Budget Session of Parliament extended till August 7

The government has decided to extend the ongoing Budget session of Parliament till August 7 to complete its legislative business, official sources said on Thursday. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs held in New Delhi, the sources added. The ongoing session, the first one of the 17th Lok Sabha, began on June 17 and was scheduled to conclude on July 26. 

The development comes a day after Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar hinted at an extension of the Parliament Session, saying that the Opposition has always demanded that Parliament should meet for more number of days. "Now we are doing it," Javadekar added.

The ongoing session of the 17th Lok Sabha has been the most productive in the last 20 years, with the Lower House registering 128 per cent productivity till Tuesday, according to think tank PRS Legislative Research.

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The Lok Sabha has been working for more than its scheduled time and has sat till midnight on two occasions to complete its legislative business.

"This session, the Lok Sabha has been working for more than its scheduled time. Till July 16, 2019, the Lok Sabha's productivity is at 128 per cent which is the highest for any session in the past 20 years," the PRS Legislative Research said.

Similarly, the productivity of Rajya Sabha, where the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led dispensation lacks majority, unlike Lok Sabha, is also relatively high. The productivity of the upper house was 98 per cent till Tuesday, according to the non-profit organisation.

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Productivity means the number of hours the House actually functioned compared to the the number of hours officially earmarked for it to work.

Some of the important bills which were taken up for discussion during this session of Parliament, include - NIA Amendment Bill, POCSO Amendment Bill, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2019, Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019, RTI (Amendment) Bill and Triple Talaq Bill among others.