Rajya Sabha clocks 99% productivity as 1st part of Budget session ends

The Rajya Sabha clocked 99 percent productivity during the two-week long first part of the dual phase Budget session of Parliament, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said Friday.

The House broke for a three-week recess on Friday after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's reply to a discussion on the budget for the fiscal year beginning April 1. The recess will allow parliamentary committees to examine the budget allocation for various ministries.

Parliament will now meet on March 8 for the second part of the Budget session. "I am happy to inform you that this part of the session has been quite productive with the House clocking 99 percent productivity," Naidu said before adjourning the proceedings till March 8.

Besides discussion on the Budget, the House also debated for 15 hours on a motion thanking the President for his address to the joint sitting of Parliament at the start of the Budget session. Prime Minister Narendra Modi replied to that debate earlier this week. "The productivity of the House during this week has been 113 percent as against the productivity of 82 percent during the first week," he said. "As against the total scheduled time of 45 hours 4 minutes, net of only 30 minutes has been lost due to disruptions," Naidu said.