SME Times News Bureau | 26 Dec, 2021
Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu today stressed that good
governance needs ‘good legislatures’ to ensure the accountability of the
executive to the people.
He said that using various instruments such as
Question Hour, Short Duration Discussions, debates on Bills, etc
elected representatives can question the government about implementation
of policies, execution of various welfare and development projects.
For
this, Naidu observed, there is a need for ‘good legislators’ who
give their best to do justice to the trust reposed in them by the
people.
Naidu expressed concern that the oversight and accountability functions
of the legislatures have been falling below expectations with
persistent disruptions and forced adjournments. “Dysfunctional
legislatures lead to compromised governance as there would be no fear
among the executive of being questioned in the legislatures", he noted.
The
Vice President observed that Rajya Sabha has lost about 61% of the
total Question Hour time due to disruptions during the just concluded
winter session.
This is a serious abdication of the important oversight
function of the House, he noted.
“If
an MP or MLA does not discharge functions effectively, he or she would
have no moral right to question the executive at various levels”, the
Vice President stressed.
The
Vice President paid rich tributes to the late former Prime Minister,
Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Chennai on the occasion of his 97th birth
anniversary, which is celebrated as the ‘Good Governance Day’.
In a
video message from Raj Bhavan, Chennai, Shri Naidu said Ajal ji was one
of the tallest Indian leaders ever and one of the most glittering stars
of India's political firmament.
Naidu recalled how Atal Ji strongly believed in placing people at the
centre of the development agenda and demonstrated how democracy can be
strengthened through good governance in a people-centric mode.