Meghalaya must be a fit case for a study on the state being the worst offender as far as illegal coal mining and transportation is concerned which is virtually state-sponsored. No other state has violated the NGT and Supreme Court orders so blatantly. But with the Supreme Court not being in a position to oversee whether the orders it passes from time to time are actually implemented on the ground, things look bleak. Hence even the Minister for Coal and Mines, Prahlad Joshi who stated in Rajya Sabha that there has been no coal mining in Meghalaya since 2014 has been able to get away with the blatant lies. This can only happen in India and it shows how flawed democracy is when even the Upper House can be misled and there is not a single MP to counter these lies. What do we make of this charade? Can we take for granted that all answers to the questions raised by MPs in the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha are factual? Does this not reduce democracy to a farce then?
Since India has borrowed the Westminster model of parliamentary democracy the rules and principles are clear that MPs – and especially ministers – must not give inaccurate information to parliament, either deliberately or inadvertently. The ministerial code of conduct states that, “It is of paramount importance that Ministers give accurate and truthful information to Parliament, correcting any inadvertent error at the earliest opportunity.”
These rules and principles are based on the idea that Parliament in order to effectively fulfil its roles of scrutinising the work of government, passing legislation, and facilitating debate, needs to work with accurate information – and have confidence that everything said in the House is accurate. This is not the first time that Minister for Coal and Mines has given inaccurate information to the questions on coal mining posed by Rajya Sabha MP, Rakesh Sinha. But if the MP who has raised the questions is true to the cause and concerned about the illegal coal mining in Meghalaya then he should have countered the false statements of the Minister. In the absence of a counter statement by the MP and no other attempts to call out the Minister, Prahlad Joshi for providing wrong information on two occasions, Meghalaya is left at the mercy of predators and the coal mafia. It now rests on the Lok Sabha MP from Shillong, Vincent Pala to correct these wrong statements made either intentionally or inadvertently so that the Minister is briefed of the facts on the ground. Meghalaya has two other MPs “representing” the people of Meghalaya in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha but since both belong to the ruling party -NPP their lips are naturally sealed. Woe betide Meghalaya!
