LS worked for 45 hours, RS for 31 in Budget Session, says think tank

Lok Sabha could function for only 45 hours this Budget Session against its scheduled 133.6 hours because of daily disruptions and frequent adjournments, a think tank data has shown.

Rajya Sabha worked for over 31 hours out of 130 hours in the same session, the data said. 

The second half of the Budget Session was hamstrung by frequent disruptions throughout before it was adjourned sine die on Thursday.

As the 17th Lok Sabha enters the final year of its term, the think tank said that the average number of sittings of this Lok Sabha, which is 58 days a year, could make it the shortest full term Lok Sabha since 1952.

The Budget session of Parliament was held from January 31, 2023 to April 6, 2023, with a recess from February 14 to March 12.

According to data compiled by PRS Legislative Research, the productivity, which is the percentage of time the House functioned, was 34.38 per cent for the Lower House in the Budget Session.

The only time the Lok Sabha's productivity was lower was in the Monsoon Session of 2021, when it functioned only 20.93 per cent of the scheduled time.

The Rajya Sabha meanwhile recorded its lowest productivity since 2019, functioning only around 24 per cent of its scheduled time. In the Monsoon Session of 2021, its productivity was around 28 per cent.

The just-concluded session saw limited legislative activity, and minimal discussion on the budget amid continuous disruptions.

Legislative business took less than an hour in the Lok Sabha, while in Rajya Sabha it took only around two minutes. Financial Business took 17.25 hours in Lok Sabha and 18.23 hours in Rajya Sabha.

Both Houses witnessed repeated adjournments of the Question Hour throughout the session.

The Lok Sabha could take questions for 4.32 hours while the figure for Rajya Sabha was worse at 1.85 hours for the entire Budget Session.

In his concluding remarks, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said the House held discussions on the General Budget for 14.45 hours, and 145 MPs participated in it. Discussions on the motion of thanks to the President's Address were held for 13.44 hours with participation of 143 MPs.

In the Lok Sabha, eight government bills were introduced, six were passed, and 29 questions were answered orally, Birla said.

Excluding the Finance and Appropriation Bills, The Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was the only Bill passed during this session. Both bills were passed without any discussion by either House.

Three bills were introduced, one of which, the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023, was referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee.

In both houses, productivity was higher in the first half of the Budget Session.

In the Lok Sabha, the productivity of the first part was 83.80 percent, which dropped to 5.29 percent in the second half.

Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar meanwhile informed the House that its productivity in the first part of the Budget Session was 56.3 per cent, which plummeted to an abysmal 6.4 per cent in the second part.  According to PRS, the Parliament has functioned for 230 sitting days so far.

Of all the Lok Sabhas that completed the full five-year term, the 16th Lok Sabha -- elected in 2014 -- recorded the lowest number of sitting days, having sat for 331 days in five years.

With one more year remaining in the term, and 58 average sitting days a year, the 17th Lok Sabha is unlikely to sit for more than 331 days. This could make it the shortest full term Lok Sabha since 1952.

This has been the sixth shortest budget session since 1952.