NEW DELHI : Why not a question hour once a week in the Lok Sabha for the Prime Minister to answer questions concerning all ministries? The idea came from Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Prof. K V Thomas of the Congress at the release of the book ‘The Indian Parliament — Beyond the seal and signature of democracy’ written by Devender Singh, Joint Secretary of the Lok Sabha.
His logic was that the Prime Minister has asked all ministries to forward all their proposals to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to fast-track their implementation and so he should be the best person to answer the questions relating to any ministry.
Veteran BJP leader and Estimates Committee chairman Murli Manohar Joshi raised the ticklish issue of the freedom of the individual MPs constrained by the party whip from time to time. He has no problem with the whip necessary for imposing a discipline when the government’s survival is at stake. He, however, wanted the whip to take a back seat when an MP wants to raise issues concerning own constituency.
Dr Joshi also wanted a hike in the budget allocation of Parliament, pointing out how meagre is Parliament’s budget as compared to any ministry. He said Parliament supervises functioning of the government through various committees, but their budgets are so inadequate that it sometimes creates hurdle in being more pro-active.
