Parliamentary Control and Government Accountability in South Asia: A Comparative Analysis of Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka (Routledge Advances in South Asian Studies)

273 Pages·2007·1.23 MB·English

by  Taiabur Rahman

Parliamentary Control and
Government Accountability in South
Asia
Parliaments or legislatures are the keystone of democratic governance and they
are critical in securing government accountability. On the one hand, legislatures
are representative bodies: they reflect the sentiments and opinions of the popu-
lace. On the other hand, they are the prime source of law by which a country is
governed. This book presents a comparative analysis of the role of parliamentary
committees in securing government accountability in the three largest and most
important functioning democracies in South Asia: Bangladesh, India and Sri
Lanka.
The author compares the nascent democracy of Bangladesh with the stable
and vibrant democratic system of India since its independence from the British
in 1947 and Sri Lanka’s longstanding and established democracy. He argues that
in each country, parliament has been able to survive and perform the key
parliamentary tasks of representation, legislation, oversight of the executive,
conflict resolution and regime maintenance. He concludes that parliamentary
committees in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka do not perform as successfully
as their counterparts in the Western world in controlling the government and
holding it to account; however, their role in securing government accountability
is not irrelevant.
This comparative research work is an important contribution to the study of
parliaments in general worldwide and a useful reference for studying third world
parliaments in particular.
Taiabur Rahman teaches Development Studies at the University of Dhaka,
Bangladesh. His research interests are in the area of comparative politics, public
administration and development studies.
Routledge advances in South Asian studies
Edited by Subrata K. Mitra
South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg, Germany
South Asia, with its burgeoning, ethnically diverse population, soaring
economies, and nuclear weapons, is an increasingly important region in the
global context. The series, which builds on this complex, dynamic and volatile
area, features innovative and original research on the region as a whole or on the
countries. Its scope extends to scholarly works drawing on history, politics,
development studies, sociology and economics of individual countries from the
region as well those that take an interdisciplinary and comparative approach to
the area as a whole or to a comparison of two or more countries from this
region. In terms of theory and method, rather than basing itself on any one
orthodoxy, the series draws broadly on the insights germane to area studies, as
well as the tool kit of the social sciences in general, emphasizing comparison,
the analysis of the structure and processes, and the application of qualitative and
quantitative methods. The series welcomes submissions from established
authors in the field as well as from young authors who have recently completed
their doctoral dissertations.
1 Perception, Politics and Security 4 India’s Nuclear Bomb and
in South Asia National Security
The compound crisis of 1990 Karsten Frey
P. R. Chari, Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema
and Stephen P. Cohen 5 Starvation and India’s
Democracy
2 Coalition Politics and Hindu Dan Banik
Nationalism
Edited by Katharine Adeney and 6 Parliamentary Control and
Lawrence Saez Government Accountability in
South Asia
3 The Puzzle of India’s A comparative analysis of
Governance Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka
Culture, context and comparative Taiabur Rahman
theory
Subrata K. Mitra
Parliamentary Control and
Government Accountability
in South Asia
A comparative analysis of
Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka
Taiabur Rahman
First published 2008
by Routledge
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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
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© 2008 Taiabur Rahman
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library,2007.
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known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
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from the publishers.
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
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ISBN 0-203-94576-X Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0-415-40498-3 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0-203-94576-6 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-40498-3 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-94576-X (ebk)
In memory of my mother Rokeya Khatoon

Contents
List of illustrations viii
Foreword x
Preface xii
List of abbreviations and acronyms used xv
1 Introduction 1
2 Concepts, theories and methods 7
3 Parliaments and accountability 31
4 Parliamentary committees and accountability 67
5 Parliamentary control and government accountability in
Bangladesh: the role of parliamentary committees 93
6 Parliamentary control and government accountability in
India: the role of parliamentary committees 133
7 Parliamentary control and government accountability in
Sri Lanka: the role of parliamentary committees 170
8 Conclusion 200
Appendix 211
Notes 226
Bibliography 228
Index 249
Illustrations
Figures
2.1 Types of accountability relationships in democratic systems 9
2.2 Values and behavioral expectations of different accountability
types 11
2.3 Four ways of life 14
3.1 Categorization of some European legislatures 36
5.1 Action taken until the 65th meeting of PAC in the seventh JS
(up to 2000) 122
5.2 Delay of the ministries in taking effective preliminary steps in
relation to audit objection 123
Tables
2.1 Cultural differences between nations according to Hofstede 25
2.2 Commonalities between Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka 25
2.3 Comparative socio-economic and political development
indicators in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka 26
2.4 Divergences between Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka 27
3.1 Mezey’s typology of legislatures 38
3.2 Typology of legislatures 41
3.3 Lijphart’s characteristics for describing democracies 51
4.1 Intra-institutional features of committee strength (continuum) 91
5.1 Constitutional Strength of parliament vis-à-vis government in
three selected South Asian democracies 100
5.2 Party distribution of total committee chairs and members in
percentage (proportional and actual) 109
5.3 Background characteristics of MPs in the first, second, seventh
and eighth JSs (%) 116
5.4 Nature of financial committee activitism 120
5.5 Operations of three financial committees in the seventh JS 121
5.6 Operations of standing committees on three selected ministries
in the seventh JS 127
Illustrations ix
6.1 Background characteristics of MPs in the tenth, 11th, 12th, 13th
LSs (%) 152
6.2 Nature of committee operation (financial committees) in the 13th
Lok Sabha 154
6.3 Statement showing analysis of action taken by government on the
recommendations made by three financial committees on their
earlier reports presented in the 13th Lok Sabha (2000–2003) 158
6.4 Nature of Committee Operations (departmentally-related standing
committees) in Indian parliament 162
6.5 Statement showing analysis of action taken by government on the
recommendations made by three selected DRSCs on earlier
reports presented in the 13th Lok Sabha(2000–2003) 164
7.1 Bills introduced and passed (2000–2004) 184
7.2 Nature of Committee Operations in the fifth Sri Lankan
parliament (committees for special purposes) 187
7.3 Nature of Committee Operations (consultative committees on
ministries) in the fifth Sri Lankan parliament 195
Appendix
A1.1 Questionnaire survey: results of the questionnaire survey/
interview of the perception of selected MPs on the role of
parliament and parliamentary committees in holding the
government accountable (Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka) 212–214
A2.1 Numerical strength of government and opposition in Jatiya
Sangsads 215
A2.2 Data on legislation in Bangladesh 216
A2.3 Structure of parliamentary committees 217
A3.1 Basic structure of parliamentary committees in the Indian
Parliament 218–219
A3.2 Comparative accounts of bills introduced in the 13th Lok Sabha
and bills referred to committees 220
A3.3 Reports Presented by DRSCs of Lok Sabha 221
A3.4 Activities of three financial committees in Lok Sabha 221
A3.5 Statements showing analysis of action taken by the government
on recommendations made by all 11 DRSCs in the Lok Sabha
from 1993–2002 222
A3.6 Acceptance of PAC recommendations by government
(1981–1999) 223
A3.7 Format of action-taken report 224
A3.8 Number and duration of sittings of DRSCs of Lok Sabha 225