Page 99 - #letter to son

#SangamNiti TWILIGHT
how those in politics are accountable. Do they have any key performance
indicators (KPIs) by which their success or failure can be measured
against their poll manifestos? The corporate world functions on KPIs.
Does the government have any such foundations?

Delving deeper, I tried to find information on the duties and
responsibilities of a Member of Parliament (MP) in India. Does the
Indian Constitution define statutory duties and responsibilities of an
MP?

Surprisingly, although the exact roles and responsibilities of an MP are
not codified in the Constitution of India, Section 3 of Article 105, which
discusses the powers and privileges of MPs and of committees, lays the
responsibility of defining the responsibilities of an MP and committees
on the Parliament. It says and I quote: “The powers of each House of
Parliament and of the members and the committees of each House shall
be defined by Parliament by law from time to time.”

So while there is no responsibility that is codified in terms of structured
KPIs, the Indian Constitution only offers a broad direction as to the core
responsibilities of our leaders, our elected representatives. Ironically,
the same manifestos by which political parties influence the electorate
in their favour are soon discarded or relegated to the backburner once
these parties come to power.

Similarly, the role of civil services in a democracy is also somewhat
unclear. India is a democracy and in this federal structure, power
rests with the people. This power is exercised through designated
representatives who have the command to manage them for a particular
period.

The civil services, by virtue of its knowledge, experience and
understanding of public affairs, support the chosen representatives
to devise effectual policy and own the responsibility of implementing
these policies for citizen welfare.

Parliamentary democracies are generally sorted by a permanent civil

91