• This volume examines the credibility and legitimacy of the Indian Parliament, scrutinising various aspects of its functioning.

• The introduction provides a broad-ranging analysis of the relationship between the functioning of parliamentary institutions and the rapid changes witnessed in Indian society, particularly the onset of coalition politics and the initiation of economic reforms.

• The first part of the volume examines the institutional standards of performance of the Parliament.

• The second part focuses on different forms of parliamentary control, as well as the evolving relationship between the legislature and the executive in a period of unstable coalition formations.

• The third part analyses the external factors which affect and determine the internal functioning of Parliament.

Sudha Pai, Professor, Centre for Political Studies, School of Social Sciences, and Rector, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
Avinash Kumar, Assistant Professor of Political Studies, Centre for Informal Sector and Labour Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Introduction
Sudha Pai and Avinash Kumar

one PARLIAMENTARY FUNCTIONING: INTERNAL DIMENSIONS
1 Measuring the Effectiveness of the Indian Parliament
M. R. Madhavan and Harsimran Kalra

2 The Anti-Defection Law: Intent and Outcome
Kaushiki Sanyal

3 Understanding Private Members’ Bills in the Indian Parliament
Raghab Dash

4 Bicameralism in India: The Centre and the States
K. C. Sivaramakrishnan and Bhanu Joshi

5 Performing Ethno-Linguistic Representation: A Study of Indian Parliamentary Ceremony and Ritual
Carole Spary

two PARLIAMENTARY CONTROL VERSUS EXECUTIVE AUTONOMY
6 Accountability and Parliamentary Oversight Committees
Amitabh Mukhopadhyay

7 Can the DRSCs Step into the Institutional Void of India’s Parliamentary Democracy?
Valerian Rodrigues

8 Strengthening Legislative Capabilities of the Indian Parliament: The National Advisory Council
Balveeer Arora and K. K. Kailash

9 Delegation of Legislation in India: Constitutional Imperatives and the Economy
of Politics
Jaivir Singh

three PARLIAMENTARY FUNCTIONING: EXTERNAL DIMENSIONS
10 Crime, (Politics), and Non-Punishment
Avinash Kumar

11 Criminality in the LokSabha: An Examination of MP Participation and MP Attributes
Devesh K. Tiwari

12 Delusions of Grandeur: How Corruption in the Media Undermines the Working of Parliamentary Democracy
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta

13 The Rival Representative Claims of  the Parliament and Civil Society in India
Niraja Gopal Jayal