Push button parliament–why India needs a non-partisan, recorded vote system

Decisions of national importance are made by Parliamentary voting. Yet Indian Members of Parliament (MPs) vote with a remarkable lack of freedom and accountability. The introduction of the Tenth Schedule in the Constitution has crippled free expression, since it provides that MPs voting against ‘any direction’ of their Party are liable to disqualification from the legislature  In addition, except for Constitutional amendments, Indian Parliamentary Procedure Rules do not require votes of MPs to be recorded unless the Speaker’s decision is contested in the House. The result is that voting in the House has become mechanical, controlled by Party politics and devoid of responsibility. This paper comments on a general theory of democratic accountability through the lens of Parliamentary voting. It suggests that the voting system adopted in the Parliament is an effective indicator to measure the level of accountability of its Members. In the context of India, this paper argues that the level of accountability will increase to a desirable extent only when there is adoption of a recorded system for every important House vote. Upon examination of India’s record thus far (through the sample of the 14th Lok Sabha) it becomes evident that the level of divisions (recorded votes) is substantially lower than other countries. This leads the paper to probe, as to why that might be the case. Part II of the paper answers that question by examining the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution. The paper scrutinizes the disproportionate influence of the Party in decision making in the Parliament. Apart from dealing with the inherent problem of the Tenth Schedule, this paper suggests two procedural changes to make parliamentary expression more meaningful. Firstly, the recording of all important votes within the Parliament and secondly, registering Party whips with the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs so that the voter knows the clear stand of every Parliamentary continuum. The focus of the paper is thus to bring back the attention of the legislators to their central function, which is deliberation on and the passage of legislation.

Impacto de los programas de resocialización en la reinserción social de la población reclusa

La situación carcelaria del país atraviesa uno de sus peores momentos. Hacinamiento, reincidencia, corrupción, entre otros, son algunos de los problemas que hoy en día han abierto el debate sobre el papel de las cárceles como centros de resocialización; especialmente se ha comenzado a cuestionar la eficacia de los programas que se están implementando dentro de estos establecimientos. Sin embargo, un elementos que no se ha tenido en cuenta a la hora de analizar la política penitenciaria y carcelaria tiene que ver con las situación de los reclusos al salir en libertad, esto a raíz de que cada vez es más evidente que las posibilidades de que estas personas puedan acceder a un trabajo e inclusive adaptarse nuevamente a la sociedad son mínimas. A ello se suma el hecho de la escasa oferta de programas que brinden acompañamiento pospena, lo cual incrementa significativamente las probabilidades de que esta población reincida. Es por tanto un reto no solo del Estado colombiano sino de la sociedad misma brindar oportunidades a esta población con el fin de lograr una correcta y efectiva resocialización de los reclusos luego de su estancia en prisión.