Lok Sabha will sit from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the first day and from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. until October 1
New Delhi:
The decision to cancel Question Time in Parliament’s monsoon session that begins on September 14 in the shadow of the coronavirus crisis has sparked growing resentment among opposition MPs.
The session will have Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha working separate shifts and there will be special seats for MPs to ensure distancing. Lok Sabha will sit from 9 am to 1 pm on the first day and from 3 pm to 7 pm until October 1. Rajya Sabha will sit from 3 pm to 7 pm on the first day and from 9 am to 1 pm the rest of the days. The weekends will be working days.
There will be no business of private members, the time reserved for the bills presented by the deputies. There will be a zero hour, scheduled for members to raise matters of public importance, but that has been reduced to 30 minutes.
Question Hour, the first hour in the House, allows members to ask questions of the government.
Derek O’Brien, a Rajya Sabha member of the Trinamool Congress, said the pandemic was being used as an excuse to “murder democracy” in a tweet this morning.
“Parliamentarians must submit questions for Question Time in Parliament 15 days in advance. The session begins on September 14. So, Question Time was canceled? Opposition MPs lose the right to question the government A first time since 1950? Parliament’s general working hours remain the same, so why cancel questioning hours? “It’s a pandemic excuse to murder democracy,” O’Brien posted.
Parliamentarians should submit questions for Question Time at #Parliament 15 days in advance. The session begins on September 14. Was Q hour canceled? Oppn MPs lose the right to Q govt. For the first time since 1950? Parliament’s general working hours remain the same, why cancel Q Hour? The excuse of the pandemic to assassinate democracy
– Derek O’Brien | ডেরেক ও’ব্রায়েন (@derekobrienmp) September 2, 2020
Congressman Shashi Tharoor said that questioning the government is the oxygen of parliamentary democracy. “I said four months ago that strongmen leaders would use the pandemic excuse to stifle democracy and dissent. The notice of the delayed session of Parliament announces softly that there will be no Question Time. How can this be done justify this in the name of keeping us safe? “Tharoor said.
“Questioning the government is the oxygen of parliamentary democracy. This government seeks to reduce parliament to a bulletin board and uses its overwhelming majority as a seal of approval for what it wants to pass. The only mechanism to promote accountability has been eliminated. with, “added the deputy of the Kerala Congress.
Opposition leaders say they were told by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh that if there was question time, ministers should be briefed by officials from their ministries and this would increase the number of visitors to parliament in times of Covid.
Congressional Top Leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury wrote to Lok Sabha Chairman Om Birla on Friday to mark his protest.
In a column for NDTV.com, O’Brien wrote that about 50 percent of parliament’s time is reserved for the government and the other 50 percent for the opposition. “The BJP wants to turn the people’s parliament into M&S Private Limited (find out the abbreviation!). Under the best traditions of the Westminster Model, ‘Parliament belongs to the Opposition,'” he wrote.
.
