ABSTRACT
The marginalisation and decline of parliaments is a recurrent theme in the literature on legislatures, each generation finding that the current parliament is not a patch on the ones of yore, in oratory, skills, or even integrity. And yet, the parliamentary form of government continues to thrive. In India too, it is not possible to open a newspaper or view a TV channel without being assailed by images and condemnations of unruly legislators engaged in all sorts of activities except the one they are supposed to be paid for, namely legislating. 1
