The 16th Lok Sabha was the most productive of Monsoon Sessions since the year 2000. The Rajya Sabha, however, lost time due to disruptions, especially over the draft National Register of Citizens, PRS Legislative reported.
The Monsoon Session of the Parliament started on July 18 and was adjourned on Friday. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said this session was “more productive and satisfactory” than the previous one.
The productivity of the 16th Lok Sabha was 86% and that of the Rajya Sabha was 67%. The productivity of Lok Sabha during Monsoon Session has been at 110% only on two occasions – 2000 and 2005.
In this session, the Lok Sabha spent 50% of its time on legislative business while the Rajya Sabha spent 47%. This is the second-highest since 2004.
Twenty bills were introduced in Parliament during this session, of which 12 were passed by at least one House of the Parliament. The Parliament passed the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2018, and the Constitution (123rd Amendment) Bill and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance during this session.
Only 26% bills were referred to Parliamentary Committees, compared to 71% during the 15th Lok Sabha and 60% during the 14th Lok Sabha.
The session has also been one of the most productive during Question Hours, with the Lower House functioning for 84% of the scheduled Question Hour time and the Upper House functioning for 64% time. As many as 999 Private Member Bills were introduced in the Lok Sabha during this session – the highest since 2000.
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