Modi to continue 'ordinance raj' in New Year - this time for E-rickshaws

The New Year will witness the promulgation of yet another ordinance by the Modi government. This one, taking the total tally of recent ordinances to 10, is aimed at the Delhi assembly elections. A draft ordinance on amendments for the regularisation of battery-operated E-rickshaws and easing of norms for drivers has been sent by the road transport ministry to the Prime Minister’s Office and is expected to be approved at next the cabinet meeting. This shows that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his key ministers are undeterred by mounting criticism from the opposition and the media for bypassing the normal legislative route and unleashing an “ordinance raj”.[caption id=“attachment_2026015” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PTI[/caption] Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari confirmed to Firstpost that the draft ordinance had been sent to the PMO for final scrutiny and, given the urgency, it would come up for approval at the next cabinet meeting. Was the government stretching the ordinance route too far and inviting another round of confrontation with the opposition? Has it weighed the political costs of doing so? What will happen if the government fails to manage the numbers when the ordinances come up for approval in Parliament, particularly in the Rajya Sabha? Gadkari said he was not sure about the political cost, if any, but his government was committed to serving the people’s interest and would thus opt for whatever means were available to it for the delivery of promises made to voters. He had tried to push the E-rickshaw bill in the winter session, but the session was washed out by disruptions in the Rajya Sabha. There is a certain urgency in government to get the E-rickshaw changes implemented in order to take care of the objections raised by the Delhi High Court. This has to be done before the Delhi assembly elections are announced, after which a model code of conduct will come into force. Elections could be announced by the Election Commission any time after first week of January. The Modi government wants to beat that deadline. As for the other ordinances, the government was keen to raise FDI limits for insurance before US President Barack Obama comes to India on Republic Day. Sources said Modi had to live up to his image of being a strong, decisive and development-oriented reformist leader. Offering the excuse of disruptions in parliament would not serve him well, either in the domestic constituency or abroad. The E-rickshaw ordinance will be the second one that will impact substantial sections of Delhi voters. Along with the ordinance for amendments to the Land Acquisition Act, the last cabinet meeting had approved the regularisation of around 2,000 unauthorised colonies that had come into existence by 1 June 2014. The BJP and the Aam Admi Party have been vying with each other to influence this social constituency. AAP had made inroads in the colonies during last December’s polls, snatching victory the Congress. It was also reaching out to E-rickshaw drivers. The BJP, with these policy decisions, will be hoping to make a solid electoral dent in AAP’s constituency and boost its own. This time around the BJP is not taking its fight with AAP in Delhi lightly. Soon after the Delhi assembly elections, parliament will also reopen for the budget session where these ordinances will have to be placed for ratification or modification before passing. The government had taken the ordinance route for setting higher FDI limits for the Insurance sector just a day after the Winter Session of Parliament had ended on a stormy note. The ordinance is on the same lines as the report of the Select Committee that went into it, but getting the ordinance passed within six weeks of the commencement of the budget session of Parliament will be a herculean task for the government. Six ordinances would have to be cleared in the budget session. Of these, two – Insurance and Land Acquisition - would be the most contentious. Though the government is keeping its options open for a joint session of the parliament, before that the Rajya Sabha would have to defeat the bill. But what if it just delays discussion on the bill? Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and the team of BJP floor managers have a tough task ahead of them – first ensure that Parliament, particularly the Rajya Sabha, functions normally, and second, manage the numbers. They are well aware that a joint session can be called only in rare situations and, thus, if that becomes necessary, the government will club a bunch of ordinances for approval. Naidu says that “no government will normally resort to issuing ordinances unless and otherwise compelled to do so. Our government has been compelled to come out with ordinances on important issues like hiking the FDI limit in the capital-starved Insurance sector, auctioning of coal blocks and enabling land acquisition for infrastructure and housing projects. Legislation through ordinance is a constitutionally valid mechanism. Article 123 of our Constitution empowers the President of India to issue Ordinances in exceptional circumstances". “This situation has been created by the negative and obstructionist attitude of the Congress party. Our government has been left with no other option but to issue ordinances. Currently, two diametrically opposite approaches are playing out in our country. One is of our government, which is keen about ‘Making India’ through ‘Make in India’ and other initiatives. Opposite to this is that of our political adversaries. Their attitude is clearly ‘Mar India’, by seeking to stall all legislative initiatives of our government,” Naidu said.