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Marred by disruptions over SIR, stormy monsoon session ends
Parliament's session ended with disruptions, low productivity, and the passage of key bills, including tax and sports governance reforms.
One of the most eventful sessions of Parliament, which witnessed the unexpected exit of former Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, ended on Thursday, marred by disruption and the passage of some important pieces of legislation.
With several days washed out in protest over the special intensive revision of voter roll in Bihar and the aggressive protest against the 130th Constitution amendment bill, the Lok Sabha’s productivity slipped to 30.6%. It worked for 37 hours and 7 minutes and wasted 84 hours and five minutes—highest in the 18th Lok Sabha—according to parliamentary data. The Upper House clocked 38.88% productivity as it worked for only 41 hours and 15 minutes. Less than 10% of questions could be answered orally in both Houses.
Fourteen government bills were introduced in the Lok Sabha and a total of 15 bills were passed by both Houses during the session. House panels submitted 89 reports, the highest in the 18th Lok Sabha so far, during the session.
A new Income Tax bill to simplify the tax law, the National Sports governance Bill that aims to reform sports administration, and The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill to ban online money games and its promotion were among the key pieces of legislation passed in the month-long session. Union home minister Amit Shah introduced the 130th Constitution amendment bill and two supplementary bills that aimed to remove chief ministers, ministers (and even the PM) if they are arrested or detained for 30 consecutive days for crimes with punishment of more than five years in jail. These three bills were referred to Joint Committees.
The amendments to the Jan Vishwas law and the insolvency and bankruptcy code amendments were referred to Select Committees of the Lok Sabha.
An angry Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla reminded lawmakers, “The entire country watches our conduct and our functioning as public representatives. The public has great expectations from us that we have serious and meaningful discussions on their problems and issues of wider public interest, on important bills, in accordance with the decorum of Parliament.”
“Sloganeering, displaying placards and planned deadlock in the Lok Sabha or Parliament premises is against parliamentary decorum. The kind of language and conduct seen in this session is not in accordance with the dignity of Parliament. Our language in the House and the Parliament premises should always be restrained and decent,” Birla said, as he questioned the tactics of planned disruptions of the Opposition.
“Agreement and disagreement is a natural process of democracy, but our collective effort should be that the House runs with dignity, decorum and decency,” he said, asking parties and MPs to introspect on this issue.
The session started on July 21. That evening, then Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar suddenly tendered his resignation citing health issues after acknowledging an Opposition-sponsored notice for the removal of justice Yashwant Varma, even as the government planned to bring the motion in the Lok Sabha. Many Opposition MPs alleged that Dhankhar was forced to leave. His incommunicado status since his exit continues to be a hot topic for the Opposition.
The session also coincided with the preparations for the Vice President election. The NDA fielded former Maharashtra governor PC Radhakrishnan while the Opposition nominated former Supreme Court judge B Sudershan Reddy.
Both Houses had a two-day-long, intense debate on Operation Sindoor in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh, external affairs minister S Jaishankar and BJP chief and health minister JP Nadda participated.
The Opposition quickly shifted it’s focus on SIR after the Pahalgam debate, and the two Houses suffered frequent disruptions and adjournments. The Opposition demanded a debate on the SIR but the government argued that no minister can reply on behalf of the Election Commission, leading to a stalemate during the session.
The logjam worsened in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday when Shah tabled the 130th Constitution amendment and two supplementary bills.. Opposition MPs and government ministers nearly came to a scuffle as torn copies of the bill were thrown and Trinamool Congress MPs raised slogans from the Well. In the Rajya Sabha too, noisy protests greeted Shah on Thursday when he proposed that the three bills should be sent to a Joint Committee.
During the session, the Lok Sabha started the process of impeachment of justice Varma and constituted a three-member committee to investigate the charges of keeping undisclosed sums of money at his residence. But no private members’ business was held in either House during this session. According to PRS Legislative Research. “Private member Bills have not been introduced or discussed for over a year in Lok Sabha.”
“No questions were answered orally on 12 days in Rajya Sabha and seven days in Lok Sabha. Ministers gave oral response to 8% of starred questions in Lok Sabha, and 5% of starred questions in Rajya Sabha,” added PRS.
Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju said the session was “fruitful and successful” for the country and the government but “unsuccessful and damaging” for the Opposition.
He said the government, despite the Opposition’s disruption, managed to get all its business transacted.
“The monsoon session has been very useful. However, it was a major loss for Opposition MPs, especially the newly elected ones, as they did not even get a chance to speak in the House... Opposition leaders are themselves responsible for this,” he said.
In the Rajya Sabha, deputy chairman Harivansh said the proceedings were marred by disruptions and resulted in business being impacted.
“Despite the best efforts of the Chair to facilitate meaningful and disruption-free discussions on the listed business, this session was regrettably marred by repeated disruptions, leading to frequent adjournments. This not only resulted in the loss of precious parliamentary time but also deprived us of the opportunity to deliberate upon several matters of public importance,” he said.
The Upper House, he said, functioned for only 41 hours and 15 minutes. “The productivity of this session stood at a disappointing 38.88%, something that calls for serious introspection,” Harivansh said.
“We had the opportunity to raise 285 Questions, 285 Zero Hour submissions, and 285 Special Mentions. However, only 14 Questions, 7 Zero Hour submissions, and 61 Special Mentions could actually be taken up,” he added.
