South Asian Speakers ' Summit: RSTV - Big Picture

South Asian Speakers’ Summit RSTV –Download PDF Here

Rajya Sabha TV programs like ‘The Big Picture’, ‘In Depth’ and ‘India’s World’ are informative programs that are important for UPSC preparation. In this article, you can read about the discussions held in the ‘Big Picture’ episode on “South Asian Speakers’ Summit” for the IAS exam.

Guests: Shekhar Iyer, Senior Journalist,

             VK Agnihotri, Former Secretary General, Rajya Sabha,

             Chakshu Roy, Head of Outreach, PRS Legislative Research,

Anchor: Vishal Dahiya

Context:

• The 4^th edition of the South Asian Speakers’ Summit was held in the Maldives The previous three summits were hosted by Bangladesh (2016), India (in 2017) and Sri Lanka (2018).
• Delegates from India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Afghanistan Indian delegation was constituted by the Speaker of Lok Sabha, the Vice Chairman of Rajya Sabha and the Secretary General of both the houses.
• The Male declaration released after the summit focused on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the main theme of the summit.

What is the Significance of Inter Parliamentary Forums?

• It was realised long ago that parliamentarians need a forum to discuss issues of common concern and share their experiences.
• The Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) was formed in 1889 and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) in 1911. India participates in summits organised by both IPU and CPA.
• South Asian Speaker Summit is an offshoot of IPU. Common issues like SDGs come under the ambit of IPU as well.
• Such forums give parliamentarians and presiding officers the opportunity to interact and exchange ideas with each other.
• The purpose of the South Asian Speakers’ Summit was to identify how legislatures can work on SDGs as institutions of deliberation and accountability.

What are the Focus Areas in the Male Declaration?

• The Male declaration views South Asia as one region with common issues such as poverty, sustainable livelihood, clean air, clean water, issues of youth, malnutrition, etc.

• The declaration focused on commitment to collective efforts towards common issues such as equality at work, food and nutritional security, etc.
• It also stressed on the need to strengthen the regional agenda for achieving the goals of Paris agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC).

• The idea behind the declaration is to make South Asian countries speak in a unified voice on issues of common concern.

• The declaration is a reflection of common concerns of the countries and the potential of legislatures to solve those irrespective of the politics in respective countries.

How Does the Male Declaration help the achievement of SDGs?

• In 2015, the UN General Assembly adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved before 2030. It was a follow up of Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015).
• The focus areas of the Male declaration converge with the entire gamut of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• The summit itself is an implementation of SDG 17 which talks about the global partnership needed to achieve the goals.

• The declaration gives insights on not only the subject areas but also highlights the role of legislatures (at national or subnational level) in prioritising such issues.

• Issues in the labour sector was a main agenda of the summit. India was able to share the recently made laws on labour. Ex.: Maternity Benefits Act (increased the maternity leave more than twice), Wage Code Bill (prescribed the minimum wage across the country) and the proposed bill on standards for working condition.

What is the Importance of the Summit with Respect to India?

• South Asian Speakers’ Summit was important for India in the following ways:

• As a platform to share our excellent track record in SDGs.
• As an opportunity to learn from the work done by other countries.

• India has been working on achieving SDGS through several measures to remove poverty, expand growth rate, and create opportunities for all sections of society.
• India has shown tangible progress in a number of SDGs and the target of some goals has been effectively preponed to 2022 (75^th year of Independent India).
• Such forums are avenues for India to demonstrate its leadership in capacity building, technology and governance models.
• Recently, the Prime Minister suggested that the Parliament should discuss one of the SDGs in each of its sessions.
• Speaker of Lok Sabha also wrote to the members of state legislatures to discuss SDGs in their sessions.

What is the Purpose Served by discussing such Issues between Neighbouring Countries?

• The purpose of such forums should be strengthening ties with the legislatures in our neighbourhood.

• Some socioeconomic issues are common to every country and particularly to South Asian countries. Ex.: Poverty, drinking water, food security, housing for all, electricity for all, etc.

• Such forums give an opportunity to look at common challenges and to share best practices with each other.
• Such challenges are discussed in SAARC summits also by sinking our political differences and growing the bond of partnership.

• Engaging presiding officers, parliamentarians, civil society and NGOs in such discussions will help in depth permeation of the idea of SDGs. It will identify areas of synergy and ensure that no one is left out.
• The idea is similar to the Antyodaya scheme, where everything is done to take care of even the last man in the line.

How Does Forums Like These Improve the Quality of Debate and Legislation in Parliaments?

• Parliaments have two important functions, oversight of executive and control over budget.
• When presiding officers of legislatures interact with each other, they can transfer the outcomes of the same to the members of respective houses.

• Apart from discussing the conduct of business in the houses, legislations with international ramifications were also discussed in such forums.

• The executive of some countries are required to get the approval of their Parliament before they sign any international treaty.
• Parliamentarians need to sensitise themselves about the implications of such issues.

• Legislatures can gain expertise on scrutinising such common issues rigorously.

• : Parliamentary Committee on Labour in India had scrutinised existing labour laws and led to its amendment by giving equal status with cine workers, to those who are working for TV and web series.

• In a parliamentary democracy, the executive is required to take the consent of legislature in deciding socioeconomic matters. Such forums help the legislature to bring the executive accountable to such decisions.

• Legislatures can view the issues from the lens of SDGs and hold the executive responsible for allocating sufficient funds to such subjects.

• Apart from presiding officers, members of legislatures can also participate in summits of IPU, CPA, etc. Such experience will help them improve the quality of legislation back home.

How did the Indian Delegates Thwart an Attempt by Pakistan to Raise Bilateral Issues in the Summit?

• India foiled an attempt by Pakistan to raise the issue of Kashmir in the summit.
• The Pakistani delegates were desperate enough to grab newspaper headlines by raising the issue at the summit without realising the seriousness of the issues being discussed.
• The Vice Chairman of Rajya Sabha rebutted the attempt by questioning the moral right of Pakistan to raise concern about Kashmir when they themselves had led a genocide in eastern Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1971.
• Pakistan is notorious for this malpractice in the earlier SAARC summits. That is one reason behind the irregularity in the holding of SAARC summits.
• India had rebutted the attempt by Pakistan to raise the Kashmir issue at the CPA also.

Does the Raising of Bilateral Issues Derail the Purpose of Such Forums?

• The agenda of the forum was to discuss common challenges such as poverty and SDGs.
• Appropriate discussions at appropriate forums is the cornerstone of any Parliamentary democracy.
• Such events have specified agenda that the participants need to stick to.

• It is not a good practice to bring political issues at such forums intended to discuss serious socioeconomic issues.

• Even legislatures runs on list of business released in advance. Ex.: Legislators in India have to notify in advance and get the approval of the presiding officer even for speaking in the zero hour.

What needs to be done to ensure that Bilateral Issues are not brought to these Forums?

• Fundamental purpose of such forums is to benefit from each other’s experience, put aside differences and to work for common goals.

• The focus of such forums should be improving the quality of deliberation and legislation in participating countries.
• Countries should realise that forums like UNSC and UNGA are available for discussing political issues.
• In Indian Parliament, if any matter is raised apart from business, either the speech will go out of record or the mike will be disabled.
• It’s a part of the duty of the presiding officer to ensure that members are not raising any matter outside the agenda.

Conclusion:

• The focus of such summits should be finding solution to common issues and to learn from each other’s experience. Such forums should drive the quality and efficiency of legislation in respective countries.

Related Links:

Read previous RSTV articles here.

South Asian Speakers’ Summit RSTV –Download PDF Here