Parliament disruptions wash out Budget Session, 250 working hours lost

The second leg of the Budget Session ended in a washout on Friday as both Houses of Parliament were adjourned sine dine, bringing to a close a month of pandemonium and repeated disruptions that saw a total of nearly 250 working hours wasted.

In the session that began on March 5, the Lok Sabha lost 127 hours and 45 minutes while the Rajya Sabha lost more than 121 hours. The notices of no-confidence motion moved by the opposition against the government could not be taken up in the Lower House.

Parties across the line protested against a variety of issues — from special status to Andhra Pradesh and the PNB-Nirav Modi bank scam to the demand for a Cauvery water management board and the vandalising of statues.

An anguished Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu asked the protestors not to make the Rajya Sabha a “clog in the wheel” of progress, while Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said they should keep in mind the larger interests of the nation.

Lok Sabha

“Today is the last day. If you are not ready... I will adjourn the House sine die,” a visibly peeved Mahajan told MPs from the AIADMK, Congress and TDP on Friday.

She said she wanted to take up the notices for no- confidence motion.

“I am sorry... if you don’t want to take up (notices for no-confidence motion),” said Mahajan and proceeded to read out a brief summary of the Budget session.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present in the House.

In her summary report, Mahajan said the House functioned for a total of 34 hours and 5 minutes during the 29 sittings.

A total of 127 hours and 45 minutes were affected due to “interruptions and forced adjournments”. Around 9 hours and 47 minutes went in to transact urgent government business, Mahajan said.

According to her, out of the 580 starred questions, answers were given to 17 of them in the floor of the House and this translates to “0.58” questions being answered on an average every day.

Written replies for remaining starred questions and 6,670 unstarred questions were tabled in the House.

Just five bills were passed — including The Finance Bill 2018, The Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and The Specific Relief (Amendment) Bill, 2017 — and five were introduced during in this session.

Discussions on Presidential address took place for 10 hours and 43 minutes while that on the Budget went on for 12 hours and 13 minutes.

“This House is a sacred platform for members to raise issues related to public interest and public welfare,” Mahajan said even as she emphasised that they need to keep in mind the larger interest of the country. “I have always tried that members who have given notices raise their issues in the House...,” she said.

Opposition members protest in the Well of the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. (PTI)

Rajya Sabha

Do not make the Rajya Sabha a “clog in the wheel” of progress, Naidu cautioned MPs before adjourning the Upper House, which sat for 44 hours and lost over 121 hours.

Of the 419 starred questions listed, only five were replied to orally by the concerned ministers in the House. The Question Hour could not be taken up for 27 days “due to pandemonium and interruptions in the House over one or the other issue”, Naidu said.

“I am pained to note that it turned out to be an eminently forgettable one on account of utter disregard of the mandate of this important parliamentary institution and its responsibilities and missed opportunities,” Naidu said in his concluding address to the 245th session of Rajya Sabha.

He noted that there was a “total breakdown” in communication among various sections of the House that was “at the root of the prolonged stalemate that ruined the session.”

“This is not good for our parliamentary democracy of which our country has come to acquire a pride of place,” he said, adding “we are all losers. This includes the opposition, the ruling party, the government and most importantly, the people and the nation”.