Maharashtra miles ahead in law-making

The state legislature, which has completed 75 years, has to its credit many milestones in law-making, which showed the way to the rest of the country.

While the Lokpal Bill is still being debated, Maharashtra was among the first to enforce the Lok Ayukta and Up-Lok Ayukta Act. Similarly, the decision to implement the Employment Guarantee Act was taken four decades ago. The union ministry of rural development adopted the same model across the country when the UPA was voted to power in 2004.

In 1994, the state was the first to come up with a comprehensive policy for women, which gave them 33% reservation in local body elections. It also leads in raising this quota from 33% to 50% this year.

The state, which convenes three legislature sessions — budget, monsoon and winter — has always worked to ensure adequate time is set aside for the discussions on law-making. But currently, the challenge before it is to debate how effectively the laws are being executed.

Take the case of the Employment Guarantee Scheme. The state has been grappling with rampant corruption that denied the poorest of the poor their right wages. The Devdasi Act has been abolished, but there’s no word on the rehabilitation of affected women. Worse, the crime rate against women has risen by 20%.

Leader of Opposition Eknath Khadse said, “It has always been our endeavour to ensure that every Bill proposed by the government is debated at length before passage. However, there have been occasions when important Bills were passed amid uproar without adequate debate on the floor of the House.”

The top brass of several parties have been caught in a debate over extending the legislature’s functioning to at least 100 days a year. Government representatives argued, “If both the ruling and the opposition parties adhere to the strict business related to the legislature, it will provide them with adequate time for debates on policy matters.”