Peter Rimmele emphasized in his speech the importance of the dialogue between the parliaments of India and Germany

The presentation of the book was followed by a panel discussion chaired by Air Marshal Naresh Verma (second from left)

The presentation of the book was followed by a panel discussion with Prof. D.R. Tripathi, a member of the Rajya Sabha; Prof. E. Sridharan, University of Pennsylvania Institute for the Advanced Study of India (UPIASI), Prof. Amit Prakash, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), and Prof. Satyajit Singh, University of Delhi.

The book, which contains 17 contributions by well-known experts and political scientists, is dedicated to the democratic transformation process of the Indian Parliament. The contributions in the book examine the Indian Parliament from different perspectives. For example, one of the articles deals with the history of the Indian Parliament since the first general elections in 1952. At the same time the contributions also address negative developments in the Indian parliament, such as hijacking of question hours, allotment of only a few minutes to each member of making a presentation, quality of debates etc.

Peter Rimmele praised the contributions in the book and emphasized that the Parliament is the central institution of the Indian democracy. The parliamentary process in India is complex and would be considered cumbersome by some observers. Some claim that the central position that Parliament once held in the Indian political system is no longer the same today. While looking back on the times of Jawaharlal Nehru, the debates, speeches, and discussions are thought to be thoughtful and fully progress-oriented, the debates would no longer be of the same quality in these days. But Mr. Rimmele also pointed out that Parliament has seen a number of outstanding debates in the recent past and that far-reaching laws have been passed. For example, he referred to the laws on the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the law against black money and the law against sexual harassment of women in the workplace.

He also emphasized that the KAS promotes the dialogue between democracies with the firm conviction that they can learn a lot from each other. The instruments are dialogue programmes between the respective Members of Parliaments, constitutionalists, institutions and academia. This book, as an instance, is the end result of one such endeavor. The importance that the KAS accords to its work in the field of functioning of Parliaments can be gauged from the fact that the last President of KAS was Dr. Hans-Gert Poetterring, a former Head of the European Parliament and since December 2017 the new President is Prof. Dr. Norbert Lammert, a former Head of the German Parliament.