Union ministries have not yet kept half the promises they made to the Parliament

Two-thirds of the central government ministries have not implemented more than 50% of the “assurances” given to Parliament, even as the government completes two years in office today, according to data from the Lok Sabha.

IndiaSpend had previously reported that 80% assurances given to the 16th Lok Sabha were pending; the number is now down to 58% in 2016.

Assurances do not expire

The government replies to 250 questions a day from Members of Parliament during a Parliamentary session.

While replying to questions in the house or during discussions on bills, resolutions etc., ministers give assurances, undertakings or promises to consider an issue, take action or provide information later.

These assurances, compiled by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and the Lok Sabha Secretariat, are sent to the Parliamentary Committee on Government Assurances.

The committee must ensure assurances are implemented within three months. Secretaries of ministries are supposed to review assurances to Parliament every week or fortnight.

When the Lok Sabha is dissolved, assurances pass on to the next government.

PMO made one assurance in 2014 and has not yet kept it

Eight ministries have not acted on 80% of assurances to Parliament, three ministries have implemented more than 75% of assurances given to Parliament.

The Prime Minister’s Office gave one assurance that it would release reports of performance and evaluation system of ministries for 2013-14 to the 16th Lok Sabha and has not fulfilled it since 2014.

Despite assurances from the PMO that the system has been approved and evaluation reports of ministries would be released, that has not happened for 2013-14.

Not far behind are the Ministries of Social Justice and Empowerment, with 83% pending assurances, Ministry of Minority Affairs, with 82% pending assurances, and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, with 75%, assurances pending.

As many as 58% of assurances made to Parliament by the home ministry–which requested two assurances dropped–are pending.

One of the dropped assurances concerns the establishment of Coastal Police Stations, a fallout of the 26/11 terror attacks on Mumbai. In August 2014, the home ministry said it was implementing Phase 2 of the coastal-security scheme. In November 2015, it requested deletion of the assurance.

Another home ministry assurance pending since 2014 concerns the creation of criteria to select a language for “official” status in the Eight Schedule of the Constitution. As many as 38 languages are awaiting the home ministry’s clearance to join the list of 22 official languages.

Here are some other assurances pending/dropped by the ministries:

• India has emerged as a favourable destination for surrogacy and the Assisted Reproductive Technology  industry has evolved into a Rs 2,500-crore ($365 million) business annually. The health ministry acknowledged that there could be surrogate pregnancies, including in rural and tribal areas, which result from exploitation of women. The government’s assurance of a law to regulate surrogacy in India is pending since 2014.
• India’s tardy implementation of power projects has led to frequent cost escalations. When asked by an MP if nuclear projects were getting enough money to be finished on time, the government said (on December 10, 2014) that “all efforts are being made to complete and commission the projects within the approved time frame”. However, this assurance was dropped in February 2016, according to the Lok Sabha website.

Law ministry makes most assurances, fulfills 27%

The Ministry of Law and Justice tops the charts of the number of assurances made with 146 during the 16th Lok Sabha, fulfilling 27% by May 12, 2016.

The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology gave 129 assurances and implemented 40%, the Ministry of Finance made 121 and implemented 57.9%, the Ministry of Human Resource Development gave 113 assurances, implementing 35% and the Ministry of Railways made 107 assurances and implementing 44% of them.

The committee on government assurances has reprimanded the government in its reports for several assurances being pending for years, some for almost a decade. “Seventeen assurances from the Ministry of Human Resource Development are pending for implementation. In fact, the first two assurances are pending for nearly a decade,” the report said.

This article first appeared on Indiaspend, a data-driven and public-interest journalism non-profit.