Opposition members protesting in the well of the Rajya Sabha (PTI photo) Opposition members protesting in the well of the Rajya Sabha (PTI photo)

The fight between the government and the opposition has cost the legislative business in Parliament dearly. In a monsoon session that was essentially washed out thanks to relentless protests mounted by the Congress party and a government not acceding to demands of resignations of its tallest leaders, the Rajya Sabha’s overall productivity was 9 per cent, data from PRS, a research organisation that monitors parliamentary proceedings, show.

The data show that 45.7 hours were spent in the Lok Sabha during the entire session and just 8.5 hours in the Rajya Sabha. In the budget session, 244.6 hours and 182.7 hours were spent in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively.

Lawmakers in the Rajya Sabha spent just 8.5 hours for business in this session of Parliament (Image source: PRS) Lawmakers in the Rajya Sabha spent just 8.5 hours for business in this session of Parliament (Image source: PRS)

Right from day one, the Congress has demanded the resignations of Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje and Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan in connection with the Lalit Modi and Vyapam controversies. But the government put out a strong defence of its leaders refusing to the resignation demand of the opposition. However, it said that it was willing to debate and deliberate on the issue. That debate finally happened on the second last day of the Monsoon session when a war of words took place between Swaraj and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi.

Today, on the last day of the session, both houses adjourned sine die without any major business being transacted. The session was a major disappointment for the Centre which had aimed to pass the GST bill pending in the Rajya Sabha. The bill’s passage was important for the government to revive the growth process and put the economy back on track.

Data from PRS show that this session has marked a major low especially in Rajya Sabha where it recorded 9 per cent productivity, compared to the earlier budget session when it had recorded an astounding 102 per cent. The performance of the Lok Sabha was equally disappointing. In this session, the lower house had a productivity of 48 per cent, compared to 122 per cent in the earlier session.

The data also shows that much of the Parliament’s time has been spent on non-legislative business, including discussions and deliberations. In Lok Sabha, 20.4 hours were spent on non-legislative business and 2 hours in the Rajya Sabha. And what was the time spent on legislative business in the Upper House? 0.1 hours. Yes, that’s true. It also must be noted that both Houses suffered repeated adjournments on several days, thus resulting in lower-than-normal business.

7.6 hours in the Lok Sabha and 0.1 hours in the Rajya Sabha were spent on legislative business in monsoon session (Image source: PRS) 7.6 hours in the Lok Sabha and 0.1 hours in the Rajya Sabha were spent on legislative business in monsoon session (Image source: PRS)

The Monsoon session was also perhaps the worst ever parliamentary session in getting crucial legislation passed. According to PRS, out of six bills introduced in the Lok Sabha, only two of them were able to be passed. Both of them were not passed in Rajya Sabha. In the last session, a total of 18 bills were introduced in the lower house out of which 11 were passed in that house. Seven bills were passed in both Houses last session.

The longest discussion that took place in the Lok Sabha was on August 12 when an adjournment motion introduced by the Congress was accepted by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan in connection with allegations that Swaraj helped Lalit Modi get travel documents to be with his ill wife. That discussion took 4 hours and 47 minutes. The second longest discussion, on farmer suicides in Karnataka, was of a duration of 28 minutes.

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