An analysis of NITI Aayog’s Innovation Index Report 2019 and other reports by PRS earmarks following issues in the functioning of state legislatures in India:

♤ Dominance of undemocratic processes: In most states, Chief Ministers solely run the state without making many ministers portfolios clear to the public. Assembly debates seldom take place and Bills are passed without adequate discussion. This gives illusion of efficiency but it overlooks democratic process.

♤ Inability to hold executive accountable: Asking questions ( starred or unstarred) to the government is an effective way to keep a check on the executive. But the report suggest that there exits a disparity in the number of question asked in the major states. Total starred questions vary between 11,200 in Rajasthan to 65 in West Bengal in the last two years. However, only 21 per cent of starred questions admitted in the 14th Rajasthan Assembly were answered on the floor of the House.

♤ Lack of discussion and deliberations: Transparency and public accessibility to the procedure followed in the house has not automatically resulted in improved legislative performance. A case in point is Karnataka – a state which is ranked highest in the innovation report. Between 2017 to 2020, on an average each MLA asked 58 questions and a video repository of all assembly proceedings, including Question Hour, is available online. But a report by PRS suggest that 92 per cent of Bills in the state’s assembly were passed within a week of their introduction.

♤ Lack of participation by the members: In Chhattisgarh assembly, only 78 MLAs have asked questions in its 4th assembly between 2014 and 2018 and a meagre 5 per cent of time was spent on legislation. Despite this, the House managed to pass 104 Bills and 94 per cent of these were passed within a week of introduction.

♤ Issues raised by the members: A deeper analysis shows that MLAs concern themselves to the micro-civic problems like waste management, sewage treatment, construction of roads and supply of basic utilities. However, 73rd Amendment Act empowered local bodies to take care of these issues. But the fear of voter dissatisfaction forces MLAs to focus on these issues instead of legislative deliberations and holding the government accountable through policy-relevant questions.