Release of the Karnataka Social Watch Report: Analysis of Questions and Answers of 2011 Assembly
Karnataka Social Watch Released the report on "Analysis of Question and Answers of 2011 Assembly" on 10th August 2012 at SCM House, Bangalore.
Report was released by Dr.Padmini (CRT), Anand.S (ACF), Vasudeva Sharma (CRT) and Manohar (SICHREM). Vasudeva Sharma and Satish (KCRO) shared the findings of the report, followed by good discussion.
Karnataka Social Watch Report: "Question Hour Analysis of 2011 Karnataka Assembly"
‘Vidhana Soudha’ – the power centre of the state for understanding the aspirations of the people and support their current life and build their future. Its at Vidhana Soudha the state’s administrative heads and people’s representatives meet in the Assembly. The purpose of constituting the Legislative Assembly and the Council is to facilitate the meeting of the people’s representatives to congregate periodically and review the developments in the state and identify problem areas so that they can find collective solutions. At this stage they are suppose to discuss, debate the pros and cons on every area intervention, plans and programmes and protect the interest of the people.
Once we elect our representatives, we seldom enquire about whether these representatives attend the sessions, participate in debates and take our issues or not. Only when the media, that too visual media air juicy pictures about the affairs at the Vidhana Soudha we see them with awesome.
With this background, Karnataka Social Watch (KSW) has made an initial attempt to look into some of the issues related to our MLAs and MLCs-their attendance, analysis of select questions raised by the legislators and the answers rendered by the concerned ministers. In the process of analysis several organisations, movements and individuals have joined their hands and in the coming days we wish to take up this kind of analysis as and when the sessions are going on. This would be possible if we can get the vital information online in the Vidhana Soudha website: details about every legislator, attendance, questions they have raised, full text of the answers given by the ministers, the activities, business of the Legislative Council and the Assembly, etc. Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka State being heralded as an IT city, should be able to do it immediately. We wish both the heads of Assembly and Council put their heads together and get this done at the earliest.
Key findings
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Attendance |
- In the year 2011 of the total assembly sessions of 31 days only six members attended all the sessions. Seven members attended 30 days (This information is availed through RTI, but the attendance of the council members is not available) |
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Questions: |
- Question Hour is the most crucial business of the Assembly and Council. In 2011 a total number of 3,464 questions were raised by the legislators of both the houses (2,194 in Legislative Assembly and 1,270 in Legislative Council) addressing different department of the Government. - In the Legislative Assembly, PWD department faced maximum number of questions (159 questions), followed by Revenue and Education departments (each 112 questions). Five departments have answered more than 100 questions during this period while four departments have to face less than 10 questions. - In the legislative council, Education Dept faced most questions (147 questions) followed by PWD (78 questions) and Urban development (75 questions). Eight departments have faced more than 50 questions and 15 departments have answered less than 10 questions. |
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District wise questions
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- Legislators from Bangalore Urban (27 legislators) have hogged the lime light in terms of raising maximum number of questions (246). Bidar with only 6 legislators has secured second place with 215 questions, followed by Dakshina Kannda (with 200 questions/8 legislators). - Legislators from Coorg (2) and the nominated legislator have not asked even a single question. Four legislators from Gadag could manage to raise only one question in the whole year. |
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Constituency wise questions
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- Of the total 224 legislators representing the people of Karnataka only 95 legislators have managed to raise questions to debate on development issues. - Among the rest of the 129 legislators who have not raised questions, 26 served as ministers and one is the Chairman of the Assembly. They normally don’t raise questions. Leaving them, 103 legislators have failed to voice on behalf of the people - The members of the legislative council do not have separate geographical constituencies as the legislative assembly members. In the light of this, the questions raised by the MLC’s are presented as their electorate (given in the detailed report). |
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Participation of woman members |
Legislative Assembly: There are only five elected woman representatives in the Legislative Assembly. One member is serving as a minister and among the rest, only two members have raised questions in the assembly.
Legislative Council: In the council also, there are five woman representatives. One is serving as deputy leader and another one is the opposition leader. Rest of the three members have asked a total of 33 questions targeting various departments.
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Participation of Minority members
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- Legislative Assembly: Excluding the nominated members, 10 members are representing from minority reserved constituencies. Of this 10, only six members have raised questions on the floors of the Assembly. - Legislative Council: There are five minority representatives in the council. Out of which only three have raised questions in the council.
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Participation of SC/ST members
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- Legislative Assembly: Of the 224 constituencies in the state, 48 constituencies have been represented by SC/ST members (21% of the total). Five members have served as ministers in 2011. The remaining 43 legislaors have asked 168 questions in the assembly. - Legislative Council: No information available about SC/ST members in the council. |
Suggestions:
- Must have an open meeting with MLAs.
- Call donors to such meetings.
- Must do follow up to this report.
- Also monitor public works.
- Must come to give a talk in a disability meeting on 5-6 September 2012.
- Can do the analysis of recent session (13 days.).
Distribute a copy to: all MLA/MLCs; to all political parties; to our district contacts to hold a discussion; to the Speaker, Chairman of Assembly/Council; Circulate to the Media; Have a discussion with CSOs, intellectuals etc, before having discussion with MLA/MLCs.Nearly 30 people participated in the release.
Urban Research Centre (URC),
E-1, Maithree Apartments,
6th Main, 15th Cross,
Malleswaram,
Bangalore - 560 003.
Karnataka State, India.
Ph: 0091-80-23364509.
(M): 0-94488-49353.
Fax: 0091-80-23567664.
Email: urcblr@gmail.com
