Lessons from the 14th Lok Sabha

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Now that we have said good-bye to the Fourteenth Lok Sabha, there is need to evaluate the lacunae in our parliamentary functioning. There are fears that if we further postpone the diagnosis, we'd risk the health of our democracy. The disease is not new; the rot had set in quite a few Lok Sabhas ago. That is why there has to be a sense of urgency about finding a cure. Forty-one MPs quit office in these acrimonious but compelling five years -- compelling all the more because multi-layered corruption was exposed on different occasions. We saw how MPs took money to ask questions, how they misused their local area development funds and even stumbled upon one who was unabashedly involved in human trafficking. Finally, we witnessed the shameful spectacle of wads of notes being dumped in the Well of the House when the world was watching the nuclear debate.....