Answer:

In a representative democracy like ours, the representatives of the people are responsible for law making. However in this era of governance approach, there is an increased emphasis on the role of civil society in the governance process. More so there is a realization that civil society should be made a stakeholder at the law making stage itself along with its role in law implementation and post-facto analysis of the development programs. India has earlier witnessed some examples of participation of civil society in the law making process of RTI Act, Sexual harassment of women at workplace (Prevent, Prohibition and Redressal) Act etc. This can provide following benefits:

♤ In a diverse country like India, centralized law making can’t address concerns of all sections. Participative law making process will ensure that laws address the concerns of all sections. Thus the quality of laws is improved.

♤ One of the major problem in India is lack of awareness about laws in the public. Participation of people in the law making will ensure that they are also aware about the law.

♤ Increased awareness about the law will reduce the grievances of the public about

laws and it’ll also ensure better implementation of the laws.

♤ It’ll increase the accountability of the implementation agencies as the aware people will be able to hold those agencies accountable for their acts of omission and commission.

♤ This will ensure transparency in the administration.

♤ Laws in India are often jargonized and beyond the understanding of common people. Participation of people will ensure that laws are made understandable for the common man.

This would take India from a “representative democracy to a participatory, deliberative democracy.”

Further, the Cabinet Secretary-led committee has recently decided to institutionalize public participation in the pre-legislative scrutiny process of law-making in India. The decision requires every Central government department to publicise the details of a proposed legislation on the Internet and other media before being introduced in Parliament. Such a model was followed recently in Kerala in revamping the police bill where a number of suggestions have been included.

Under the decision, draft bills must be accompanied with an explanatory note outlining the essential provisions of the bill and its impact on the environment and lives of affected people. The public must then be given at least 30 days to comment. Following publication, these comments are to be submitted to the relevant parliamentary standing committee examining the bill.