NewDelhi: Rajya Sabha lost 40 out 50 working hours during the first two weeks of the monsoon session due to ongoing disruptions and opposition walkouts on Pegasus and farmer protest issues. According to the House Secretariat, Rajya Sabha’s productivity fell to 13.70 percent during the second week of the ongoing monsoon session from 32.20 percent during the first week, for a total productivity of 21.60 percent for the first two weeks.
Due to disruptions, 39 hours and 52 minutes of the entire 50 possible working hours were lost. On the other hand, the House sat for 1 hour and 12 minutes longer than scheduled, but the productivity would have been much lower.
During the nine sittings of the first two weeks, Rajya Sabha could only have 1 hour 38 minutes of Question Hour, which is primarily intended to ensure the executive’s accountability to Parliament. It had one hour and twenty-four minutes for legislative business, passing four bills with seven members intervening, one minute of Zero Hour, and four minutes for Special Mentions. During the first week, Covid-19-related issues were discussed for 4 hours 37 minutes, and the Minister for IT issued a statement on the Pegasus spyware issue.
For the first time, the Secretariat has begun reporting in the daily Bulletins, the business of the House that could not be taken up. Although admitted by the chairman, 130 Zero Hour Submissions and 87 Special Mentions, by which members highlight issues of public concern, could not be taken during the first two weeks of the current session.
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Chairman Venkaiah Naidu has urged the government and the leaders of various parties to discuss the legislative and other business to be taken up in the House during the all-party meeting ahead of the session and the Business Advisory Committee meeting during the first week and has also been talking to them separately to ensure the smooth functioning of the House.
Meanwhile, BJP too is trying to reach the opposition through an all-party meet but all in vain due to the adamant attitude of some opposition parties. The opposition has to think it over that its taxpayer’s hard-earned which is getting wasted when ‘opposition just opposes for the sake of opposition’ rather than for any concrete issue.
