Parliament functions 18 of 107 working hours in first two weeks of Monsoon session

Since the commencement of the Monsoon session on July 19, the Parliament has functioned only 18 hours out of possible 107 hours leading to the loss of taxpayers money amounting to more than Rs 133 crores.

The business of both the Houses of the Parliament remained majorly disrupted due to the continuous ruckus created by the Opposition over the issues including farmers' protest, Pegasus spyware, COVID-19 and inflation.

According to official sources, Lok Sabha has only been allowed to function for about 7 hours out of possible 54 hours while Rajya Sabha has been allowed to function for 11 hours out of possible 53 hours.

So far, the Parliament has functioned only 18 hours out of the possible 107 hours. Around 89 hours of working time have been wasted. This means that the total loss to the taxpayers' money is more than Rs 133 crores, said sources.

The productivity of the Upper House fell drastically in the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Parliament as the Rajya Sabha Secretariat in an official notification informed that the House lost 40 out of 50 working hours during the first two weeks of the session.

"With disruptions continuing, the productivity of Rajya Sabha fell to 13.70 per cent during the second week of the ongoing monsoon session from 32.20 per cent during the first week, resulting in the overall productivity of 21.60 per cent for the first two weeks. Of the total 50 working hours available, 39 hours 52 minutes have been lost due to disruptions. The House, however, sat for 1 hour 12 minutes beyond the scheduled time, but for which the productivity would have been much lower," read the official notification.

During the nine sittings of these first two weeks, Rajya Sabha only had 1 hour 38 minutes of Question Hour, which is primarily meant for ensuring the accountability of the executive to the Parliament; 1 hour 24 minutes for legislative business passing four Bills with seven members intervening; 1 minute of Zero Hour and another 4 minutes on Special Mentions.

COVID-19 related issues were discussed for 4 hours 37 minutes during the first week and the Minister for IT made/laid a Statement on the Pegasus spyware issue during the first week.

For the first time, the Secretariat has started reporting in the daily Bulletins, the business of the House that could not be taken up. During the first two weeks of the current session, 130 Zero Hour Submissions and 87 Special Mentions, through which the Members raise issues of public importance could not be taken through as they were admitted by the Chairman.

The Bills passed so far are the Marine Aids to Navigation Bill, 2021; the Juvenile Justice Amendment Bill, 2021; the Factoring Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and The Coconut Development Board (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

The Limited Liability Partnership (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and The Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 were among the four Bills introduced in the Rajya Sabha.

Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, during the all-party meeting ahead of the Session and the Business Advisory Committee meeting during the first week, has urged the Government and the leaders of various parties to discuss the legislative and other business to be taken up in the House and also has been talking to them separately to enable smooth functioning of the House.