People and Institutions follow customs without understanding the logic behind it.
Take this case for example,
Parliament on Monday paid glowing tributes to veteran Congress leader Arjun Singh with the Rajya Sabha, of which he was a sitting member, adjourning for the day after the obituary reference. Soon after paying tributes to Singh, who died on March 4 at the age of 81, Chairman Hamid Ansari adjourned the Upper House for the day as a mark of respect to the departed soul.
I have absolutely no complaints about 'paying tributes' or 'mourning' the dead, even if it is a scum like Arjun Singh, one who took considerable leadership in destroying the integrity and probity in Indian politics. His last tenure as HR Minister was disastrous and he tried his best to destroy the social fabric of India. Let that be. All said and done, he was a long standing parliamentarian and part of the institution, and needs to be remembered.
My disagreement is with the Parliament adjouring for the day without transacting any business (I had written about this earlier too). This is atrocious. Last session, we heard people talking eloquently about how loss of each days functioning of the parliament results in a national loss of a few crores of rupees. The actual expenses incurred for running the Parliament Sessions (both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) a day is Rs 7.8 Crores!!!
The original logic in adjourning without transacting any business or giving leave to the employees of an organization, one of whose colleagues has just died, is to facilitate them to visit the dead man's house where the body will be lying and to assist the relatives with the last rites and cremation.
But in this case, Arjun Singh died on 4th and was already cremated by the time Parliament met!!!
So what purpose will be served by MPs not doing their work in the Parliament?
