Stalling Parliament costs the taxpayer Rs 20,000 per minute, said this article in Rediff recently. Reading it, I was wondering if we could have an e-Parliament in the future! What do you think? Or at least there could be video conferencing or something of that sort.
By getting into Parliamentary debates from their own constituencies, the MPs can avoid costs under the following heads:
* Travel to and fro to Delhi
* Food, accomodation, benefits, servants while there
Plus, the country can save from
* Not needing an army of secretaries, administrative staff
ensuring the function of Parliament
Actually, such an arrangement could free up enough time for the MPs to think and debate meaningfully. They will have enough time to talk to people, getting to understand their issues rather than running around, delivering one speech after another (They can do that now too, but with e-democracy it will free more of their time, and remove all excuses).
Debates can really be more independent of the party line and can emerge out of individual knowledge and perception, untainted by a group mindset. And this feature can really energise the collective intelligence of a group. (That's the funda behind James Surowiecki's 'The Wisdom of Crowds')
Even if the favourite tactic of the Opposition - walkouts - continues to be used, the loss to the nation in monetary terms will be considerably less that way!
In 1951, the loss per minute was Rs 100, it seems (it's now Rs 20,000). In other words, the money pumped in per minute to run the Parliament. The per capita income (income per Indian) was about Rs 275 in 1951. It has grown to just over Rs 20,000 currently. Clearly, the growth in income has been lower.
Does it indicate the falling productivity of the Parliamentarians! Hope not.
15 comments:
The problem with the idea is that about 500 different videoconferencing setups should be in place for the 500 different MPs (is that number correct?). Videoconferencing is reasonable when there are relatively few participants, but 500 participants is a huge number and I'm not sure such a schema would work. It's a good idea but implementation would be next to impossible. Imagine 500 little windows on one computer screen (since in a videoconference, participants have the ability to see each other). A tele-conference too would be infeasible. MPs from each state could meet in the state capital, which would make it a little easier.
True Sachin,
My thought wasn't video conferencing per se, but some communication mechanism. I don't even know what!
But even take video conferencing. An MP need not be able to see all other MPs but just the person who's talking. But, as you said rightly, it would need a good set up.
My broad thought was tech as an enabler for Parliamentary debates!
Huh, how can the dhotis do fist-fights over the Internet? And wouldn't it be somewhat difficult to throw microphones at each other if they are sitting in different states. Please don't deny them the "fun" they have while "working" for the country.
:)
dodo,
they can learn to inflict viruses on the systems of rival MPs!
Why did you delete that comment?
good question anon!
i thought it was a vulgar slang, could have been misunderstood. i wasn't sure, so i deleted!
i wouldn't have done so, if the writer had signed on and made the same comment. just saying 'the other sriram' isn't good enough if you are making such a comment! on normal occassions i am fine with anon comments.
anyways, i am sorry if i misunderstood 'the other sriram'!
Ahaa, you're receiving vulgar comments on your site - goes to prove its popularity. :-)
By the way, your idea about each person being able to see only the speaker makes sense. And dodo, the throwing chairs, microphones, etc. -all that stuff can be probably be added to the VC software itself.
Good idea, though, Sriram. I hope something of that sort is implemented in the future. It'll save the country tons of money.
thanks sachin!
glad u liked it.
"Debates can really be more independent of the party line and can emerge out of individual knowledge and perception, untainted by a group mindset."
That will only lead to more division sriram.Parties are needed in a big country like ours for aggregation of interests.
Hey,
Parties will still be there. But I guess what may not be seen that much is the herb mentality in debates. But again that's arguable.
i meant herd mentality!
I agree but that is again neded....group cohesiveness,,,,otherwise it will be difficult for the Government to function.
Yes, And no points for guessing, which party will benefit the maximum from E-Democracy.
The Ambanis, guess in the present day scenario, you could well call them a separate party. ( or 2 separate parties, taking into account the present day scenario)
I can well imagine, Laloo sitting in Bihar, and Natwar sitting in Delhi, both video conferencing thanks to the powers of Reliance Web World.
Kar lo Duniya Mutti Mein!
ha ha!
That's a nice one Sudhir!
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