Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned sine die on Thursday, nearly two weeks before schedule keeping in mind requests made for curtailment of the second part of the Budget session by MPs belonging to West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry and Kerala owing to the Assembly polls. The session that started on January 29 (first part) was to run till April 8 in the second part after having recommenced on March 8 after a break.
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Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi, briefing after the end of the session, said: “It was curtailed ahead of schedule due to the demands made by various political parties and Assembly elections in four States and one Union Territory.” The overhang of the contests of the Assembly polls was seen during the session with frequent references to poll issues in West Bengal during the debates.
Earlier in the day, Bhratruhari Mahtab, who was presiding officer in the Lok Sabha as part of the 10-member panel of presiding officers, commended Speaker Om Birla, who is down with COVID-19, for the arrangements made for the conduct of the House in the midst of the pandemic. In fact, while the first two days of Parliament in the second part of the session were for limited five-hour sittings, the time period of the sittings was made regular again with both Houses running concurrently.
Mr. Mahtab, in the valedictory address, revealed that despite disruptions, the session clocked 114% in productivity with 24 sittings, which lasted over 132 hours. Seventeen government bills were introduced and 18 passed, including the finance and appropriations Bills. Around 171 reports were tabled by various parliamentary committees and 84 starred questions were answered orally.
The tally for the Rajya Sabha was also impressive with again, 23 sittings, in which the House sat for 104 hours and clocked 90% productivity. The Upper House passed 19 Bills, spending 42% of the functional time on legislative business.
Though attendance was sparse in both the Houses as members mainly from election-bound States were absent, the treasury and the Opposition went head to head on the strike by farmers against the three controversial farm laws and even more so with the Government of the National Capital Territory (Amendment) Bill, 2021 which seeks to add to the powers of the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. The Bill was passed after repeated adjournments, especially in the Rajya Sabha, with even neutral parties like the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) staging a walk out from the Rajya Sabha terming it an assault on the rights of elected State governments.
In his valedictory address, Rajya Sabha chairperson and Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu reminded the members that the country was “entering the 75th anniversary of Independence” and that it was “a moment of introspection”.
“While this special occasion provides all of us and citizens the opportunity to cherish the values and ideals that our freedom fighters stood for and helped our country to gain freedom from the colonial rule, it also calls for serious introspection on the functioning of our legislatures and their Members,” he said.
