Restoring respect for authority

A grown-up girl commits suicide because her father denied her the use of mobile phone. Two girls commit suicide upset over their father not buying them dresses of their choice. A student stabs her teacher to death for being asked to perform better in studies. A head of an office is shot by his subordinate for refusing leave. (Such incidents have been happening even in the Armed Forces where discipline is supposed to be rigorously enforced).

What is Indian society coming to? Incredible as it may seem, a time there was in this country when authority of whatever kind — parental, institutional, official — was unquestioningly obeyed. Indeed, it occurred to nobody to disregard, leave alone defy, anyone older than himself. Grey hairs were invariably respected. Higher levels of authority carried a sanctity which held the familial, societal and national fabric together.

What could be the reason for the rampant defiance of authority that prevails in all the forums including Parliament? The Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha find their authority flouted by disorderly MPs resorting to what Mr Somnath Chatterji once called “rowdy behaviour”.

Both Houses have to be repeatedly adjourned by the Presiding Officers who find themselves helpless to enforce rules of decorum and maintain order. And the sorry scenes are witnessed day after day over the TV channels of the two Houses.

The hope which used to be expressed, again by Mr Somnath Chatterji, that being seen by millions on TV would discourage MPs from making a spectacle of themselves has been dashed to the ground. To India's lasting shame, The New York Times, in its issue of December 12 last year, under the arresting title, “Parliamentary paralysis” has laid bare comprehensive details (some of which I have borrowed for this column) of what the former President, K. R. Narayanan, once called “infantile disorders” exposing the Indian polity and democracy to “mortal danger”.

SAD STATE

Here are some statistics which throw light on the example, or lack of it, set by India's parliamentarians: In the winter session, 93.24 per cent of the time of the Lok Sabha and 88.43 per cent of the time of the Rajya Sabha were eaten up in adjournments following the ruckus raised by MPs on one ground or another. While, from 1952 to 1988, the Lok Sabha sat for an average of 102 days per year, the average has, of late, has fallen to 80.

Far more alarming is the plummeting of the average duration of the sittings from 111 per cent of the allotted time (including extra sessions to make up for time lost) in the Eighth Lok Sabha to 91 per cent in the 13th Lok Sabha, under the Prime Ministership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and only 72 per cent in the current Lok Sabha.

Judged by every relevant yardstick — number of sittings, questions answered, short notice discussions, Bills passed, Bills lapsed — the record of Parliament and State legislatures would only be seen as regrettable by the younger generation or any other section of the society. It also serves as an encouragement for immature, impressionable and ill-brought-up elements to indulge in wanton defiance of all the norms and values that should govern human affairs.

THEN AND NOW

Contrast this with the situation in February 1963 when, just for some members vociferously demanding the President's Address to be read in Hindi, and one Member staging a walk-out on that score, the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, led all the Members cutting across party lines, in condemning the incident which he called “the first of its kind” and “most regrettable”.

Nehru, in fact, followed it up by writing to the Chief Ministers that “this kind of thing has to be met effectively; otherwise the work of our Parliament and Assemblies would be made difficult and brought into disrepute.” Is that kind of unfailing observance of tolerance, dignity and decency imaginable these days?

The present milieu of abysmal degeneration witnessed all around is the result of every walk of life in the country being bereft of role models who command implicit respect and admiration for their integrity, selflessness, simplicity, patriotism and humanity. The civil society too has become directionless, mostly given to turf-building and scoring points rather then pulling itself together in one massive effort at finding a remedy. Alas, for India!

COMMENT NOW