Should Ordinances be Abolished?

A day after the winter session of parliament ended in December 2014, the National Democratic Alliance (II) Government promulgated two ordinances aimed at taking forward economic reforms in the insurance and coal sectors arguing that ‘the country can no longer wait’. Critics slammed the ordinances arguing that it was unethical and they subverted the spirit of parliamentary democracy. Shubankar Dam’s Presidential Legislation in India attempts to deal with this dilemma. He asks whether governments should be allowed to pass ordinances and why the provision should not be abolished.