Fifty Years of Indian Parliament

On 13 of May 1952, a new milestone was reached in the evolution of parliamentary democracy in India. It was on this day that representatives of the people, elected through the First General Elections in Independent India’s history, met for the first time as members of the House of the People, renamed later as Lok Sabha. The Council of States, renamed later as Rajya Sabha, also met separately on the same day. Ever since, the Indian Parliament has been the friend, philosopher and guide for our countrymen, taking the nation forward through the path illumined by the vision of the Constitution of India. During these eventful five decades, our Parliament has been the voice of the people and the mirror of theirselves—articulating their concerns and reflecting their aspirations. In the process, Parliament of India has verily emerged to be the true microcosm of the nation, its people, culture and heritage. This volume is a commemorative publication brought out by the Lok Sabha Secretariat to mark the Golden Jubilee of Indian Parliament. The contributors to this book are eminent men and women, who have been closely associated with the institution of Parliament in some way or the other or who have helped in their own ways to shape the modern India that we are living in today. Their views, perspectives and perceptions, finding expression in the pages of this publication, are evocative of their commitment to the cause of national weal which our Parliament has ceaselessly striven to achieve. Their analyses and reasoning, evaluation and interpretation, opinion and judgment bring to the fore our many achievements in the last fifty years, and the shortcomings and imperfections in the system, as also the challenges before the polity in the years ahead. Their sage counsel and sane advice could well be the guiding spirit to policy planners and decision makers in the next fifty years. As such, this volume is of immense value to parliamentarians, political scientists, research scholars and all other interested readers.