11 bills cleared in truncated budget session of Parliament

New Delhi: Indian Parliament’s truncated budget session ended on Wednesday after both Houses cleared 1q bills including the controversial legislation that defined the Delhi government as LG

New Delhi: Indian Parliament’s truncated budget session ended on Wednesday after both Houses cleared 1q bills including the controversial legislation that defined the Delhi government as LG. It was the second session to be held amid the Covid-19 pandemic, after last year’s monsoon session.

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None of the 13 bills introduced in the session has been referred to parliamentary Committees. According to the PRS Legislative Research, in the current Lok Sabha, so far just 11% of the introduced Bills have been referred for parliamentary scrutiny. The rate is much lower than the 14th (60%), 15th (71%), and 16th (27%) Lok Sabhas.

The session was cut short by 10 days as many lawmakers wanted to return to their states ahead of the ensuing assembly elections in four states and the union territory of Puducherry.

The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha saw massive protests over soaring fuel prices and vocal opposition to the three contentious farm bills washed out almost the entire first week. But both Houses worked overtime and the Lok Sabha eventually clocked 114% productivity and the Rajya Sabha, 85% in the second half of the budget session that began on March 8.

For the first time since the pandemic began, both Houses of Parliament returned to their usual schedule and social distancing norms were partially waived off even as a large section of the MPs remained busy in the poll campaign. The changes were made on account of low attendance, but also a recognition of the low incidence of cases when the session began, and the launch of India’s Covid-19 vaccine drive in January. Unfortunately, the session ended with a surging second wave of infections across the country.

The Question Hour and the Zero Hour also returned in the daily schedule after the last session (monsoon, 2020) dispensed with both.

The session started with the President’s address, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave his first speech in Parliament after the enactment of the three contentious farm laws in which he told farmers that the government’s doors are always open for talks.

The Lok Sabha alone cleared 18 bills, at times worked till midnight and recorded participation of 146 lawmakers in the budget debate that alone lasted for almost 15 hours. After the first week was washed out in disruptions, the Lower House sat late for more than 48 hours to make up for the lost time.

Amid the second wave of the Covid pandemic, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who played a key role in resolving the stalemate in the first week, tested positive and missed the last four days of the session. This is the first time, Birla, working without a deputy Speaker since June 2019, missed the proceedings.

In his valedictory address, Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu informed that the Upper House spent 104 hours and 23 minutes against the total scheduled time of 116 hours and 31 minutes. It lost 21 hours and 26 minutes due to disruptions but worked for extra 14 hours and 28 minutes. Naidu pointed out that the overall productivity of the last five sessions including the latest one was about 94%.

Naidu admitted that while efforts are on to improve functioning of the House panels, “there are some areas of concern, such as less attendance of Members and the duration of the meetings, which need further improvement.” He asked party leaders to “sensitize their members” to take the committees’ work “seriously”.

The Lok Sabha issued a statement to underline that a total of 583 matters of Urgent Public Importance and a total of 405 matters under Rule 377 were taken up while 48 statements were given by ministers. In the Rajya Sabha, the Union Budget was discussed for 10 hours and 43 minutes on three days. As many as 199 Members participated in the discussion on bills in the Upper House.

The next session of Parliament is scheduled to meet in July but the final schedule will be decided keeping in mind the Covid situation.

In a press conference after the end of the session, the Congress criticised the government for not sending a single bill to House panels for scrutiny. The Congress’ chief whip in the Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh said: “All these bills will be challenged in courts in the future. The government can claim it was a productive session. But it was possible only because the Congress offered a constructive support to the government to run Parliament.”

Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, Ramesh and Congress Lok Sabha leader Ravneet Singh Bittu also alleged that the government is selling off public assets to a handful of industrialists. They also added that the Congress was not in the favour of adjourning the session two weeks before its scheduled close.

“We highlighted fuel price rise and all issues of the people before the House. But the government brazenly runs the House as it has brute majority. In UPA days, we used to listen to all members,” said Kharge.