As per a legislative research body, the budget session of the Parliament that came to an end today was the least productive ever since the year 2000. The parliament only seems to be turning into a battleground where the Congress and BJP only plant attacks on one another and cast blames for the standoff during the session which saw commotions on a daily basis in both the Houses.
As per the data furnished by Ananth Kumar, the Parliamentary Affairs minister, the productivity of the Lok Sabha came out to be 134 percent and for Rajya Sabha, it was 96 percent during the transitory Part I session. The Part I session had eight RS sittings and seven LS sittings.
However, the Part II session that started off on 5 March saw the productivity a steep low due to daily commotions and adjournments. The productivity of the LS was 4 percent and of the RS it was eight percent, said the minister.
He said, “The productivity of the complete Budget session was 23 percent for the LS and 28 percent for the RS”.
As per the PRS Legislative Research, “This was the least productive Budget session for both Houses since 2000″.
As per the data of PRS, during the session, Lok Sabha functioned 21 percent of its planned time, whereas the Rajya Sabha functioned for 27 percent on an average.
General P D T Acharya, the former Lok Sabha Secretary stated that the productivity of the session that just ended reminds him the Winter session in the year 2010 when the 2G scam had led to its complete disaster.
The protests by BJP and other parties seemed to have shaken the Parliament after the CAG had released the reports of the alleged 2G scam.
Both the RS and the LS could make use of just six percent and two percent of the assigned time.
However, the UPA government in order to avert another washout consented to form a Joint Parliamentary Committee on the 2G scam in the Budget session of the year 2011. Acharya stated, that being the leader of the House, the prime minister has the authority to make sure that the House works. He had the standpoint, that the Parliament “can function if the government wants”.
He said, “Disruptions for a couple of days is alright, but legislations have to be passed…disruptions should not happen daily”.
A number of MPs have given notices to move the no-trust motion in the Lok Sabha against the government. However, because of the commotions caused by the different members voicing different issues like PNB scam, Cauvery dispute and special status to Andhra Pradesh, it could not be passed. This was the first time that a notice was given to move a no-trust motion in the 16th Lok Sabha.
The PRS Legislative Research stated, “A no-confidence motion was also moved in the 15th Lok Sabha in 2013 but was not discussed. In the 14th Lok Sabha, a no-confidence motion was converted to a confidence vote, which the government had won”.
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