16th Lok Sabha: Question hour during Winter Session was one of least productive, says think tank

PRS Legislative Research on Wednesday said the question hour during the Winter Session was one of the least productive and the productivity of Parliament was the third lowest in the present (16^th) Lok Sabha. The Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die on Tuesday, while Rajya Sabha's sitting was extended for a day and the session is likely to conclude on Wednesday. "This was one of the least productive Question Hours of the 16th Lok Sabha. Due to disruptions, Question Hour in Parliament functioned for its entire duration on two days," according to data collated by the PRS Legislative Research.

"Lok Sabha has lost a sixth of its time to disruptions, while Rajya Sabha has lost a third of its scheduled time," it said.

As compared to the 14th and 15th Lok Sabha, this Lok Sabha spent more of its productive time on legislative business, it said. Lok Sabha spent 52 per cent and Rajya Sabha spent 17 per cent of its productive time on legislative business, it said.

In the current Lok Sabha, 62 per cent of bills have been discussed for more than two hours. Time spent discussing a bill in Rajya Sabha has remained consistent, with about 25-35 per cent of them being discussed for over two hours.

While duration of discussion on each bill has increased, fewer are being referred to standing committees. The figure comes to 24 per cent.

"More Bills have been introduced and passed in the same session in the 16th Lok Sabha (34 per cent) compared to the 14th Lok Sabha (29 per cent) and 15th Lok Sabha (18 per cent)," the think tank said.

As many as 16 bills were introduced and three were passed during the session by both the Houses.

“While 23 per cent of all the Bills passed by Parliament in the 15th Lok Sabha were discussed for more than three hours, 18 per cent were passed with less than 5 minutes of discussion,” it said.

(With PTI inputs)