A stormy session greeted the Samajwadi Party government in the Uttar Pradesh (UP) assembly on its inaugural day on May 28. It was adjourned for the next two days. Just before the budget session, UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav sought cooperation in an all-party meeting so as to allow the state assembly to sit for 90 days a year.

The UP state assembly has a poor working record. It sat for a mere 22 days on an average during the former chief minister Mayawati’s tenure.

In the last four years (data until February 2011), the UP assembly sat for 89 days and average attendance of its member was 23 percent and was adjourned 26 times, according to a study done by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a Delhi-based NGO in January 2012.

But UP is no exception. The trend is seen in most of the states. There has been a decline in the number of sittings of the legislative assemblies and councils in several states that form the backbone of Indian democracy. A study done by PRS Legislative Research, a Delhi-based think tank said that most of the state assemblies sit even less than the parliament.

Among the assembly sessions of 10 states, Arunachal Pradesh and Haryana had a very poor record in a decade (2000-2010). Arunachal Pradesh sat for eight days on an average in a year, while Haryana assembly met for 14 days in the decade.

The PRS data said that Assam (26), Jammu & Kashmir (26), Gujarat (31), Himachal Pradesh (31), Bihar (33), Karnataka (42), Maharashtra (42) and West Bengal (48) had less than the number of working days in a year than that of the Lok Sabha (72) during the decade of 2000-2010. “Except the budget session, most sessions in state assemblies often last less than a week,” said the PRS study.
 
How effective are these state institutions? In 2011, budget demands were passed in Haryana without any discussion. Some bills introduced in the state assemblies are scrutinised by the committees. During 2007-10, 74 bills were introduced in the Bihar state assembly but none were referred to committees, said PRS. The same happened in Pondicherry during 2000-08, where 77 bills were introduced but none referred to committees. Tamil Nadu scrutinised just five bills in the committees out of 476 introduced during 2000-10.

“More than 90 percent of bills in West Bengal, Bihar and Haryana were introduced and passed on the same day,” said the PRS.

A total of 113 bills were introduced in the Lok Sabha during the monsoon session (2011) and 73 were referred to the committees for further scrutiny.

Even the vice-president, Hamid Ansari, raised this issue in April when he addressed a valedictory function of Bihar Legislative Council in April. He said, “…Time had come for the executives to think over the issue and take steps for making these institutions more effective within the framework of constitutional provisions.”

But will Ansari’s suggestion be listened to and acted by the legislative members is a million dollar question.