During the 2019 Budget Session, a total of 35 Bills were passed over 37 sittings, a record high. As many as 28 Bills were introduced and passed in this Session alone — the highest for any Session in ten years, according to PRS Legislative Research.

However, none of the Bills were referred to a committee for scrutiny. The Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Bill was discussed for just under 7.4 hours in both Houses put together.

A record high

The graph shows the number of Bills introduced and passed in the same session over the years. Two Bills in Rajya Sabha (RS) and one in Lok Sabha (LS) were introduced and passed on a single day.

Previously, the highest number of Bills passed were in the Winter Session of 2009 and the Monsoon Session of 2018, where 10 such Bills were passed.

Bills galore

Due to this Bill-passing blitz, half the time of both the Houses was spent in legislative business. Graph shows the percentage of time spent by Parliament in different roles in the latest session.

The buck stops here

While Bills were discussed for relatively longer periods than previous Lok Sabhas, none of them were referred to a Standing or Select Committee for scrutiny. For comparison, in the 15th Lok Sabha, 71% were referred to committees.

Fast and furious

The graph plots a Bill’s discussion time in Rajya Sabha against the discussion time in the Lok Sabha. Each circle refers to a Bill and its size corresponds to the number of participants in that discussion.

The Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Bill did not find a place among the five most discussed Bills; it was discussed for 4.18 hours in the Lok Sabha with 31 participants.

The highest time a Bill was discussed The National Medical Commission Bill, which aims to set up the National Medical Commission, which will bring in various changes to medical education and system.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill was the second-most discussed Bill.