Uttarakhand fares poorly in legislative functioning, only 10 Vidhan Sabha sittings in 2024: Study
PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun
Ahead of the two day special session of Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha, commencing from Monday in Dehradun, being held to commemorate 25 years of State’s foundation, a report released by the Social Development for Communities (SDC) Foundation has raised serious concerns on the legislative functioning in the State. The report suggests that while average duration of Assembly sessions across 31 Indian States in 2024 was 20 days, the Vidhan Sabha in Uttarakhand met for only 10 days. In 2024, the total sitting time of Assembly sessions in Uttarakhand was only 60 hours which puts the State at the 22nd position among the 28 states in the country.
The SDC Foundation’s factsheet “Comparative Performance of Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha: Gaps and Challenges’’, compares Uttarakhand’s legislative performance with that of other states over the past several years, highlighting gaps in legislative functioning, accountability, and democratic participation.
As per the report, Odisha topped the list with its legislative assembly meeting for 42 days in 2024, followed by Kerala (38 days), West Bengal (36), Karnataka (29), Rajasthan and Maharashtra (28 each), Himachal Pradesh (27), Chhattisgarh (26), Delhi (25), Telangana and Goa (24 each), Gujarat and Bihar (22 each), Jharkhand (20), Andhra Pradesh (19), Tamil Nadu and Mizoram (18 each), Assam (17), Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh (16 each), Manipur (14), Meghalaya and Haryana (13 each), Puducherry (12) and Tripura (11). In sharp contrast, Uttarakhand, along with Punjab and Arunachal Pradesh, held assembly sittings for only 10 days during the entire year.
The data also shows that in 2023, Uttarakhand recorded the lowest number of assembly sittings in India with only seven sittings and logging a total of 44 hours. Between 2017 and 2024, the State Vidhan Sabha met on an average for just 12 days per year, compared to 44 days in Kerala, 40 in Odisha and 34 in Karnataka.
The founder of SDC Foundation, Anoop Nautiyal said it is a matter of deep concern that the number of sittings and the total duration of Uttarakhand’s VS are among the lowest in the country. “The soul of democracy lies in accountability and when our elected government and representatives meet for barely a few days a year, it reflects a crisis of governance and democratic responsibility,’’ he said.
Nautiyal added that Uttarakhand must evolve from being a state of ‘announcements and celebrations’ to one of ‘accountability and action’. He said that the Vidhan Sabha should not only be a stage for festivities, but a platform for responsibility.
