Parliament washout: Least productive in 18 years

The second half of the Budget Session ended Friday without any business being transacted thanks to repeated adjournments due to protests in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. According to PRS Legislative Research, the session is the least productive one Parliament saw in the past 18 years, or since 2000.

Both houses of Parliament were adjourned sine die, an expected event as the stand off between the government and opposition over issues such as Cauvery water management and banking frauds continued.

The Lok Sabha functioned for just 4 and a half hours since it began on January 1 with the second leg of the Budget Session which commenced March 5 being a complete washout. The Rajya Sabha transacted slightly longer business in 9.26 hours. In all 212.7 hours were lost in the Budget Session with Lok Sabha’s contribution being 109.48 hours.

The Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament functioned for 55.2 hours and 33.6 hours, respectively in the entire Budget Session.

Barring the key Finance Bill, Payment of Gratuity ( Amendment) Bill, 2017 (“Amendment Bill”) and Specific Relief ( Amendment) Bill, 2017, no legislative business was taken up in Lok Sabha in the second part of Budget Session.

In terms of legislative business, 1% of the productive time in Lok Sabha was spent on legislative business; 6% in Rajya Sabha.

Both sides played their own little games, as the issue of special category status to Andhra Pradesh came to a boil wth YSR Congress and TDP serving no- confidence notices. The ruckus helped the treasury benches avoid the no- trust motion resulting in a sheer waste of tax payer’s money.