House schedule may change next session
nNEW DELHI: Indian Parliament’s monsoon session might see a different daily schedule for the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha to facilitate the participation of the largest number of lawmakers possible from each House while adhering to social distancing norms necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
A senior official familiar with the matter said that while one House could start in the morning at the scheduled time of 11 am, the other House could start its proceedings in the afternoon, to ensure minimum interaction between MPS of the two Houses and adequate space for lawmakers of both. The Lok Sabha’s current strength is 542 and that of the Rajya Sabha is 242.
If this happens, it won’t be the first time parliament’s schedule has changed. During the 1962 and 1971 wars and the Emergency, the House proceedings were delayed. “This is also an emergency situation,” argued a second official familiar with the matter. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity.
“Rajya Sabha chairman Vekaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla met for two hours on Monday to discuss a new option for accommodating lawmakers while maintaining physical distance norms during the ensuing monsoon session,” said a third official.
The chambers and galleries of both Houses were inspected before a “detailed discussion on using the chambers of both the Houses for conducting the proceedings of each of the two Houses,” said the first official.
Using the chambers of both Houses for each means the two Houses can’t sit simultaneously, pointed out a fourth official.
“The proposal considered was that members of Lok Sabha would be seated in the chambers of both the Houses while Lok Sabha is in session and so is the case with Rajya Sabha whose members would sit in the chambers of both the Houses,” said the first official. Lawmakers who can’t be accommodated in the chamber will be seated in the galleries. The monsoon session of Parliament might begin after August 15 and might be shorter than usual, the officials said.
49,439
Madhya Pradesh
23,310
Dadar & Nagar Haveli
605 3
Chhattisgarh 5,598
Maharashtra
318,695
Telangana
46,274
Goa
3,853 1,028 710 191 414
3,944
8,240
Karnataka
3,648
67,420
Kerala
13,274 196 794 15,684 175,029