Friday, 17 May, 2024
By: Yash Gupte
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, making it the shortest full term Lok Sabha since 1952. Image Source: IANS
Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal said, “The productivity of Lok Sabha during the budget session of 2023 was approximately 34 percent and that of the Rajya Sabha was 24.4 percent.”
The much heated budget session of the parliament came to an end as both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned sine die on Thursday, April 6, 2023. The budget session of 2023 witnessed heated arguments between the ruling BJP and the opposition. The BJP kept insisting on an apology from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his “democracy under threat” remarks in the United Kingdom while the opposition remained adamant on its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani- Hindenburg issue. Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal said, “The productivity of Lok Sabha during the budget session of 2023 was approximately 34 percent and that of the Rajya Sabha was 24.4 percent.”
The budget session was held in two phases- the first phase of the session commenced on January 31, 2023 and came to an end on February 14. The second session which began on March 12 and came to an end on April 6 was one of the least productive sessions as the lower house of the parliament- Lok Sabha worked for 5 percent and the upper house- Rajya Sabha worked for 6 percent of the scheduled time, spending most of the time on the procedural work of tabling papers. According to the PRS Legislative Research, the Lok Sabha functioned for over 45.9 hours out of the scheduled duration of 133.6 hours while the Rajya Sabha functioned for only 31.8 hours against the scheduled duration of 130 hours.
The 17th Lok Sabha has held sittings for 230 days till date as it enters the last year of its tenure. The 16th Lok Sabha had the lowest sitting days (331) out of all the Lok Sabhas that served their whole five-year terms. 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.
Source: PRS Legislative Research
(*Term less than 5 years; **6 year term. Figures for the 17th Lok Sabha are till Budget Session 2023)
Since 1952, this has been the sixth shortest budget session. The general discussion of the budget took up 16 of the 18 hours the Lok Sabha devoted to financial matters. In the previous budget sessions of the 17th Lok Sabha, financial business was discussed for 55 hours on average. Though the expenditure of five ministries amounting to Rs 11 lakh crore was listed for discussion in Lok Sabha, none were discussed. The proposed expenditure of all the ministries amounting to Rs 42 lakh crore, was approved without any debate or discussion. In the last seven years, on average, 79 percent of the budget has been passed without any discussion.
The Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was the only bill passed in the budget session (excluding Finance and Appropriation Bills). All the bills were passed without any discussion in both the houses. In the budget session, the question hour functioned for 19 percent of scheduled time in Lok Sabha and 9 percent in Rajya Sabha.
