Curtail whips, give MPs freedom: V-P

Vice-President Hamid Ansari, who is Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, on Tuesday advocated that political parties should restrict whips to only those Bills and Motions which could threaten the survival of a government to enable freedom to MPs to air their views over critical issues.

Delivering the keynote address at a seminar titled “Evaluating Committees and Committee System”, Ansari stressed the need for building a “political consensus” to ensure room for MPs to express their mind over critical policy issues. “Issuance of whips could be limited to only those Bills that could threaten the survival of a government like Money Bills or No-Confidence Motions,” Ansari said. T

he Vice-President also felt that lack of ministerial participation in department-related Standing Committees curtails the efficacy of the Parliamentary committees. He said Parliamentary committees had become “mini legislatures” and felt that they helped Parliament in scrutinising executive and legislative action. “They are a link between Parliament and people on one hand and administration and Parliament on the other,” he said.