In the course of constitutional developments under colonial rule, there emerged a broad consensus in India that the Parliament would be the most important institution around which the nation would build its public life. This study primarily concerns itself with the working of the Indian Parliament during three distinct phases - the 1950s, the 1970s, and the 1990s and beyond. It interrogates the 'decline thesis' - the argument that the Indian Parliament has been on the decline or has to be superseded by an alternative set of institutions, Presidential or otherwise - which forms the principal subject matter of this study.

Highlighting the way the Parliament has come to encompass India's proverbial diversity, the authors suggest that the shortcomings of the complex of Parliamentary institutions in India can be rectified without replacing them with an entirely new set of institutions.

Table of Contents

List of Tables

Acknowledgements

List of Abbreviations

Introduction: India's Parliamentary Democracy and its Critics

Making of the Indian Parliament
Changing Social Composition of the Lok Sabha
Changing Conception of Representation: Issues, Concerns, and Institutions
Changing Modes of Discourses: Shift from English to Regional Languages
From National Identity to Plural Identities
Parliament-Judiciary Relationship
The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha
In-House Reproduction of the Lok Sabha
Conclusion
Select Bibliography: The Parliament and Democracy in India