Prelims: Indian Polity and Governance
Why in News?
According to a new report by PRS, a non-profit organisation, Indian state legislative assemblies continue to meet for less than 30 days on average.
- Lesser assembly meetings – Aftermath of 2020 pandemic, the number of meetings has remained close to 20 days a year including the year 2024.
- Odisha met for the highest number of days (42), followed by Kerala (38).
- While, some states have set a target for the minimum number of annual sitting days either through legislation or through Rules of Procedure, none of them have met these targets in any year.
- Duration of sitting - The average duration of each sitting was 5 hours.
- Timing for budget discussion - In 2024, states discussed budgets for 7 days on average.
- Vacancy in office of Deputy Speaker – It is vacant in 8 state Assemblies.
- Jharkhand has not elected one for over 20 years.
- Incidentally, the Lok Sabha too has not had a Deputy Speaker since June 2019.
Article 178 of the Indian Constitution requires Assemblies to choose two members as the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker as soon as possible.
- Bill passage – In 2024, states on average passed 17 of them.
- Of the over 500 bills passed, Karnataka passed the highest (49), followed by Tamil Nadu (45). Delhi passed just 1 bill, followed by Rajasthan with 2.
- About half of the bills passed relate to education, finance, and local governance.
|
Interesting Laws Enacted During 2024
|
- Uniform Civil Code by Uttarakhand.
- West Bengal Aparajita Act for stricter penalty for rape.
- Haryana’s law to regulate private coaching institutes.
- Madhya Pradesh’s laws to regulate private school fees.
- Tamil Nadu earmarked welfare spending for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in proportion to population.
- Maharashtra provided 10% reservation for Marathas for education and government jobs.
- Gujarat passed laws banning black magic.
- Assam banned magical healing practices to treat diseases.
- Maharashtra increased the penalty for felling a tree without permission.
|
- Lesser discussion of bills – 51 % or over 250 of all bills passed, were passed within a day of introduction.
- 8 states passed all bills within a day of introduction.
- Jharkhand, Mizoram, Puducherry and Punjab had also passed all bills within a day in 2023 and 2022.
Reference
Down To Earth| Report on Performance of State Assemblies
