Question-hour back to 11 am in Rajya Sabha

The Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha is set to return to its original slot of 11 am – with which the daily proceedings of the House will begin during the monsoon session of parliament which starts next month.

The Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha is set to return to its original slot of 11 am – with which the daily proceedings of the House will begin during the monsoon session of parliament which starts next month.

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Rajya Sabha chairman, Hamid Ansari, had shifted the Question Hour to the post-lunch proceedings during the budget session, in a bid to save it from frequent disruptions during the morning hours.

Ansari had, however, made it clear that the decision had been made on an experimental basis to see whether having the Question Hour, during which the MPs get a chance to put their queries directly to the ministers, could be saved from getting lost regularly.

During a meeting with the leaders of political parties convened by Ansari last week, there was almost complete unanimity that the Question Hour should be restored to its original slot of 11 am.

“All the political parties want that the proceedings of the day should begin with the Question Hour,” said a leader who attended the meeting.

“Since the fixing of the timing for the Question Hour was the chairman’s prerogative, therefore he has been apprised of the sense of the House and the official decision is expected soon,” the leader said.

Ansari had shifted the Question Hour from March 7 to 2 pm from Mondays to Thursdays and to 2:30 pm on Fridays.

The Rajya Sabha proceedings during the budget session used to begin with the Zero Hour – during which the members are allowed to raise any issue, which they consider important.

Infact, the Lok Sabha Speaker, Meira Kumar was also reportedly in favour of shifting the Question Hour, but she preferred to watch how it worked in the Rajya Sabha first.