Parliament session in the time of pandemic
The monsoon session of Parliament is meeting under unprecedented circumstances, with unprecedented measures of social distancing in place. That 25 members of Parliament were found Covid positive in the mandatory tests prescribed before everyone assembled goes to show the pandemic has not plateaued in any way—and 200 MPs are of vulnerable age.
The political class needs to strictly abide by safety norms while continuing public activities. Their everyday style of working puts them at risk; enough of them have contracted the infection to prove that. The staggered seating arrangements, with the additional precaution of polycarbonate partitions between seats, and features such as the app-based attendance the presiding officers have put in, may help.
But this is about the form, the content of the session must also match these efforts. Houses of Parliament cannot just become stamps of majority vote for legislation the treasury needs to get passed—18 bills are slated to be taken up—or for ordinances and supplementary demands for grants. The prime minister, making his customary remarks prior to the first day’s sitting, said he hoped Parliament would unitedly give a strong message to China and the Indian soldier at the borders—a resolution will probably be adopted on the Indo-China situation. The Congress has introduced an adjournment motion on the LAC, while the CPI(M) has one on the Delhi riots and arrests related to it.
For citizens, struggling against a pandemic that’s touching ever new crests and a deep-sliding economy, a non-partisan approach towards issues could have a calming, salutary effect. Political strife and shrill rhetoric is the last thing people, already stressed beyond limits, should be subjected to. It is incumbent on the treasury to reach out to the opposition and find a middle ground. This cannot become another session wasted on political upmanship, held only to score television points with an eye on upcoming state elections and bypolls.