In Context
- Most mature democracies are now using AI tools for better pieces of legislation and parliamentary procedures.
About Artificial Intelligence
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) is attracting the attention of entrepreneurs, political leaders, and policymakers the world over.
- About:
- It is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs.
- It is related to the similar task of using computers to understand human intelligence, but AI does not have to confine itself to methods that are biologically observable.
- Significance:
- AI would not replace people but create new opportunities in various fields.
- It works on data, and if we could train our machines, it could do wonders for us in milliseconds by automating processes.
- AI is creating new opportunities which could not be achieved by traditional technology.
Artificial intelligence tools to assist legislators
- General Parliamentary job:
- AI tools can assist parliamentarians in preparing responses for legislators, enhancing research quality, obtaining information about any Bill, preparing briefs, providing information on particular House rules, legislative drafting, amendments, interventions, etc.
- Decision making:
- They can also empower legislators to make informed decisions by having access to insights into citizen grievances, media opinions, and voices of citizen-centric associations.
- Framing policies & calling attention:
- Compared to western democratic nations, in India, parliamentarians manage constituencies with a huge population.
- AI can analyse citizens’ grievances and social media responses, and flag issues and priorities that need immediate attention.
- It can also assist parliamentarians in seeking citizen inputs for public consultation of laws and preparing a manifesto.
- Around legislations:
- AI can also simulate the potential effects of laws.
- For example, various datasets such as the Census, data on household consumption, taxpayers, beneficiaries from various schemes, and public infrastructure can be modelled.
- In that case, AI can uncover potential outcomes of a policy.
- At the same time, it can also help in flagging laws that are outdated in the present circumstances and which require amendment.
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Global practices of using AI in legislation
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Challenges for India
- Issues with the current laws:
- For AI to work in India, we first need to codify our laws. The challenges with current laws are they are opaque, complex and there is a huge translation gap between law-making, law-implementing and law-interpreting organisations.
- The Indian government has done well to set up the India Code portal, but it cannot be entirely relied upon as a ‘single source of truth’.
- Interface with complete chain of process:
- The interface should contain a complete chain, right from the parent Act to the subordinate pieces of legislation passed by the central government and the amendment notifications, enabling any entity to get a 360° view.
- Such a requirement becomes more critical in special situations such as COVID-19.
- For example, in measures related to COVID-19, the central government issued over 900 notifications while State governments issued over 6,000 notifications on the subject.
Suggestions
- Single window for all the laws:
- We need to make laws machine-consumable with a central law engine, which can be a single source of truth for all acts, subordinate pieces of legislation, gazettes, compliances, and regulations.
- For example, AI can tell us if an entrepreneur wants to open a manufacturing unit in Maharashtra and what acts and compliances are applicable.
- If a citizen wants to check the eligibility for welfare schemes, AI can recommend which schemes are eligible, based on details provided by citizens.
- We need to make laws machine-consumable with a central law engine, which can be a single source of truth for all acts, subordinate pieces of legislation, gazettes, compliances, and regulations.
- Keeping up with existing infrastructure:
- India is also innovating and working towards making parliamentary activities digital such as the ‘One Nation, One Application’ and the National e-Vidhan (NeVA) portal.
- The COVID-19 pandemic has given a strong thrust to the Digital India initiative and the digitisation of services.
- This momentum needs to be kept up and utilised in the field of law, policy-making, and parliamentary activities, harnessing the power of AI.
Way ahead
- While doing all this, it needs to be ensured that the use of AI must be encouraged in an open, transparent, and citizen-friendly manner.
- AI is a powerful tool, but at the end of the day, we should be mindful of the fact that it is a means to an end and not an end in itself.
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Daily Mains Question [Q] How can Artificial Intelligence tools be utilised for better legislation and parliamentary procedures in India? What are the challenges & effective solutions to it? |
