The monsoon session of Parliament ended on Thursday, with Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari and Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, expressing concern at the frequent disturbances by members leading to adjournments. Both Houses were adjourned sine die.
While Dr. Ansari wanted the Elders to do some “introspection” as a cumulative 53 scheduled working hours were lost due to the disruptions during the question hour and other business, Ms. Meira Kumar said 51.06 hours were lost in the Lok Sabha. She said that she was sure that the members were committed to checking this tendency and to strengthening the parliamentary democracy.
In the Rajya Sabha no business was transacted on 10 days. Only 65 out of the 500 admitted questions were answered orally. Twenty-seven hours of the time allotted for discussion of Bills could not be used. Only one calling attention motion was taken up during the entire session against the target of two motions per week. Only four short duration discussions could be held, Dr. Ansari said.
“As a result, many matters of public importance remained unattended. This is a sad commentary on the right, and duty, of the members to participate meaningfully in the proceedings...It calls for introspection. It should not be beyond our collective endeavour to seek ways of expressing concerns without transgressing on the rights of fellow members and without infringing our own rules for conduct of business,” he said.
On the loss of question hours, Ms. Meira Kumar hoped that in future, the House would not allow its suspension or disruption since it was irretrievable. “In this session the Lok Sabha sat late for 18 hours and 25 minutes. But, regrettably we lost over 51 hours and 06 minutes of time due to interruptions followed by forced adjournments.”
She also mentioned about the health of Congress member Sonia Gandhi who recently underwent a surgery. “I am sure, during this session all of you, along with me, missed the presence of Ms. Sonia Gandhi, UPA Chairperson, who is recuperating after treatment in the U.S. [she has since returned to Delhi]. We convey our very best wishes for her speedy recovery.”
Price rise, fate of Air India, the Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare's agitation for a strong Lokpal, “widespread corruption,” the Mumbai and Delhi terror attacks, the Telangana and Sri Lankan Tamils issues, impeachment of Calcutta High Court judge Soumitra Sen in the Rajya Sabha (for the first time in history) and train accidents were some of the subjects that formed proceedings of the session.
