but then why did she accept the offer.
Rajya Sabha has equal powers to the Lok Sabha except for money bills, where it has no jurisdiction. It is a 250-member body, 238 are elected by an electoral college made up of state legislators. As per the Constitution Of India’s Fourth Schedule Articles 4 (1) and 80 (2), the President nominates 12 achievers to be a part of the Rajya Sabha for a term of six years for their outstanding contribution to art, literature, science and social services. But the nominations have always attracted controversy; the criteria are too vague. What has been observed over the last 70 years is a simple one liner funda - that to qualify one has to be sympathetic towards the party in power, have to be in their good books.
But this is one aspect only to start the arguments against the very usefulness of Rajya Sabha.
This story is from the August 2017 edition of Indian Economy & Market.
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This story is from the August 2017 edition of Indian Economy & Market.
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