Indian politicians seem to fervently believe that all work and no play will make them dull — so much so that they opt almost entirely out of doing their jobs. This aversion to work became clearer when a study by PRS Legislative Research found that members of legislative assemblies across states, including West Bengal, work for even fewer days annually than parliamentarians. This amounts to 28 days in a year: a rather dubious distinction for MLAs. But then, they are almost matched by their colleagues in the Lok Sabha given that nearly 30 per cent of the MPs in the lower House participated in less than 20 debates ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power at the Centre. The primary function of a legislature, be it Parliament or a state assembly, is to engage in critical debates on important matters that affect public life. Do these figures, thus, suggest that elected representatives are disinterested in discussions concerning public welfare? These debates require patience and an ability for well-rounded arguments. Do the deteriorating debates in the House indicate that most members lack these attributes? Perhaps it will not be unreasonable to infer that in order to compensate for — or is it to mask? — this failure, the MLAs resort to populist measures such as handing out sops and freebies. It is true that these measures often succeed in appeasing the electorate. Sizeable sections of the population lead lives of deprivation and are grateful for sops that ease their suffering in the short-term. But the fallout is that decision-making, which is meant to bring in lasting progress, is compromised. Moreover, at a time when spaces for dissent in India are rapidly shrinking, a voluntary rejection of opportunities to engage in an exchange of views is likely to cost the nation dearly.

Even more appalling than the apparent lack of interest in discussion is the sense of entitlement that seems to accompany it. This is evident in the clamours for salary hikes that frequently arise, and are often granted. The Gujarat assembly recently increased its members’s monthly salaries to over a lakh of rupees. Does this not violate the principle of merit in a democracy where public representatives are meant to earn their wages in return for the quality of their service to the people? Significantly, state governments are authorised to fix the duration of legislative sittings. In states where the ruling party has a clear majority, this could result not only in a shrinking of sessions but also of the chances of the Opposition to be heard. A re-examination of such a provision might be in order if citizens’s rights are to be protected.