Vice-President Ansari Releases Book by Mangalore’s Prof V Rodrigues

From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore

Bangalore, Jan 20: Indian Vice-President Mohammad Hamid Ansari released a book entitled, ``The
Indian Parliament – A Democracy at Work,” in Delhi authored by Mangalorean author and political
scientist Prof Valerian Rodrigues along with former Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman, Dr B L
Shankar, an ex-MP.

The book is published by Oxford University Press and was released by the Vice President of India in New Delhi on Wednesday. The book release function was attended by Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K Rehman Khan and Union Minister of State for Railways K H Muniyappa.

Prof Rodrigues, born in a village in Bantwal taluk off Mangalore, had served as Professor of Political Science in Mangalore University for 15 years and is currently working as Professor at Centre for Political Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

The Mangalorean political scientist and author had written extensively on issues related to politics, Dalits and social movements. He had also authored a book on Dr Ambedkar and it was released a few years ago in Bangalore by noted historian and writer Ramachandra Guha.

Prof Rodrigues had guided many PhD students in their doctoral thesis and the senior Congress leader of Chikmagalur Dr Shankar, who is quite proficient in the coastal Karnataka’s prominent Tulu language, was the PhD student under him. The present book is jointly authored by both.

The book deals with the Parliament, which is the visible face of democracy in India. It is the epicentre of political life,public institutions of great verve and a regime of Rights. In a first-of-its-kind study, this bookdelves into the lived experience of the Indian Parliament by focusing on three distinct phases-the 1950s, the 1970s, and the 1990s and beyond.

The authors argue against the widely held notion of its ongoing decline, and demonstrate how it has repeatedly, and successfully, responded to India's changing needs in six decades of existence. This comprehensive and authoritative study examines the changing social composition and differing modes of representation that make up the Lok Sabha and critically explores its relation with the Rajya Sabha.

Developments in the institutional complex of the Parliament, including the functioning of the Opposition and the Speaker are traced over time, along with the processes of legislation and accountability. Major debates in the House are scrutinized, and much of the analysis is based on empirical data gathered from surveys circulated among prominent politicians and public intellectuals. It also addresses the intricate issue of relations between the Judiciary and the Parliament.

In its in-depth focus on the Lok Sabha, the volume highlights the way the come to encompass India's proverbial diversity. It especially demonstrates the route tills institution has taken to engage with fractious issues of diverging linguistic and regional demands.

The book is indispensable for students, scholars, and researchers working on Indian politics, political theory, and political sociology. It will also be of interest to policymakers, administrators, diplomats, journalists, politicians, lawyers, judges, public intellectuals, and NGOs. It is a major work, running into about 500 pages organized around the following chapters:

1. Introduction: India's Parliamentary Democracy and its critics
2. Making of the Indian Parliament
3. Changing Social Composition of the Lok Sabha
4. Changing Conception of Representation
5. Changing Modes of Discourse; Shift from English to Regional Languages
6. From National Identity to Plural Identities
7. Parliament - Judiciary Relationship
8. The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha
9. In-House Reproduction of the Lok Sabha
10. Conclusion: The Parliament and Democracy in India.