Parliament washout: This Budget Session was the least productive in past 18 years

The second half of the Budget Session ended  Friday without any business being transacted thanks to repeated adjournments due to protests in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. According to PRS Legislative Research, the session is the least productive one Parliament saw in the past 18 years, or since 2000.

Both houses of Parliament were adjourned sine die, an expected event as the stand off between the government and opposition over issues such as Cauvery water management and banking frauds continued.

The Lok Sabha functioned for just 4.5 hours since it began on January 1 with the second leg of the Budget Session which commenced March 5 being a complete washout. The Rajya Sabha transacted slightly longer business in 9.26 hours. In all 212.7 hours were lost in the Budget Session with Lok Sabha’s contribution being 109.48 hours.

The Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament functioned for 55.2 hours and 33.6 hours, respectively in the entire Budget Session.

After the washout, Ananth Kumar, Parliamentary Affairs Minister said pegged the productivity in the first part of BudgetSession of Lok Sabha at 134 percent and 4 percent in the second part. He added that Rajya Sabha witnessed 96 percent productivity in the first part and 8 percent in the second part.

Barring the key Finance Bill, Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (“Amendment Bill”) and Specific Relief (Amendment) Bill, 2017, no legislative business was taken up in Lok Sabha in the second part of Budget Session.

In terms of legislative business, 1% of the productive time in Lok Sabha was spent on legislative business; 6% in Rajya Sabha.

This was the lowest time spent on legislative business for both Houses in the 16th Lok Sabha. As compared to previous Budget Sessions since 2004, on an average, Lok Sabha has spent 14% of its time on legislative business, while Rajya Sabha has spent 13%.

Rajya Sabha spent 2 hours and 52 minutes discussing legislative business. However, 98% of this time was spent on discussing Private Members’ Bills on Fridays, according to PRS Legislative.

On Friday, the Congress and BJP members traded charges in the Lok Sabha over the near washout of the session as noisy protests by AIADMK members seeking setting up of the Cauvery water management board saw the House being adjourned for the day. The proceedings in the Rajya Sabha too witnessed similar scenes. The continued ruckus forced the House to be adjourned for sine die.