Dr.

Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law

University,
Lucknow

ACADEMIC SESSION: 2017-18

BASICS OF CASE LAWS: FINAL DRAFT
ROLE OF PARLIAMENT AND PUBLIC OPINION

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

Mr. Abdullah Nasir SHASHWAT KATYAYAN
Assistant Professor (Law) B.A. LLB (Hons)
1st Semester
Roll No. 174
 Table of Contents

Introduction ......................................................................................... 3

The Role of Parliament in Promoting Good Governance .............................. 4

History of public opinion ........................................................................... 5

Relationship with public policy .................................................................... 6

Parliament House .................................................................................... 7

President of India .................................................................................... 8

Lok Sabha ........................................................................................ 8

Rajya Sabha ........................................................................................ 8

Session of parliament............................................................................ 9

Lawmaking procedures .......................................................................... 9

Parliamentary committees ................................................................... 10

Public opinion ..................................................................................... 10

The Formation And Change Of Public Opinion ......................................... 11

 Introduction

The Parliament of India is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. The

Parliament is composed of the President of India and the houses. It is bicameral with two houses:

the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). The President in

his role as head of legislature has full powers to summon and prorogue either house of

Parliament or to dissolve Lok Sabha. The president can exercise these powers only upon the

advice of the Prime Minister and his Union Council of Ministers.

Those elected or nominated (by the President) to either house of Parliament are referred to

as members of parliament (MP). The Members of Parliament, Lok Sabha are directly elected by

the Indian public voting in Single-member districts and the Members of Parliament, Rajya

Sabha are elected by the members of all of the State Legislative Assembly by proportional

representation. The Parliament has a sanctioned strength of 545 in Lok Sabha including the 2

nominees from the Anglo-Indian Community by the President, and 245 in Rajya Sabha including

the 12 nominees from the expertise of different fields of science, culture, art and history. The

Parliament meets at Sansad Bhavan in New Delhi.

The desires, wants, and thinking of the majority of the people or the collective opinion of the

people of a society or state on an issue or problem is called public opinion. The English term

"public opinion" dates back to the seventeenth century work by John Locke, An Essay

Concerning Human Understanding, which contains an early consideration of the importance of

public opinion in the ordering of politics. The term was derived from the French word l'opinion,

which was first used in 1588 by Michel de Montaigne.[1]

This concept came about through the process of urbanization and other political and social

forces. For the first time, it became important what people thought, as forms of political

contention changed.

The Role of Parliament in Promoting Good Governance

In the 21st Century, there is growing interest more than ever before in issues related to democracy

and good governance around the world. This is a reflection of the increasing acceptance of the fact

that democracy and good governance are not a luxury, but a fundamental requirement to achieve

sustainable development. Parliaments as one of the key state institutions in a democratic system

of governance have a critical role to play in promoting democracy and good governance. As the

democratically elected representatives of the people, parliaments have the honorable task to ensure

government by the people and for the people. In the performance of their key functions of

legislation, representation and oversight parliaments can actively engage in the development and

implementation of laws, policies and practices that promote democracy and good governance.

This study attempts to analyze the contribution parliament can make to promote good governance

and consolidate democracy in Africa. It focuses on the representational role of parliament thereby

examining how parliaments respond to the growing public pressure for greater involvement,

information, accountability and better service delivery to citizens. It illustrates the different options

that parliament can use to better engage with the citizens to fulfill its role of representation. The

paper uses examples, innovations and experiences from selected countries around the globe to

show how parliamentary representation is evolving, how parliaments are responding to citizens
expectations and how the representational role of parliament can be strengthened so that citizen

can actively and efficiently participate in decision making processes through parliament.

History of public opinion

The emergence of public opinion as a significant force in the political realm can be dated to the

late 17th century. However, opinion had been regarded as having singular importance since far

earlier. Medieval fama publica or vox et fama communis had great legal and social importance

from the 12th and 13th centuries onward.[2] Later, William Shakespearecalled public opinion the

'mistress of success' and Blaise Pascal thought it was 'the queen of the world.' John Locke in his

treatise An Essay Concerning Human Understandingconsidered that man was subject to three

laws: the divine law, the civil law, and most importantly in Locke's judgement, the law

of opinion or reputation. He regarded the latter as of the highest importance because dislike

and ill-opinion force people to conform in their behaviour to social norms, however he didn't

consider public opinion as a suitable influence for governments.

William Temple in his essay of 1672, On the Original and Nature of Government gave an early

formulation of the importance of public opinion. He observed that "...when vast numbers of men

submit their lives and fortunes absolutely to the will of one, it...must be force of custom, or

opinion...which subjects power to authority."

Temple disagreed with the prevalent opinion that the basis of government lay in a social

contract and thought that government was merely allowed to exist due to the favour of public

opinion.[3]
The prerequisites for the emergence of a public sphere were increasing levels of literacy which

was spurred on by the Reformation, which encouraged individuals to read the Bible in the

vernacular, and the rapidly expanding printing presses. During the 18th century religious

literature was replaced with secular literature, novels and pamphlets. In parallel to this was the

growth in reading societies and clubs. At the turn of the century the first circulating library

opened in London and the public library became widespread and available to the public.

Relationship with public policy

The most pervasive issue dividing theories of the opinion-policy relation bears a striking

resemblance to the problem of monism-pluralism in the history of philosophy. The controversy

deals with the question of whether the structure of socio-political action should be viewed as a

more or less centralized process of acts and decisions by a class of key leaders, representing

integrated hierarchies of influence in society or whether it is more accurately envisaged as

several sets of relatively autonomous opinion and influence groups, interacting with

representative decision makers in an official structure of differentiated governmental authority.

The former assumption interprets individual, group and official action as part of a single system

and reduces politics and governmental policies to a derivative of three basic analytical terms:

society, culture and personality.

Despite philosophical arguments regarding public opinion, social scientists (those

in sociology, political science, economics and social psychology) present compelling theories to

describe how public opinion shapes public policy and find myriad effects of opinion on policy

using various empirical research methods. Moreover, researchers find that causal relationships
likely run in both directions from opinion to policy and from policy to opinion. On the one hand,

public opinion signals public preferences and potential voting behaviors to

policymakers.[13][14] This impact should be greater under more stable democratic

institutions.[15] It should be greatest in the realm of social policy because the public are highly

motivated by potential goods and services they get from the state. On the other hand, social

policy impacts public opinion. The goods and services the public gets via social policy builds

normative expectations that shape public opinion.[16][17] Plus, social policy constitutes the largest

share of state spending budgets, making it an active and contentious political area.[18] Together

these theories suggest that causal effects are part of a feedback loop between opinion and

policy.[19][20][21] Using increasingly sophisticated methods, scholars are beginning to grasp and

identify the feedback of opinion and policy and use this phenomenon to explain the path

dependency of institutions.[22][23][24]

Parliament House

The Sansad Bhavan (Parliament House) is located in New Delhi. It was designed by Edwin

Lutyens and Herbert Baker, who were responsible for planning and construction of New Delhi

by British government. The construction of buildings took six years and the opening ceremony

was performed on 18 January 1927 by the then Viceroy and Governor-General of India, Irwin.

The construction costs for the building were 8.3 million (US$130,000). The parliament is 560

feet (170 m) in diameter and covers an area of 6 acres (2.4 ha). The Central hall consists of the

chambers of Lok sabha, Rajya Sabha and the Library hall. Surrounding these three chambers is

the four storied circular structure providing accommodations for members and

houses Parliamentary committees, offices and the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.[9]

President of India

The President of India, the Head of state is a component of Parliament. Under Article

60 and Article 111, President's responsibility is to scrutinise that bills/laws passed by the

parliament are in accordance with constitutional mandate and stipulated procedure is followed

before according his/her approval to the bills. The President of India is elected by the members

of Parliament of India and the state legislatures and serves for a term of five years.[12]

Lok Sabha

Lok Sabha (House of the People) or the lower house has 545 members. 543 members are directly

elected by citizens of India on the basis of universal adult franchise representing Parliamentary

constituencies across the country and 2 members are appointed by the President of

India from Anglo-Indian Community. Every citizen of India who is over 18 years of age,

irrespective of gender, caste, religion or race, who is otherwise not disqualified, is eligible to

vote for the Lok Sabha.The Constitution provides that the maximum strength of the House be

552 members. It has a term of five years. To be eligible for membership in the Lok Sabha, a

person must be a citizen of India and must be 25 years of age or older, mentally sound, should

not be bankrupt and should not be criminally convicted. The total elective membership is

distributed among the States in such a way that the ratio between the number of seats allotted to

each State and the population of the State is, so far as practicable, the same for all States.[13]

Rajya Sabha

Rajya Sabha (Council of States) or the upper house is a permanent body not subject to

dissolution. One third of the members retire every second year, and are replaced by newly

elected members. Each member is elected for a term of six years.[14] Its members are indirectly
elected by members of legislative bodies of the states. The Rajya Sabha can have a maximum of

250 members. It currently has a sanctioned strength of 245 members, of which 233 are elected

from States and Union Territories and 12 are nominated by the President. The number of

members from a state depends on its population. The minimum age for a person to become

a member of Rajya Sabha is 30 years.

Session of parliament

The period during which the House meets to conduct its business is called a session.

The Constitution empowers the president to summon each House at such intervals that there

should not be more than a six-month gap between the two sessions. Hence the Parliament must

meet at least twice a year. In India, the parliament conducts three sessions each year:[15]

Budget session: February to May

Monsoon session: July to September

Winter session: November to December

Lawmaking procedures

Legislative proposals are brought before either house of the Parliament in the form of a bill. A

bill is the draft of a legislative proposal, which, when passed by both houses of Parliament and

assented to by the President, becomes an Act of Parliament. Money bills must originate in the

Lok Sabha. The council of states can only make recommendations over the bills to the House,

within a period of fourteen days.

Parliamentary committees

Parliamentary committees are formed to deliberate specific matters at length. The public is

directly or indirectly associated and studies are conducted to help committees arrive at the

conclusions. Parliamentary committees are of two kinds: Ad hoc committees and the Standing

committees.

Standing committees are permanent committees constituted from time to time in pursuance of

the provisions of an act of Parliament or rules of procedure and conduct of business in

Parliament. The work of these committees is of a continuing nature. Ad hoc committees are

appointed for a specific purpose and they cease to exist when they finish the task assigned to

them and submits a report.

Public opinion

an aggregate of the individual views, attitudes, and beliefs about a particular topic, expressed by

a significant proportion of a community. Some scholars treat the aggregate as a synthesis of the

views of all or a certain segment of society; others regard it as a collection of many differing or

opposing views. Writing in 1918, the American sociologist Charles Horton Cooley emphasized

public opinion as a process of interaction and mutual influence rather than a state of broad

agreement. The American political scientist V.O. Key defined public opinion in 1961 as

opinions held by private persons which governments find it prudent to heed. Subsequent

advances in statistical and demographic analysis led by the 1990s to an understanding of public

opinion as the collective view of a defined population, such as a particular demographic or ethnic

group.
The influence of public opinion is not restricted to politics and elections. It is a powerful force in

many other spheres, such as culture, fashion, literature and the arts, consumer spending, and

marketing and public relations.

The Formation And Change Of Public Opinion

No matter how collective views (those held by most members of a defined public) coalesce into

public opinion, the result can be self-perpetuating. The French political scientist Alexis de

Tocqueville, for example, observed that once an opinion

has taken root among a democratic people and established itself in the minds of the bulk of the

community, it afterwards persists by itself and is maintained without effort, because no one

attacks it.

Alexis de Tocqueville, detail of an oil painting by T. Chassriau; in the Versailles Museum.

H. Roger-Viollet

In 1993 the German opinion researcher Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann characterized this

phenomenon as a spiral of silence, noting that people who perceive that they hold a minority

view will be less inclined to express it in public.

Assessing Public Opinion

We learn about public opinion through polling, which asks people their views and then compiles

the results. Politicians and pundits in many countries rely on public opinion polls, and the media

frequently reports on polls. Sampling a subset of the population allows pollsters, or the people

who create and take the polls, to get a sense of overarching concerns and interests within a large

population. Rather than polling every citizen, an expensive and time-consuming process, polls

use samples. Pollsters hope that the opinions of the sample accurately reflect the population as a

whole. Just as one does not need to taste every bite of stew to know that it needs more salt, one

need not poll every person to learn public opinion.

GOOD AND BAD SAMPLES

To make sure that their poll results are accurate, pollsters seek good samples. The most obvious

way to get a good sample is to include lots of people. But including more people does not

guarantee that the poll will be accurate. Instead, a sample must be representativethat is, the

sample must have the same basic characteristics as the population. If the population has a 15

percent poverty rate, for example, the sample should have a roughly equal portion of poor

people. Pollsters have a number of techniques to ensure a representative sample, and they rely on

statistical methods to measure the probability that a poll is accurate.

Pollsters rely heavily on probability and randomness to increase the chance of getting a good

sample. In a probability sample, each person in the population has a known chance of being

chosen as part of the sample. When pollsters assign each person an equal chance of being

selected, they are using random selection.

Sampling error results from bad samples. A poll that falls prey to sampling error will

inaccurately measure public opinion. A common source of sampling error is a skewed

sample, one that does not match the population. Some popular types of pollingasking people

as they walk down the street, for example, or online pollsproduce very skewed samples and

are therefore unreliable.

The Literary Digest Poll

One of the most notorious examples of a bad sample is the 1936 presidential election poll

conducted by the Literary Digest, a notable magazine of the era. The sample numbered more

than a million people, but it ended up very wrong: The poll predicted that Alfred Landon would

defeat Franklin Roosevelt, but Roosevelt won easily. The poll was wrong because its sample was

skewed. Pollsters contacted people in phone books, as well as people with registered

automobiles. But during the Great Depression, rich people were the only ones with phones and

cars. Thus, the poll contained responses from far too many rich people and not nearly enough

from other social classes.