Amid disruptions, Parliament adjourned sine die ahead of schedule

The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned sine die ahead of schedule. The winter session was scheduled to culminate on 23 December, Thursday. The winter session of Parliament that concluded on Wednesday saw another low productive outcome as suspension of 12 Rajya Sabha members led to constant disruption by the opposition demanding revocation of the move, protests over the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, and other issues. The Rajya Sabha clocked a productivity of 47.90% during the 18 sittings, making it the fifth-lowest productive session under the chairmanship of Venkaiah Naidu, while the productivity of the Lok Sabha was higher at 60%.

As per available data, out of the total scheduled sitting time of 95 hours 6 minutes, the Rajya Sabha could discharge business only for roughly 45 hours. A total time period of 49 hours 32 minutes was lost due to constant disruptions and adjournments. The time lost amounts to 52.08% of available time. During the last day of the session, chairman Venkaiah Naidu showed his unhappiness over the functioning of the Parliament during the winter session.

In his remarks, the chairman asked members to collectively reflect and introspect on the way the session proceeded. He said, “I am not happy to share with you that the House functioned much below its potential, I urge all of you to collectively and individually reflect and introspect if this Session could have been different and better. I don’t want to speak elaborately on the course of this session as it would lead me to take a very critical view.”

The winter session that commenced on 29 November saw stormy scenes as the chairman of the Rajya Sabha suspended 12 members of the opposition parties over their unruly behaviour during the monsoon session in August. The members who were suspended are Elamaram Kareem (CPM), Phulo Devi Netam (INC), Chhaya Verma (INC), Ripun Bora (INC), Binoy Viswam (CPI), Rajamani Patel (INC), Dola Sen (TMC), Shanta Chhetri (TMC), Syed Nasir Hussain (INC), Priyanka Chaturvedi (Shiv Sena), Anil Desai (Shiv Sena), Akhilesh Prasad Singh (INC). Since then, Opposition members created a constant uproar in Parliament leading to multiple adjournments.

Meanwhile, amid the uproar, the Upper House passed 10 bills, including those related to electoral reforms and surrogacy. A total time of 21 hours was spent on discussing the government bills including the Appropriation Bill, which accounted for 46.50% of the functional time of the House. The discussion on the Appropriation Bill scheduled to be concluded on the last day today was not taken up.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with top members of his cabinet in the Parliament to discuss various issues and the government’s strategy.