Budget Session 2011: Parliament failed to introduce any reforms: Pildat

A Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) Report analysing from the Citizens' perspective the performance of the 13th National Assembly of Pakistan during Budget Session 2011 laments that despite promises the Government and Opposition parties in the Parliament failed to introduce any reforms in the Parliamentary budget process that can allow for a meaningful role of Parliament in influencing and scrutinising the national budget.
Federal Budget 2011-2012 was tabled in the National Assembly on June 3, 2011, and was passed on June 22, 2011, lasting for a dismal 17 actual working days. There was a 16 percent drop in time consumed in budget debate 2011 compared to 2008; total 35 hours consumed in Budget process in National Assembly compared to 41.6 in 2008.
The decade-long average of budget sessions from 1998 to 2011 is 12 days while in comparison, in our neighbouring country India, the Parliamentary Budget Process spans over 75 days. Unlike the practice in other developing as well as mature Parliamentary democracies, Standing Committees in Pakistan are not allowed any role to scrutinise departmentally-related estimates or demands for grants and, therefore, no meaningful input is made in the Budget.
Similarly, while the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab has instituted a Pre-Budget Session every year from January to February, the National Assembly, despite understanding the need to do so in order to allow members to make an input into budget making and priorities, has failed to institute the tradition of a Pre-Budget Session.
The PILDAT report notes that a sharp decline is witnessed in the number of Members of the National Assembly participating in the budget debate over the last 4 years of the 13th National Assembly as 39 percent less MNAs spoke in 2011 compared to 2008. In 2008 budget session, a total of 229 members participated in the budget debate whereas only 139 members participated during the 2011 budget session.
The dwindling number of participants may be indicative of the waning interest of members in the budget debate. The budget session is considered by many MPs as a mere formality in which not much role is there for MPs to make any significant contribution. Year after year, MPs demand during the budget debate a greater role for influencing the budget at its preparation stages.
It has also been repeatedly suggested that once the budget is presented, the National Assembly should have an increased duration to review it and the demands for grants for ministries should be referred to the respective standing committees for scrutiny before the budget is passed.
This key reform in the Parliamentary budget process, however, remains elusive. During budget debate 2011, members from across political spectrum including Ms Fauzia Habib, MNA, (PPPP, NA-296, Women Punjab-XXIV), Mr Ahsan Iqbal, MNA, (PML-N, NA-117, Narowal-III, Punjab), Ms Nuzhat Sadiq, MNA, (PML-N, NA-227, Women Punjab-V), Ms Bushra Gohar, MNA (ANP, NA-322 Women Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa-I), Ms Khush Bakht Shujaat, MNA (MQM, NA-250 Karachi-XII) and Sardar Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari, MNA (PML, NA-172, Dera Ghazi Khan-II, Punjab), etc, forcefully raised that these reforms be instituted in the Parliamentary budget process.
The analysis notes that during the 2011 Budget Session, a total of 139 members took part in the discussion, 84 (60 percent) of whom belonged to the treasury benches while 55 (40percent) belonged to the opposition benches. Treasury benches consumed 22.5 hours or 64percent of total time while opposition members spoke for 12.5 hours or 36percent of the time in Budget debate.
A 4percent decrease was also witnessed in the time used by opposition members in budget debate compared to 2008 budget session. MQM members utilised almost twice as much time than warranted by their numbers followed by PML-N and JUI-F members. The report also notes that the Prime Minister of Pakistan attended 12 days or 70percent of budget session sittings compared to 3 days or 18percent of the sittings attended by the Leader of the Opposition.
While the principal opposition party, PML-N, criticised the conduct and performance of the defence sector and brought cut motions against the defence sector; the 2011 session saw a decrease of 58percent in number of cut motions introduced by the opposition in the House compared to 2008: 485 cut motions were introduced by the opposition during the budget debate 2011 where as the number of cut motions introduced during the Budget session for the financial year 2008-2009 were 1,148.