Monsoon session brought to early close amid turmoil

Saubhadra Chatterji and Smriti Kak Ramachandran

The monsoon session of Parliament, characterised by strident protests by the Opposition, repeated disruptions that made it among the worst sittings in terms of time, a focused and accelerated push of key laws by the government, and plain acrimony, came to a premature end on Wednesday when it was adjourned ahead of schedule.

By legislation, it was a good session.

The government successfully managed to introduce 15 bills and get Parliament’s approval for 20, although this meant some were passed in minutes with no one other than the minister in charge speaking. By time, it was a bad session. The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha functioned for just 22% and 28% of their allocated time, respectively. The Lok Sabha used just 21 hours and 14 minutes of the stipulated time of 96 hours -- the lowest since the winter session of 2016, when opposition parties took on the government over demonetisation.

The Rajya Sabha used 28 hours 21 minutes out of its stipulated 102 hours. In the past 10 years, the Rajya Sabha has functioned for less than 25% of its scheduled time during only six sessions.

And in terms of acrimony, it was an ugly session that saw it

NEW DELHI:

PRODUCTIVITY HIT

KEY BILLS CLEARED 127th Constitution Amendment bill, 2021

The Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021

The Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2021

The Essential Defence Services Bill, 2021

The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2021

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