2019 – Posted in: RSTV

Rajya Sabha’s Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu advocated a detailed assessment of the legislative impact and called for informed legislation in the country highlighting the social, economic, environmental and institutional impacts of legislative proposals that will contribute to the achievement of the goals set by different laws. This winter session of parliament is all set to begin on 18th November and will conclude on 13th December. According to him, it will also help in realizing the stated objectives of various laws.

Legislative impact assessment (LIA)

It is also called post-legislative control
The idea of assessments of the impact of legislation is slowly gaining ground around the world, as the idea that laws and regulations need to be thoroughly analyzed before and after enactment is widely accepted, so that minimize these negative externalities or less, to identify them.
The intention of the legislation is excellent in India, but its implementation is poor.
LIA is a method to estimate the likely impacts of government policy before and after adoption and to compare different policy designs to determine which one produces the best outcome.
The main objective of the LIA is to ensure that laws and regulations effectively produce economic, social and environmental benefits, that is, the benefits justify the costs.

Other objectives includes:

To identify the policy problem and the root cause of the problem
Conduct stakeholder meetings
Cost-benefit analysis

Benefits of LIA

The LIA makes government decision-makers more accountable to the public and Parliament because of
the greater transparency.

A PLIA must be a fundamentally iterative process that seeks to methodically apply a framework that
evaluates policies and laws at the granular level prior to their implementation.

Establishing and monitoring a PLIA framework in letter and spirit would allow us to identify the optimal
changes in law and policy and to ensure that the preferred options are those that are economically
viable, operational and socially acceptable, among several other considerations.

Law-making is the product of contemporary thought and is of equal importance so that everyone can
participate in the duty of India.

The idea of legislative impact studies is gradually gaining ground around the world because it is widely
accepted that laws and regulations need to be thoroughly analyzed before enactment in order to
minimize these negative externalities, or at least , to identify them.

Based on the current research which suggests the need for a framework for assessing the impact of laws
and policies in India, a framework will be presented and published with every proposed bill for the
public.

At a minimum, a framework:

Would identify the political problem, its root cause and the need for action
Compare it with available alternatives
Organize meetings with interested parties and identify the potential impact
Avoid potential conflicts by identifying and planning the mitigation of any adverse effects of taking such actions.

Why there is a need for Legislative Impact Assessment?

The legislative process in India has been criticized for being unaware of how the new law will directly or indirectly affect the economy, ecology, development and society.
Parliament has a broader role when it comes to legislating. Thorough scrutiny is done in chambers and committees. But we have no post-promulgation mechanism.
Whether the objectives set or planned for the law are achieved or not, the parliament should also consider this because, once the law is approved and implemented, the responsibility of parliament or legislatures does not end.
There are already some mechanisms, for example under the Land Acquisition Act prior to land acquisition, much of the social impact assessment is done, before major projects are put in place, an evaluation of the impact is carried out environment. Therefore, an assessment of the legislative impact of the new policies can also be made.
Indian legislation, apart from financial legislation, rarely contains “suspension clauses” which require the law to be repealed after a given date until it is reinstated after the revision. Such an analysis would evaluate the performance of the legislation in relation to the objectives and, therefore, suggest an optimal price correction.
We need a post-adoption assessment in the case of legislation relating to areas such as technology, where changes in society occur at such a rate that legislation cannot keep pace.
Over time, society evolves, it also evolves very quickly. Revisiting policies and actions after their promulgation becomes very important for the country’s growth.

Concerns regarding LIA in India:

The legislative impact analysis process would be complicated to adopt.
It remains unclear whether the standing committees will be empowered to carry out the post-legislative evaluation or whether legislation will eventually be included in the statutes for evaluation purposes.
It is not decided whether this work will be entrusted to an independent agency outside parliament or whether certain agencies will be created within the framework of the government.

Some facts

The concept of legislative impact assessment was developed from the Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) followed by OECD countries.
Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) is a systemic approach to critically assess the positive and negative effects of proposed and existing regulations, as well as non-regulatory alternatives.

Way forward

The idea of an assessment of the legislative impact is an idea whose timing seems to have arrived. This will give us an opportunity to see if these laws promulgated by Parliament have the desired impact on society.
As the largest and most dynamic democracy in the world, it is time to seriously analyze this impact assessment to ensure better-informed legislation.
As time changes, society changes, so that the laws that govern it will also have to evolve over time and for them to evolve, they need initiatives such as the assessment of the legislative impact.

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