What is Government Accountability?
Historical Background
Key Points
9 points- 1.
Collective Responsibility (Article 75(3)): The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha, meaning they stand or fall together.
- 2.
Individual Responsibility: Ministers are individually responsible to the President (who acts on the advice of the Prime Minister).
- 3.
Question Hour: Members can ask questions to ministers on government policies and administration, holding them directly accountable.
- 4.
Zero Hour: Members can raise matters of urgent public importance without prior notice, often used to question government actions.
- 5.
Motions: Adjournment Motion, Censure Motion, and No-Confidence Motion are powerful tools for the legislature to express disapproval or remove the government.
- 6.
Debates: On bills, resolutions, budget, and matters of public interest provide platforms for scrutiny and justification.
- 7.
Parliamentary Committees: Departmental Standing Committees scrutinize demands for grants, bills, and annual reports of ministries, while financial committees (PAC, Estimates, PSU) examine financial accountability.
- 8.
Role of Opposition: To question, criticize, and hold the government accountable, acting as a check on executive power.
- 9.
Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG): Audits government accounts and reports to Parliament, providing an independent assessment of financial accountability.
Recent Developments
5 developmentsConcerns about reduced time for parliamentary scrutiny of bills, impacting accountability.
Frequent disruptions affecting the effectiveness of accountability mechanisms like Question Hour.
Increased reliance on ordinances, bypassing detailed parliamentary debate and scrutiny.
Debates on the effectiveness of parliamentary committees in holding the executive accountable.
Rise of social media and citizen activism in demanding greater transparency and accountability from the government.