NEW DELHI: Voicing concerns over declining productivity of Parliament due to disruptions of sittings, Rajya Sabha members sought to make a minimum of 120 days mandatory in a year for the Parliament to be in Session.

Discussing a private member’s legislation – The Parliament (Enhancement of Productivity) Bill, 2017 – brought by Shiromani Akali Dal member Naresh Gujral, members said also supported the proposal for extending the working hours by starting the proceedings an hour early at 10 am in the Upper House and introduction of a special session in addition to the existing three sessions.

“We are not meeting the way we should be. Members are disrupting Parliament and one feature of my bill is that if the proceedings are disrupted, then automatically the number of hours lost in disruption should get added to the session,” Gujral said while moving the bill for consideration and passage.

He added it would make the government more accountable and even disruptions would not be as many.

Gujral said now Parliament hardly meets for 70 days in a year.

“Earlier, when Rajya Sabha started to meet in 1952 after independence, Parliament would meet for over 100 days and gradually with period of time, successive governments have made sure that the duration of the sessions gets reduced.”

He said the bills are piled up and public, which spends a lot of money to run this institution, face inconvenience.

The Parliament (Enhancement of Productivity) Bill 2017, among other things, seeks to establish an effective system to prevent and address the decline in productivity of Parliament due to disrupts by an appropriate legal framework.

During the debate, some members also opined that the salary and allowances of members who disrupt proceedings should be deducted on that particular day.

Supporting the bill, Congress member Jairam Ramesh said the Rajya Sabha must have a system of a special session of 15 days, in which all parties should discuss the important national issue.

Ramesh said even if the Lok Sabha is not able to meet 100 days because a Lok Sabha MP has to cater to his constituency, the Rajya Sabha should meet for 100 days because there is no such pressure. He also supported the idea of special session for 15 days a year in which no government business is transacted, but the views raised by various parties, big and small, are taken up for discussion.

Suggesting extension of the working hours of Parliament, Ramesh said “why should we start at 11 AM? Around the world, Parliament sitting starts at 9:30 or 10 AM. When the half of the day is over, we come to Parliament,” he said suggesting that Rajya Sabha members should start at 10 AM.

The discussions on the Bill were paused due to paucity of time and will be continued when the Bill is taken up again, probably next Friday.

A demand was also made in the Rajya Sabha on Friday to direct the state governments to pay compensation to the farmers hit by deficit rains.

Raising the issue through a special mention, Samajwadi Party MP Vishambhar Prasad Nishad demanded that the state governments be directed “to pay compensation to farmers where deficit of rains have hit sowing of Kharif crops, especially in Bundelkhand (region of Uttar Pradesh ).”

