With the passage of 25 bills and the introduction of another six, Rajya Sabha records showed 100% productivity during the monsoon session that took place amid the Covid-19 pandemic and was postponed sine die. on Wednesday. This was also the second shortest monsoon session of the Upper House since 1952. Instead of the 18 scheduled sessions, only 10 sessions were held between September 14 and 23. The House was scheduled to end on October 1.
President M Venkaiah Naidu said the session was ending early as Covid-19 continued to challenge humanity around the world nine months after its first outbreak was recorded.
He said Rajya Sabha posted the highest productivity in his last four sessions consistently and “is to be commended.” In his closing remarks, Naidu said a record amount of time (about 58% of the number of business hours) was spent on invoices during the session, compared to an average of 28% over the years.
Read also: Parliament approves the bill for bilateral compensation of qualified financial contracts
High timeshare for bills, he said, justified the purpose of this session in which question hour was dispensed with.
Opposition parties had protested the elimination of Question Time, pointing out that it violated their right to seek answers from the government.
The monsoon session, which was marked by many novelties, including limited hours to four hours, no weekend breaks, and tiered seating arrangements for MPs, also witnessed an uproar on Sunday as some opposition members surrounded the vice president’s desk to protest the decision not to spend more time discussing controversial farm bills.
Referring to the uproar that led to the suspension of eight opposition MPs, their one-day protest inside the Parliament compound, the subsequent departure of opposition parties and the vice president’s one-day fast, Naidu said the session had raised some concerns like the vice president’s removal notice.
“It is a collective responsibility to avoid such an unpleasant turn of events. The suspension of members is unpleasant but forced by the turn of events, ”he said, adding that while the protest was a right of the Opposition, it was the form of protest that needed attention.
Also Read: Rajya Sabha Passes Foreign Contribution Amendment Bill (Regulation), 2020
According to the statistical information of Rajya Sabha 1952-2018; the 252nd session had only 10 sessions, making it the second shortest of the 69 monsoon sessions that have been held so far.
Records show that the 110th session held in July 1979 and the 187th session held in October 1999, which were also monsoon sessions, comprised six sessions each.
The 89th session of the House, the monsoon session, held during July-September 1974, remains the longest monsoon session with 40 sessions. This is also the longest of the 252 House sessions held since 1952.
So far, three sessions, including the current session, have had 10 sessions or fewer, 16 sessions of 11-20 sessions each; 40 sessions had 21 to 30 sessions each; nine had 31 to 39 sessions each and one session had 40 sessions.
The 76th Rajya Sabha session, also the monsoon session, had 18 sessions during August-September 1976. Another six monsoon sessions had 16 to 17 sessions each.
Rajya Sabha’s records show that only the 187th session with 6 sessions took place in October. This was the first session to take place after then-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee took office for the third time.
Of all the 252 sessions of the Rajya Sabha so far, the 111th session remains the shortest, with only one session on August 20, 1979. This was because then-Prime Minister Shri Charan Singh resigned on the same day.
Normally, the monsoon sessions are held during the months of July to August; This year, due to the pandemic, the session was delayed and Parliament was only able to meet again in September. The budget session preceding the monsoon session also had to be interrupted in March when the Covid-19 outbreak occurred.
.
