Parliament has its best Monsoon in 18 sessions

SC/ST, NCBC among 12 bills passed, talaq legislation put off

India’s most productive monsoon session of the Lok Sabha in 18 years ended on Friday. It was a session that saw a no-trust vote in the Lok Sabha that the government easily defeated; an effective floor test in the Rajya Sabha over the election of the Deputy Chairman, which the ruling alliance won despite being in minority in the Upper House; and the passage of 12 laws, including some landmark ones.

All told, the Lok Sabha functioned for 118% of the time it could have between July 18 and August 10, according to the parliamentary affairs ministry, and 84% of the Question Hour. The Question Hour is allotted for lawmakers to seek answers from ministers on various issues.

Commenting on the productive nature of this session, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, vice chancellor of Ashoka University and a political commentator, said, “This is often cyclical. The last year of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) also had one rather productive session.” He also linked it to the no-confidence vote. “In this case, it is also an outcome of a change in the strategy of the opposition. Congress and the Telugu Desam Party thought a no-confidence motion would give them more visibility and offer a national stage. Disruption, for instance, would not have given Rahul Gandhi the opportunity the debate did.” He added that the BJP also had nothing to lose since it had the numbers and went ahead with it.

“It was hard to disrupt after the no-confidence motion.”

The Rajya Sabha functioned for 68% of the time possible, according to the ministry.

Recent sessions of Parliament haven’t been as successful. The second half of the Budget session, between March 5 and April 6, was almost washed out, especially in the Upper House.

During the monsoon session the government survived the first no-confidence motion in fifteen years and the Upper House elected a new Deputy Chairman even as the Opposition stepped up its offensive against the National Democratic Alliance on issues such as the Rafale deal, exclusion of 4 million people in National Register of Citizens in Assam and non-implementation of promises to Andhra Pradesh.

As many as 17 bills were introduced during the session and the Lok Sabha spent the most time—49 out of 102 hours—in legislative business. A PRS Legislative Research analysis said this is “the highest amount of time spent on legislative business by both Houses in the 16th Lok Sabha; (and the) second highest since 2004.”

Congress leaders came out on the street inside the Parliament complex to protest against the government on Friday, but barring some sporadic protests, there was no threat of a washout, like the second half of the last Budget session.