The famous lines from John Keats  "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all

                                            Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."

    Is truth always beautiful? I think, in some cases truth is something more than a beauty. But in some other cases, truth reveals some facts that often fail to hold the beauty in the sense of the term beauty. Some bare truth of our life and surrounding areas show us the reality which can hardly be called beautiful.

 

 Unicameral and bicameral legislatures

Unicameralism (from uni- "one" + Latin camera "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly 60% of all national legislatures and an even greater share of subnational legislatures.

Sometimes, as in New Zealand and Denmark, unicameralism comes about through the abolition of one of two bicameral chambers, or, as in Sweden, through the merger of the two chambers into a single one, while in others a second chamber has never existed from the beginning.

The principal advantage of a unicameral system is more efficient lawmaking, as the legislative process is simpler and there is no possibility of deadlock between two chambers. Proponents of unicameralism have also argued that it reduces costs, even if the number of legislators stays the same, since there are fewer institutions to maintain and support financially. More popular among modern-day democratic countries, unicameral, proportional legislatures are widely seen as both more democratic and effective.

The word bicameral originates from the Latin bi-, meaning "two," combined with camera, meaning "chamber." Chamber is just another way of referring to a legislative branch of a government or other official organization. You’re probably already familiar with one famous bicameral system: the U.S. Congress, which is made up of two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The legislature is classified as either unicameral or bicameral depending on the number of units or chambers that make up the legislature. The executive, the judiciary, and the legislature are the three organs of every government. The legislature is a branch of government that consists of a deliberative body of typically elected people who have the power to establish laws for the state. In a unicameral legislature, the law-making authority is concentrated in a single central entity, whereas in a bicameral legislature, it is divided between two houses of parliament. It’s critical to comprehend the distinction between these two types of parliamentary systems found all throughout the world.

Comparison between the Unicameral and Bicameral Legislature

The primary distinctions between a unicameral and bicameral legislature are as follows:

·        A unicameral legislature is distinguished by the presence of only one chamber in which all of a state’s legislative duties are exercised. A bicameral legislature, on the other hand, is defined as a legislative arrangement in which law-making responsibilities are divided between two different houses or assemblies.

·        A unicameral legislature concentrates legislative authority in a single body of parliament. In a bicameral legislature, on the other hand, the law-making authority is shared by an upper house and a lower house, which make up the parliament.

·        In a unitary form of government, when all powers are vested in one central ruling institution, a unicameral legislature is a distinguishing characteristic. A bicameral legislature, on the other hand, is a characteristic of a federal government in which the centre and the states share state authorities and duties.

·        A unicameral legislature is typically seen to be more efficient than a bicameral legislature since the power to pass laws is concentrated in a single house or assembly, allowing for speedier choices than in a bicameral legislature. A bicameral legislature, on the other hand, requires a bill to be passed in both chambers in order to become a statute and is thus more time-consuming.

·        In a unicameral legislature, the likelihood of a deadlock is highly unlikely due to the law-making powers vested in a single authority. A bicameral legislature, on the other hand, when deadlocks are prevalent, is not the case. Due to the fact that two chambers of parliament share authority, a disagreement between them leads to an impasse, which is resolved by a joint session of both houses.

·        A unicameral legislature is preferable for smaller countries, but a bicameral legislature is better for bigger countries that require power split at the federal and state levels.

 The unicameral legislature is popular in nations where a bicameral legislature is not required, and the principal advantage is that lawmaking is simple. Many nations throughout the world have chosen a bicameral legislature to provide all socioeconomic groups and industries with a voice. As a result, it ensures that all socioeconomic groups are represented. Furthermore, it prevents power concentration but may result in deadlocks, making legislation harder to pass.

Proportional legislation: Proportional representation is an electoral system that elects multiple representatives in each district in proportion to the number of people who vote for them. If one third of voters back a political party, the party’s candidates win roughly one-third of the seats. Today, proportional representation is the most common electoral system among the world’s democracies. 

Every American today lives in a district that elects a single representative for congressional and most state legislative elections. Voters cast a vote for a candidate, one candidate wins, and all the others lose. This makes our elections “winner-take-all” — if a candidate wins 51 percent of the vote, she wins 100 percent of the representation. Any voters who did not back the winning candidate are not represented in government by a candidate for whom they voted. 

In contrast, proportional representation uses multi-seat districts with representation allocated in proportion to votes. For example, in a six-seat district, if a party’s candidates win 51 percent of the vote, they would be expected to win three of the six seats — rather than 100 percent. Unlike with winner-take-all, under proportional representation, most groups tend to have at least one elected official representing their viewpoint in government.

  

 

 

A comparative study on the Time spent in legislation (Before and during the pandemic) in Bangladesh Parliament: A case study of 11^th Parliament.

Background: Parliament in a parliamentary form of government is a multifunctional organ of the state. It plays the most vital role in democracy with its function of legislation, oversight and taxation. Legislation is the basic function of Bangladesh Jatiyo Sangsad (Parliament). The Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh has vested the legislative powers of the Republic to Parliament, subject to the provisions of the Constitution. According to the Bangladesh Constitution, the role of the Parliament is very important in reflecting expectations of the people, enacting laws for public welfare and ensuring accountability of the government to the people [Articles 65 (1) and 76 (2) (c)] The time spent on passing a bill (Legislation) indicates the engagement of the parliament i.e the Members of the Parliament (MPs) in law making process. The world wide Covid 19 pandemic has tremendously impacted on the many spheres of life and institutions/events. Like many other parliaments/institutions Bangladesh Parliament (Jatiyo Sangsad) has adopted some measures/initiatives to cope with the situation. As the pandemic is not still over, therefore there is/remains a scope to analyze the time on legislation. This study will show if there is any impact on law making process regarding the time spent on legislation. There will be a comparison of time spent on passing a bill (Legislation) before and during the pandemic.

Problem Statement: The Covid-19 pandemic and the panic created from the pandemic was quite new and unexpected. Many Institutions and organizations have to face challenges like lockdown, rescheduling operations, virtual office running, etc. In many cases, it required new legal interventions for the smooth functioning of the institutions. It is important to adopt the befitting initiatives/measures to sustain the smooth operation of the institutions at the time of pandemic or disaster like covid 19. The initiatives adopted by the Bangladesh Parliament and their impact on legislation or for its smooth functioning at the time of Covid 19 pandemic need to be assessed objectively to determine the right steps/initiatives. Legislation being one of the three main functions of Bangladesh Parliament, it is quite relevant to look into the differences in spending time for legislation in pandemic period and the period prior to pandemic. More specifically, the following research questions need to be addressed:

(a)  What are the major deviations in running the parliament at pandemic period?

(b)  What is the extent of time variation in legislation during pandemic?

(c)  Does the time variation affect the quality of legislation?

(d) What cautions need to be taken in case of future/further pandemic?

Objectives: The overall objective of this research is to analyze the proceedings of the first sessions of each year of the 11th Parliament to see the duration in passing a bill. The objectives are to:

•      The specific objective of this research is to find out:

•      (i) Whether the Covid 19 Pandemic affects the time spent in passing a bill in Bangladesh Parliament;

•      (ii) The difference of time spent in passing a bill before and during the Covid 19 pandemic.

Preliminary Literature Review: Every proposal in Parliament for making a law has to be made in the form of a Bill. A Bill passes through three distinct stages in Parliament i.e. the introduction, consideration and passing, which conform to the three readings usually known in parliamentary parlance as first reading, second reading and third reading respectively. A new stage in the legislative process called the Committee stage is also now frequently referred to in many Parliaments. In the case of a Government Bill, a Minister, or in the case of a Private Member's Bill, a Member may make a motion for leave to introduce a Bill after giving the Secretary to Parliament written notice of his/her intention to do so. A Minister or a Member who has given such notice is known as Member-in-charge in respect of the Bill. If a motion for leave to introduce a Bill is opposed, the Speaker may without further debate put the question to the vote of the House, after permitting, if he considers appropriate, a brief explanatory statement by the Member opposing the leave for introduction and the Member-in-charge moving for leave. If leave is granted, the Member-in-charge, when called, formally moves a motion forthwith introducing the Bill and, on the motion being made, the Bill stands introduced. This process constitutes the first reading stage of a Bill.

The second reading of a Bill begins after a Bill has been introduced. The Member-in-charge may make anyone of the following motions in regard to his/her Bill, namely:

(i)       that it be taken into consideration by the House either at once or on some future day to be specified in the motion; (ii) that it be referred to a Standing Committee; (iii) that it be referred to a Select Committee; or (iv) that it be circulated for the purpose of eliciting opinion on the Bill.

Following any of the above mentioned motions, the lengthy, and to some extent complex, stage of the second reading commences, the details of which are defined in the Rules of Procedure. The principles of the Bill and the general clauses of the Bill are discussed. Details of the Bill are not discussed further than is necessary to explain its principles. This is followed by a clause by clause consideration of the Bill when amendments to the Bill are considered and voted upon.

The third reading stage is short. The Member-in-Charge makes a motion that the Bill be passed. The Speaker will then usually put the motion to vote without allowing any discussion on it. In this research the duration of time from the second reading to third reading of a bill is counted/taken /considered

Methodology: To carry out the present study both the primary and secondary data are used and case studies are conducted on legislation of the first session of the year 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 of 11^th Parliament. The time spent on legislation (each bill) and the number of legislation in these sessions are taken into consideration for present study. Therefore a mixed approach has been applied to accomplish/meet the objectives/the study.

Expected Output: The findings of this study will be useful/important to the parliament authority as well as to the researchers to assess the required initiatives at the time of pandemic.

Time Chart: Time Chart (weeks)

Tasks	1st week	2nd week	3rd week	4th week	5th week	6th week	7th week	8th week
Proposal Approval
Literature Review
Data Collection
Data Analysis
Draft Submission
Incorporation of feedback
Final Draft Submission
Printed copy submission

 

Acts of the first sessions of 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 of 11^th Parliament which are taken consideration in this research paper.

Sl.	Acts of 1st Session of 2019	Date	Time (in minutes)	T.Time
1	Preparation of Brick and Kiln Establishment (Controll) (Amendment) Act, 2019.	26/02/2019	22	196
2	Bangladesh EPZ Labour Act, 2019	27/02/2019	71
3	Chittagong Hill Tracts (Land Acquisition) Regulation (Amendment) Act, 2019	28/2/2019	103
4	Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill, 2019	28/2/2019
5	Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Aviation and Aerospace University Act, 2019	28/2/2019
Acts of 1st Session of 2020
1	Bangladesh Tariff Commission (Amendment) Act, 2020	22/1/2020	31	428
2	Voter List (Amendment) Act, 2020	26/1/2020	20
3	Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan Act, 2019.	28/1/2020	76
4	Ò¯^vqËkvwmZ, Avav-¯^vqËkvwmZ, mswewae× miKvwi KZ©„cÿ, cvewjK bb-dvBb¨vbwkqvj K‡c©v‡ikbmn ¯^-kvwmZ ms¯’vmg~‡ni Znwe‡ji DØ„Ë A_© miKvwi †KvlvMv‡i Rgv cÖ`vb wej, 2020	5/2/2020	74
5	Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation Act,2020	11/2/2020	89
6	Bangladesh Lighthouse Act, 2020	12/2/2020	67
7	Gazipur Development Authority Act, 2020	18/2/2020	71
Acts of 1st Session of 2021
1	Intermediate and Secondary Education (Amendment) Bill, 2021	24/1/2021	142	342
2	Bangladesh Technical Education Board (Amendment) Act,	24/1/2021
3	Bangladesh Madrasah Education Board (Amendment) Act,	24/1/2021
4	Bangladesh Travel Agency (Registration & Controll) (Amendment), Act, 2021	25/1/2021	51
5	The Civil Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2021	(27/1/2021)	67
6	Sheikh Hasina Medical University, Khulna, Act, 2021	02/02/2021	82
Acts of 1st Session of 2022
1	Appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners Bill, 2022	27/1/2022	169	169

 

Data Analysis:                        Individual Sessions

Acts of 1st Session of 2019
Number of Acts	Total Time	Average Time
5	196	39.2

Acts of 1st Session of 2020
Number of Acts	Total Time	Average Time
7	428	61.14

Table: 1                                            Table: 2

Acts of 1st Session of 2021
Number of Acts	Total Time	Average Time
6	342	57

Acts of 1st Session of 2022
Number of Acts	Total Time	Average Time
1	169	169

                Table: 3                                                                      Table: 4             

Before Covid 19 Pandemic

Acts of 1st Session of 2019 & 2020
Number of Acts	Total Time	Average Time
12	624	52

Table: 5

Acts of 1st Session of 2021 & 2022
Number of Acts	Total Time	Average Time
7	511	73

During Covid 19 Pandemic

 

Table: 6

Data Analysis Explanation: At the first session of 2019 5 acts have been passed and the Parliament spent 196 minutes in discussing and passing the 5 bills. The average time for each bill is 39.2 minutes (Table-1). And at the first session of 2020 the Parliament passed 7 bills and total time spent is 428 minutes and average time for each bill is 61.14 minutes (Table 2). Therefore, it is seen that before the covid 19 pandemic in two sessions total 12 bills have been passed and total 624 minutes spent and average time spent for each bill is 52 minutes (table-5).

At the first session in 2021 (During pandemic) the parliament passed 6 bills spending 342 minutes. Average time spent for each bill is 57 minutes (table-3). And at the first session of 2022 only 1 bill has been passed and 169 minutes time was spent (table-4). During the pandemic (2021& 2022) total 7 bills have been passed and 511 minutes have been spent, the average time spent for each bill is 73 minutes(table-6).

Comparison: According to the data analysis before the pandemic period (2019 & 2020) total 12 acts were passed and 624 minutes time spent and average time for each act is 52 minutes.

And During the pandemic period (2021 & 2022), total 7 acts were passed and 511 minutes time spent and average time for each act is 73 minutes.

Findings:  It is seen that the average time spent for each act during pandemic (2021 & 2022) is more (73 minutes) than the average time (52 minutes) spent for each act before pandemic (2019 & 2020).

But in case of number of acts passed by the Parliament, it is seen that before pandemic period (2019 & 2020) more acts (12 acts) passed than during the pandemic period (2021 & 2022) 7 acts.

In case of total time spent in passing the bills before pandemic period is 624 minutes which is greater than the total time (511 minutes) spent during the pandemic period.

Remark: Parliament Sessions are summoned by the Hon’ble President according to the article 72 of Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. There is scope for passing important and necessary bills in the parliament even in the pandemic. The covid 19 pandemic has a little effect on legislation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References:

(i)                Published daily Bulletins of 11^th Parliament of Parliament Secretariat;

(ii)             www.parliament.gov.bd (Law making Process).

(iii)           Rules of Procedures of Parliament of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

(iv)           The Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

(v)             TIB Report on 11^th Parliament.