NEW DELHI: The first session of the 17th Lok Sabha spread across 280 hours and over 37 sittings saw 35 bills passed. In his valedictory address at the end of the session, Speaker Om Birla shared that the number of bills passed was higher when compared to what transpired in the first session of the first Lok sabha in 1952 when in 67 sittings 24 bills were passed.

The list of bills passed include the landmark legislations including the the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill and the law against instant triple talaq—the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill. Some of the other bills passed during this session include the The Code on Wages, 2019, The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019 and The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill among others.

The productivity of the Lok Sabha session, as per the report of the secretariat, is estimated to be 125%. In the Lok Sabha session that started on June 17 and concluded on Tuesday, 35 bills were passed. As many as 183 starred questions were answered. The members spent 70 hours 42 minutes as extra time over the average six hour daily sittings.

Out of 265 first time MPs nearly all got the opportunity to speak either during Zero Hour or during any other discussion. Of the new MPs, 229 got the opportunity to speak during Zero Hour. Out of the 46 first time elected women MPs, 42 spoke during Zero Hour.

During the session, on an average 7.6 questions were answered daily. A comparison from 1996 to 2019 shows that the daily average was 3.6 questions answered daily on average.

A parallel analysis of Parliament’s performance by PRS Legislative Research team shows shows that Lok Sabha worked for 281 hours which is 135% of the scheduled hours. This is higher than any other session of Parliament in the past 20 years. On average, Lok Sabha has worked for 81% of its scheduled time in the past 20 years. Lok Sabha spent 46% of its time on legislative business and Rajya Sabha spent 51%. The Upper House will have its last session on Wednesday.

In its analysis, PRS notes that while this session accounts for the highest number of bills passed in one session in 10 years, none of the bills introduced in this session were referred to a committee. Out of the bills passed by Parliament, five bills had been scrutinised by committees in some form during the period of previous Lok Sabha.

Also 36% of questions were answered orally in Lok Sabha which is also the highest in the last 20 years. Also 94% first-term MPs participated in a debate during the session and 96% women MPs participated.

It is assessed that during the budget Session, 25 bills (66%) were discussed within five working days from their introduction. Three bills were introduced, discussed, and passed on the same day in Rajya Sabha.

