{"id":53220,"date":"2026-09-07T10:57:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T05:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/?p=53220"},"modified":"2026-09-07T10:57:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T05:27:18","slug":"grand-edifices-failing-frameworks-major-general-rajiv-edwards-vsm-retd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/?p=53220","title":{"rendered":"GRAND EDIFICES, FAILING FRAMEWORKS – Major General Rajiv Edwards, VSM** (retd)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"GRAND EDIFICES<\/u><\/strong>, FAILING FRAMEWORKS<\/strong><\/u><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At the foundation stone laying and ground breaking ceremony for the new Parliament House on 10 December 2020, the Prime Minister had stated that, \u2018if the old Parliament House gave direction to post-independence India, the new building would become a witness to the creation of Atma Nirbhar Bharat.\u2019\u00a0 It has been almost three years since proceedings kicked off in the new Sansad Bhavan, but the building\u2019s \u00a0architectural splendour <\/strong>has yet to be matched by<\/strong> the \u2018atma-niyantran<\/strong>\u2019 (self control) and \u2018atma sanyam<\/strong>\u2019 (self moderation\/restraint) of those who operate from its precincts. Regrettably, far from serving as a forum \u00a0for accelerating India\u2019s journey towards \u2018Atmanirbhar\u2019 and \u2018Viksit Bharat\u2019, the Parliament is increasingly mirroring an Elizabethan bear garden and not a hall of serious and substantive debate.<\/p>\n

At independence, India adopted the British \u2018Westminister\u2019 model of parliament \u2013 a framework originally designed to shackle the absolute power of the Crown, by subjecting the executive to constant legislative oversight. Paradoxically, over the decades, a combination of factors, including strict party discipline via the Anti Defection Law and the centralisation of political authority\u00a0 have resulted in the executive \u00a0accumulating so much influence that it now \u00a0mirrors the vast, unchecked authority that the Westminister system was originally designed to dismantle. Although executive \u00a0dominance over the legislature has a long historical precedent that hit a nadir during the Emergency, contemporary productivity metrics highlight a bleak reality today. Data from the recently concluded Monsoon Session reveals an all-time low in parliamentary productivity. \u00a0This decline <\/strong>is driven by a dual systemic failure<\/strong>; an increasingly dominant \u00a0executive <\/strong>\u00a0countered by an opposition <\/strong>using disruptions <\/strong>and walkouts <\/strong>as its primary, retaliatory tools.<\/p>\n

Ideally, institutional maturity should improve as a democracy consolidates<\/strong>. However, the Indian Parliament shows the reverse trend<\/strong>. A historical \u00a0analysis of parliamentary functioning in the world\u2019s largest democracy at \u201880\u2019, reveals a large number of structural deficiencies including a steep decline in parliament\u2019s annual sitting days from an average of 120 to 135 days during the 1950 and 60s, to an abysmal 55 to 65 days in recent years. This presents a notable democratic paradox<\/strong> because, while India\u2019s electorate has steadily matured, the country\u2019s main law making body seems to have lost direction.<\/p>\n

Yet another paradox is that while the educational credentials of parliamentarians have risen steadily, institutional decorum <\/strong>and the quality of legislative debate have\u00a0 \u00a0correspondingly deteriorated. Today, parliamentary discourse has degenerated into unprecedented acrimony<\/strong>, defined by below-the-belt attacks, divisive communal remarks, character assassination, disruptive sloganeering, misogynistic slurs, and other manifestations of gutter politics. Amidst this chaos, the role of the Hon\u2019ble Speaker is routinely reduced to that of an unheeded primary school teacher. \u00a0This is a very poor and uninspiring example for the youth of the country<\/strong>. All measures to empower the nation\u2019s massive demographic dividend fall short without a foundation of character building and moral values. By displaying toxic behaviour on the floor of Parliament, politicians are failing to give them the moral compass<\/strong> they need to become responsible citizens.<\/p>\n

Parallel to this behavioural decline is a regressive fixation characterised by \u00a0squandering of valuable legislative time on settling the scores of bygone \u00a0eras<\/strong> and effectively converting the Parliament from a laboratory for the future into a battleground for historical whataboutry. This archival deflection is routinely weaponised, as a convenient smoke screen to divert public attention from\u00a0 governance deficits<\/strong>, leaving pressing national issues unaddressed. Ultimately, this obsession with post-mortems and posthumous defamation is a profound drain on the time and resources<\/strong> of a nation aspiring to achieve developed nation status.<\/p>\n

An underperforming Parliament is only part of the problem. The real tragedy is political tribalism. Blinded by fierce partisan loyalties, citizens have cocooned themselves in ideological silos, passionately defending the legislative misconduct of their preferred political factions and chosen leaders, instead of holding them accountable. In so doing, voters become the defenders of bad governance, giving leaders a license to govern with impunity, secure in the knowledge that their loyal base will\u00a0 re-elect them. One wonders when the citizenry will awaken to the reality that unquestioned fidelity to a political brand, no matter the party<\/strong>, comes at the direct expense of the nation<\/strong>\u2019s future<\/strong>. A mature democracy requires an audience that demands substance, not \u00a0spectacle.<\/p>\n

The new parliament building is estimated to cost about Rs 1200 crore. Across both houses, it\u2019s operating cost is about Rs 2.5 lakh per minute – translating to Rs 1.5 crore per hour and Rs 9 crore for every single sitting day. Public outrage over parliamentary washouts highlights a stark truth about who actually pays for this gridlock. While \u00a0a mere 2 to 3 percent of citizens pay personal income tax, the financial loss of a stalled session hurts the entire population. Because the remaining majority funds the exchequer through indirect taxes like GST, no citizen is insulated from this massive fiscal drain. \u00a0Every Indian is paying the price for this political dysfunction <\/strong>\u2013 an expenditure which a developing economy can ill afford.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, a nation\u2019s democratic health is measured by the<\/strong> transparency and accountability of its governance institutions<\/strong>, not the grandeur of its edifices. The\u00a0 architecture of our inherited parliamentary model – along with its \u00a0procedural rules and constitutional amendments are seemingly sound; it\u2019s ineffectiveness stems largely from sustained systemic misuse<\/strong>. Consequently, reviving it requires reshaping the legislative mindset and political psyche<\/strong>, alongside targeted corrective amendments. This prompts the question: who will break this cycle? \u00a0Change seldom originates from within an entrenched establishment. Are the lawmakers waiting until the societal cost of\u00a0 disruption triggers overwhelming public outrage to force their hand? Or will it take a youth-led resurgence to spearhead change? \u00a0Until then, the grand structure of the new \u2018Sansad Bhavan\u2019 risks degrading from a crucible of democracy into a mere tourist attraction, while its foundational purpose is forgotten. Change is no longer optional; it is a national imperative for the transformation of Bharat<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

(Major General Rajiv Edwards<\/strong>, VSM<\/strong>** (retd<\/strong>) is a historical researcher and commentator on societal issues<\/strong>. \u00a0He is apolitical<\/strong>. Views expressed are personal)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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GRAND EDIFICES, FAILING FRAMEWORKS At the foundation stone laying and ground breaking ceremony for the new Parliament House on 10 December 2020, the Prime Minister had stated that, \u2018if the old Parliament House gave direction to post-independence India, the new building would become a witness to the creation of Atma Nirbhar Bharat.\u2019\u00a0 It has been …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53220"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53222,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53220\/revisions\/53222"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/53221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}